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condition is critical.

I had 5 black neons and 2 chery barbs in a 7G tank.
I left it for a week, not before finding someone to take care of the tank.

that someone failed to notice one of the neons died suddenly (it looked healthy when I left), and the carcas was left in the tank.
when I got back, I noticed the dead neon's body. once I touched it with the net, it disintegrated (YUCK!). anyway, I had an emergency vacuuming of the tank (75% water change. parameters were OK before that due to 5% water change a day and the plants living in the tank). one of the cherries snuffed it pretty soon afterwards.

the second cherry just got extremely bloated, to the point of losing equilibrium when trying to chase food. he keeps to himself on the bottom, and manages to keep straight most of the time. from that I deduced he has gases.
I also guess that the cherries nibled the rotting corpse, and that this was hurt them.

so, what can be done with it?

Hi there,
well aside from the relatively super high
stocking level of your tank, it is unlikely
eating the carcass of the fish actually killed
your cherry barbs.
What is much more likely, is that the decay of the
corpse released large amounts of ammonia into an
already unstable heavily overstocked tank,
and caused a tank crash, which resulted in the
deaths of the other fish.
Try increasing water changes to 10% a day making
sure to vaccuum half the gravel only, and only for
2 days then rest for 3-4, so you dont destroy the
bacteria colonies.
Try feeding the cherry barb some frozen canned or cooked
shelled peas, if it is bloat or constipation
it may help.

Do you happen to have test results on your water?
Ammonia, Nitrites and nitrates?
Please post these.
What is the temp of the water?
ph?

Increasing the water changes and the lessening of the
bioload due to the death of the 2 fish, should
help the cherry to recover on his own if
it is indeed ammonia poisoning that has affected him.

If his condition doesnt improve within 2-3 days with
fresh clean water (conditioned of course with a
high quality conditioner like Prime), or if more
fish die, perhaps time to consider a medication.
Try a broad spectrum one like Maracyn 2 or
Triple Sulfa.

Also, it is possible that whoever was taking care
of your tank has made a fatal error somewhere.
Perhaps overfeeding a lot, not doing water
changes, spraying perfume or chemicals in the tank,
or not using dechlorinator with the water change,
or even not using exact temperature water for a
change can all cause fish deaths.
So dont rule out these possibilities.
Next time you go away for a week, youd be best to do
a good large water change before, and leave the
fish unfed for the week youre gone.
Youll be less likely to suffer at the hands of another
persons miscare of your fish.


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parameters:

NH4: no trace
NO2: 0ppm
NO3: 10ppm
Gh: bloody high! (the usual)
Kh: 6
temp: 26C
pH: 7.2

the rest of the fish (neons) look OK. they swim about all over at the same speed as usual, and don't look stressed as I would assume poisoned fish should be.

Great,
the ammonia was likely from the dead fish
then, and/ or overfeeding by your fish sitter.
I am so glad you havent lost any more fish!
Keep up on the water changes and you should
be ok.


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thanks!

I hope so too.