FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Our family was out of town this weekend and today my wife noticed one of our male Cherry Barbs was darting around the tank sporatically (sp?). She dipped some water out of the tank and placed him in another container for a bit. He died within an hour. He would swim to the top, then float back down, then swim back up over and over.

I tested the water today and everything is looking good...
pH - 8.0 (this is a bit high I guess)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20
Temp - 77F

Your water parameters look pretty good, yeah your pH is a little higher than neutral but the dangerous issue in regards to pH in aquariums is a sudden change. A common misconception is that pH needs to be at or around 7 and then people go around trying to change it which is much more dangerous than just leaving it where it is. The only advantage to changing your pH to a different level would be if you were trying to breed your fish. Anyways, I don't think I'd be able to tell you what was wrong although erratic swimming behavior is often something that happens to fish before they die. Did you notice anything strange about the fish before this? How old was your fish? What other fish are in the tank?

If you have not had any problems since then I would put it down to just one of those things that happens. If there is more deaths get a full peramiters test done at the LFS also test your water supply.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'm just going to chalk this one up to "just something that happens". All the rest of the fish seem healthy enough. I have only had this tank for about 4 months. The one we lost was one of four cherry barbs, and judging by his size, I think he was the oldest of them.

I still have 2 Female Cherry Barbs, 1 Male Cherry Barb, 1 Male Betta, and a Mystery Snail in the tank all doing fine.