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Need some help guys...
Have a 35 gallon community tank, well established, with stable parameters:
Nitrate: 40 ppm
Nitrate: 0
Total Hardness: slightly higher than 120 ppm
Total Alkalinity: 180 ppm
PH: 7.6
8 Harlequin Rasboras
3 Black Tetra
3 Dwarf Neon Rainbows* 1m, 2f
6 Cory

My rainbows were the last addition, some 3 months ago. Looks like one of the females is starving??? Her rounded underbelly is wasted away and she swimming at slight angle, tail a bit down, although she's still quite active. Have been watching her closely for a couple of days...at first she appeared to be ravenously hungry, darting frantically at food, but in fact she was spitting all food out. Now she's not trying to eat, thought she still comes out...appears to be getting weaker. The other two appear perfectly fine, as do all the other fish. She has no other outward signs, color good, eyes clear, no spots, fungus...nothing but a shrinking belly. I've been feeding a good flake (a standard blend and a spirulina type) and sinking tablets for the corys. Is it possible that she just hates the food? I tried some peas, but she spit that out too? Going to try to get some bloodworms today??? Any other suggestions as to what's going on? Thanks for any help.

Your water parameters and stocking sound good and the symptoms you wrote sound like intestinal parasites to me. I would treat with metronidazole or praziquantel (check the labels of meds you have in a local shop).

Some brands I know of that should work:

Jungle Parsite Clear
Jungle Hole-N-Head Guard (I would get this one over the parasite clear if you can find it)
Jungle Pepso Food (if she will eat it but it would be good to get the other fish to eat it, can be combined with other meds)
Jungle Internal Parasite Guard
Seachem Aquazole, Metronidazole
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Hex-A-Mit

Any of those should be ok. Check the other fish for transparent or white feces, a sure sign of parasites. It might be too late for the female rainbow since she stopped eating but try treatment and see what happens. Also do a water change because clean water does help.

Thanks for resonse Trys...No signs of improper feces from any of the fish...including her. Surprisingly, I was able to get some frozen bloodworms from my lfs this morning (very limited what I can get there...decent fish store is almost an hour away) and she ravenously devoured them (as did everyone else)! Will keep an eye on her for another day or two...if no improvement, will have to make the trip to the better aquarium shop. She's certainly not at death's door yet...still acting pretty spry and at least now she's eating.

It it is parasites (I am pretty sure it is) she will continue to waste away regardless of how much she eats. Going off of food is a sign of advanced infection in fish. I would treat with the meds above to be sure, because internal parasites are extremely common and your other fish have probably been infected too. If you want the gentlest med possible, go with one that does not contain acriflavine (check the ingredients). If you can get pure metronidazole it is extremely gentle, safe for scaleless fish, discus, plants and very hard to OD. I have even started treating ALL of the new fish I buy with it in QT as a precaution because so many fish I've seen lately have symptoms of parasites.

rainbows are martyrs to flagellate protozoans and mycobacteruim, so metronidazole is a damn good idea.

Thanks guys...I'll try to get to a decent lfs as soon as I can, to get the metro. She does seem a tad bit better...more active and eating the bloodworms like crazy - but I'll take your advice and get the antibiotics. I should probably have some on hand regardless.

Sorry...one more question...the good fish store I can get to is Big Al's...any suggestions as to brand of antibiotic that they might carry?

Not sure about the shop brands but vets can supply you with Flagyl s and other derivative products that contain metronidazole. Since this is a phamaceutical strength drug, as oppose to the safer formulas sold by pet stores, make sure they advise you as to the correct dosage and that its tested for your species of fish, as metranidazole has been proven to cause brain damage in certain species of fish, amphibians, and reptiles, where tissue barriers to the brain are insufficient to keep the drug from damaging brains cells. That said its a very effective product.