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Hi

On Saturday, I added 8 albino tiger barbs and 2 cherry barbs to my 8 red eye tetras and since Monday, I've lost 4 of my albinos. My water parameters are:
amonia 0
nitrIte 0
nitrAte 0
PH neutral
Temp. 26

I can't understand what's happening. All other fish are fine and doing well. I was under the impression that these little tiger barbs were fairly hardy fish. THey are so cute and fun to watch. So very sad to see them dropping off like this.


*Mitch*

There is a very good possibility they were sick before you bought them.

How big is that tank?
How did you introduce them to the tank?
Did yoiu feed then as soon or shortley after they were introduced to the tank?

Check where you bought them just in case there was a problem with that shipment. Also ask how long have they been on display.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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What are the approximate parameters of the tank they were in at the store? Perhaps you didn't acclimatize them slow enough.

While Tiger Barbs have a reputation for being hardy, I've noticed that the green and albino varieties can be extremely inbred (this applies to color morphs of other common fish as well). This inbreeding can cause them to be very sensitive to changes in water chemistry and any pollutants in the water. Severe inbreeding can also cause poor color, deformation, stunted size, etc...

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Thanks for your replies. My tank is a 42G tall and I took 1 hour to acclimatize them. I fed them approx. 2 hours after. So far today, there has been no deaths however I did lose one of me red eyes yesterday. THe albinos were purchased from WalMart and they had just received them on the Friday, so in essence were only on display for a day and half. Perhaps having them transferred a few times to different tanks in such a short time span could have stressed them too much?? SHould I have taken longer to acclimatize them in this case???


*Mitch*

I think an hour of acclimation is a good amount of time for a tiger barb. Thinking those fish were stressed during their shipment which led to illness, or they picked something up from the tank at the store. Sorry to hear of your problems and hopefully your fish will be ok soon without further loss.

Definately try and get a credit from the store, they may admit to a bad shipment, then purchase new fish once there have been no visible signs of illness for a month

The Amazon Nut...

Hi Mitchee,

Sorry about ur loss.

First thing, are you sure ur nitrate is 0? How long has the tank been set up for?

Anyway with purchasing fish, you shouldn't really buy them if they've only been in the lfs for a day. Also, acclimitize them slowly, but not too slow. Because the bag is very limiting in terms of swimming space and territory, also ammonia build up quickly in small amount of water. I bought 5 cichlid (same bag, i know bad move) and by the time i got home the ammonia level is 0.5 ppm.

Also check for pH. It's faster for fish to get used to high pH from low, but if your pH is lower than that of lfs, it might take longer for the fish to get use to.

Some anti-stress remidey helps. If your pH is higher than the lfs, you should really spend 10 mins floating the bag (get same temp) and 30 mins putting water from tank into bag slowly, every 5 minutes. And give them about 24 hrs before your first feed, and feed lightly.


P.S love the kitty natalie