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Hi all,

I have a 29g tank with 7 Tiger Barbs (about 8 weeks old). I purchased one from a lfs as a scout fish since it was a new tank setup, then I added 6 more from a different fish store. The first one that I bought has not been eating for the past few days (maybe a week) and is getting very skinny. The other 6 seemed to be all doing fine until a few days ago, when one of them started hiding alot and not eating much either. I had the water tested at the lfs and all the tests fell into the acceptable levels. I have a test kit on order, so I should be able to give a better indication of the water parameters when it arrives. I'm just a bit worried about the 2 fish that aren't eating. Any suggestions on what to do? There aren't any white spots on any of them, so I don't think it's ich.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

did you set up the tank 8 weeks ago?

Or how long has it been running?

I set up the tank about 4 weeks ago. I realize now that I should have done a fishless cycle, but at the time I didn't know about that.

humm, i wouldnt trust the LFS test.

USUALLY it takes more than 4 weeks to cycle a tank.

Your going to need to wait untill you get your tests, and test your water.

I was thinking about taking the smallest fish (not much time left, I think) and putting him in one of those hang-on breeding things and trying to feed him in there. Do you think that would help? He seems to go for the food sometimes, but he mostly spits it out. The only thing I've seen him keep down lately is a little bit from a shrimp pellet.

I don't think that would help.

If I was in your shoes, I would get some live food asap, brine shrimpies or blood or black worms. You might have to tempt him with that. TB's are usually pretty hardy; I'm assuming since you said that the water fell into acceptable levels the tank is now cycled? Exact levels would help. My guess is they might be a little stressed.

It's good that you have them in a big school and in a longish tank.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I have been feeding them flakes every day, and dried bloodworms and shrimp pellets about every other day. All of the other 5 go crazy when I give them the bloodworms, they absolutely devour them. However, the other 2 usually don't even come out of the plants / cave when I feed them.

Unfortunately, one of our barbs didn't make it.

We are still hoping that the other sick one will pull through.

Do you have the exact numbers of your water parameters?

Some stores will say your water is acceptable when really it is harmful over an extended period of time.

"Acceptable" should be as follows or better:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <20

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

No, I don't have the exact water parameters at this time. I have a master test kit on order which should be here soon. I will update this thread once I can get those parameters.

Thanks for the replies.

Okay I just got my test kit and here are my levels:

pH 8.0
Ammonia 0 ppm
nitrIte 0 ppm
nitrAte 5 ppm

Any comments / suggestions?

hi, had to jump in on this. a few months ago the same thing happened with my tigers. the smallest would stop eating and go into hiding. one day i watched them to see what was going on and it seems the largest in the tank was bullying the smallest to death. i lost about 4 fish that way. whenever the smallest would die of bullying/ starvation, the next smallest would start getting beat up. i eventually gave them back to an LFS.

tiger barbs are like that. some people have very agressive ones - like myself - and some people have relatively tame barbs. i'd watch their behavior over the course of a day to monitor what's been going on. your little ones may be getting picked on

Last edited by nowherman6 at 20-Jan-2005 11:54

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Back in the saddle!

My tigers don't seem to pick on the smallest one. Actually, the one that is sick right now (puffy gills) was the biggest female in the tank. She still schools with the other sometimes, and when I feed them, the other tigers actually seem to chase her out of the plant to get her to eat. (this could be my imagination, but it seems that way).

The one that died was in fact the smallest in the tank, but more importantly, was the first fish I added. I then bought 6 more from a different lfs about a week later and added them. They seemed to get along, but the 6 would often ignore the single one. I suspect that was probably one of the factors leading to his stress and ultimately his sickness.

well then in that case, your water seems fine, and I guess it's not all that behavioral. if they're having trouble eating, it may be some sort of internal parasite. what color is their poop? if it's white or stringy and pale it very well may be.

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Back in the saddle!

I suspected it might be a parasite infection, so I used Parasite Clear by Jungle. It didn't seem to help, I used a full dose, waited for 3 days, then did a 2/3 dose....