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ok, not a good fish week at Scott's house, sheesh... I lost another Tiger Barb yesterday, this time an albino... I have been losing them one at a time, have lost 3 or 4 now... same thing, they begin to look as if they are getting thinner, wasting away... the finally they just expire...

Should I be dosing the 20g with Melafix or Pimafix?

Amm 0ppm; Nitrite 0ppm; Nitrate 20ppm; temp 73F pH 8.2 planted 20g, well established...

I'd like to hopefully figure something out before I begin to re-stock my Tiger Barbs...

well no one else has said anything so ill trow in my two cents but im no disease expert. far from it.
i say go ahead with the melafix and pimafix. if you have no idea whats killing them then its probably better to at least attempt something. itd be a shot in the dark but hey who knows? and wasting away and getting thinner? sounds maybe parasitic? your ammonia nitrite and nitrate sound ok to me so i really dont know what it could be. but best of luck. i really hope you dont lose any more especially after losing the betta the other day!

The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we dont know what to do.

lol, thanks sora... I don't really know how to proceed as far aas treating the tigers, Idon't know that they need to be treated, so I have begun restocking that tank...

I just picked up two rummynose tetras that can hang with my WCMMs and another dwarf neon rainbow.

Were the tiger barbs and the betta ever in contact or in the same water?

Scott ..I have the same problem with my Tigers ... one starts to hide and look thin ....
then eventually dies . I've been thru this many times ..I've examined the bodies for any
signs of disease ...never been able to find any .
Whilst you can never rule out disease completely ( internal parisites etc) usually there
are signs .

My take on this is from long observation and a discussion with LHG . The Tiger Barb
world is a very tough life .. females beating up smaller males ...males fighting for
supremacy and the right to breed.

Have you noticed 2 or 3 doing the circle dance and the strong colour displays that go
with it? These can lead to casualities IME . I once had a Male who lost two thirds of
his tail in one of these fights . He was a fiesty little fella , he lived for another 6
months but eventually succumbed .

I also have had more losses amongst the Albino's than the normal Tigers .
Not sure why..maybe just not as strong .I've given up on them .
But I refuse to give up on the normal tigers .

The point of this note is just to say that your not on your own ..if you find a cause
(disease) you can do something about it ..otherwise I think its just part and parcel of life
with these fish .

Chin up .


Garry

I also have had more losses amongst the Albino's than the normal Tigers

Possibly down to their colouration itself, colour genes are rarely not linked to other traits, recessive traits like albinism have to come from a genepool controlled so vigourously that there are many congenital health risks that have had their liklihood of occurrance massively increased.Any factor can be more likely, organ deformity, respiritory issues, immuno loss, you name it. Very few albino fish outside of genuine troglodytes have no health issues at all.

Could be something about the colour affecting communication too, technically an albino fish appears to a normal fish like its in a state of blanching, and that means suboordinate, and behaviourally its communicating differently from day one simply because of its colour. Its possible among albino tigers that when a genuine blanche occurs, its not percieved, and a fish never gets the option to appear suboordinate, thus continues to get a kicking from a dominant fish.

With wasting though, its always worth a try with antiprotozoan/antiamoebic/antiworm drugs.

oddly enough, now it looks like another Albino is beginning to slow and show signs of thinning. I remember chatting with Git about the potential weakness (genetically) with Albino species of anything due to selective breeding and what not.

I did also lose a regular Tiger Barb but the losses have been mostly Greens and Albinos.

Thanks to both of you for the feedback... Also, Git what sort of drugs are we talking about?? I can certainly go pick some up.

The usual jungle labs antiparasite formula would probably be easiest, its a compound formula that confronts a lot of issues all the same time.

well, I lost another albino... ugh... I am dosing with Aquarisol (copper sulfate) until I can find a more parasite-focussed med. This stuff says it's for anti-protozoan parasites, so that'll work for now.

I also noticed one of the smaller regular TB's looking a bit suspect...

Scott:

A nother medication that works extremely well and rapid is Praziquantel, an antihelminthic specifically against tape worms. The weight loss of fish you lost suggests internal parasites. Success is fast as the worms start dying within 4 to 6 hours after treatment. Leave medication in the tank for 48 hours, than do a big water change. Repeat after one week to prevent reinfestation.

hey Catdancer, thanks, I will try to find that stuff... the other Tiger Barb is almost expired... bums me out!

Oh, and to answer the question you asked Git, no, the TB's and Betta were never in the same water, or in contact...

Scott I know exactly what your going through...I'm going through it right now. I have already lost 2 albinos of my six and have 1 for sure and possibly another knocking on deaths door.

I have already treated them the Jungle Labs Medicated Food with Mela & Pima. This combo helped one of my greens, that has now made a full recovery. Then I treated with PaziPro, which stopped there flicking. Im going to retreat with the Jungle Labs Medicated Food again and see if they improve but i truly doubt it. One of my albino stomachs is really bad.

I found it all puzzling really (but this thread has help me understand more) that they were having these problems when my water quality is spot on and I keep good maintenance. I at least know there going to a better place but they will be missed.

If you decided to use jungle labs I suggest that you soak them in Garlic Guard and mash them up. I tried them straight and large they were uninterested.

I'll also suggest the Garlic Guard for your harlies because it really gets fish interested in food.

Good Luck

Tigermom

Scott:

this is an educated guess and it does not hurt to deworm fish, especially in case of lack of the usual suspects and a prolonged period of obvious health problems (skin, no eating). Intestinal worms are easily acquired and transmitted. You should not have any problems to find the medication in good stores - 'PraziPro' made by Hikari is one of the formulations and is widely distributed. It works great agains tape worms. Now, roundworms like nematodes are a different problem and they require a different medication. Tapeworms attach themselves to the intestinal wall and can lead to blood loss among other enchanting possibilities, nematodes cause bloat as they congest the intestines (sometimes they stick out of the anus and can easily be mistaken for regular feces). LHG probably knows a lot about this and might know about other medications available.

Good luck and don't dispair, unfortunately, this is also part of our hobby!

I went to the LFS last nite, but was unable to find anything with praziquantel in it. I did pick up some Formalin and am dosing with that for now. I will be ordering some praziquantel meds today...

So far, the rest of the TB's and tank occupants look sturdy and feed/behave well. Hopefully I can get this knocked out before another one goes down.