Barbs Possibly Dying

[BL1]

Hi everyone,

I posted on another forum about a week or so ago with a problem with one of my female tiger barbs:
My link
Well, the day after moving that barb into a quarantine tanks she died. My problem is that I was watching my tank today and now one of my other female barbs is starting to exhibit the behaviors the other one did 1-2 weeks before she died. I have 8 tigers in the tank now, and they all tend to swim together for the most part but this one just stays all by it's self in one corner of the tank (the same exact thing my other one did before I quarantined it). Is there anyone out there that could have any idea whats going on with my barbs?
Brian

 

[drobbyb]

Hi and welcome to TFF!

What are your water parameters? We need to know your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH levels. How long has the tank been set up?

 

[BL1]

I should have posted that originally,

PH - 6.6 (I've been told it's a little low)
Amm - 0
Nitrite - 1
Nitrate - 40

The tank has been setup for 2 months now, it's a 75g tank, and it was originally started with 6 Gouramis. After it finished it's initial cycle I added the 9 Tiger's and it started a mini cycle. As you can see, it's just kind of ending now.

 

[drobbyb]

Ammonia and nitrite should be 0 at all times. Your fish are dying from nitrite poisoning, and you need to do large waterchanges to keep it under .25 ppm.

 

[BL1]

ok, I just did a large change, and added some Prime to the tank. If they were dying from Nitrites shouldn't it be affecting them all? The rest of the fish are acting normal and don't look like there's anything wrong.

 

[drobbyb]

Sometimes it effects the weaker fish first. It also makes their immune system weaker making them susceptible to disease. You are going to need to keep up with the waterchanges until your filter bacteria can catch up.

 

[roadmaster]

ok, I just did a large change, and added some Prime to the tank. If they were dying from Nitrites shouldn't it be affecting them all? The rest of the fish are acting normal and don't look like there's anything wrong.

As was suggested on the other forum you posted at, Not all fish exhibit symptoms at same time, just as not all people catch flu at same time. I agree with advice offered here as well as the other forum. Water changes to keep nitrites at zero. Patience will be needed to allow your filter(aquarium), to mature.

 

[BL1]

Well, yesterday I did a 15-25% water change before I got all of your responses, and tonight I did another probably 40% water change. I'm going to let the tank sit for the night and I'm going to test the water in the morning to see where it's at and I'll post those results. This fish that is exhibiting these signs (who I have not seen eat either in the past 3 days) will she be ok once the water levels are ok? Or will she never be able to recover from this? Also, have I basically just messed up all of the lives of my fish (I'm sure if anything I've unfortunately shortened their lives) but do you know if they'll have lasting effects from this?

Thank you all for helping me, in the end I just want all of my fish to live long, happy, healthy lives.
Brian

 

[BL1]

So, I tested the water again today, and got the same readings (Nitrite 1, nitrate 40). I added about 20mL of Prime after I tested the water. Should I continue to do large water changes every day till the problem goes away, or should I do them every other day?

 

[drobbyb]

The stress of water changes is negligible when compared to the stress of nitrite. You should do an 80% water change to get the nitrite under control. Most likely you will need to do a water change every day until your filter bacteria catch up with the new fish load.

The damage that nitrite does is permanent unfortunately, but once the water stats are fine the fish will start to act like normal.