Cherry Barb Lying On The Floor For Days But Not Dead

[Shreyas]

HELP! One of my cherry barbs is lying on the floor for the past few days, jumping/hopping around a few time a day, but not dead. I moved it to a 15L quarantine tank yesterday, added a dose of the a medicine containing the following:
Formalin
Erythromycin
Malachite green
trichlorofon
acrinol
 
& 1 tbsp salt
 
Temp is set to 25C, and have also added an aerator.
 
Her stomach looks flat at the bottom (Possibly due to not eating for teh past few days). I initially suspected TB - can still be the case, as the back is looking more bent, but looking at the other fish now, the back seems OK, just that her stomach looks flat.
 
In addition to the following in the tank I also have 2 day old yellow molly fry:
 
Cardinal Tetras 17 
Black Molly 3 
Yellow Molly 2 
Sword tails 2 
Corys 4 
Pleco 1 
Siamese Algae eaters 2 
Raspboras 8 
Cherry Barbs 8 
Rummy nose tetras 5 
 
Any suggestions are welcome that can help save this fish..
 
Thanks in advance,

Shreyas.
 
 
 

 

[the_lock_man]

I'm moving this topic to the Emergency section.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Couple of questions -
 
Size of tank?
 
How long have you had this tank running?
 
How long have you had the barbs / stocking in that tank?
 
What are the symptoms of this barb, the more details the better?
 
Is there any chance of a close up picture where we can see more details of this barb?
 
 
 
Any other fish / stocking showing any or similar symptoms?

 

[Munroco]

If I had to guess I'd say swim bladder diease

 

[Ch4rlie]

If I had to guess I'd say swim bladder diease

 
Based on what?

 

[Shreyas]

Couple of questions -
 
Size of tank?
 
How long have you had this tank running?
 
How long have you had the barbs / stocking in that tank?
 
What are the symptoms of this barb, the more details the better?
 
Is there any chance of a close up picture where we can see more details of this barb?
 
 
 
Any other fish / stocking showing any or similar symptoms?

 
Hi Charlie,
 
Below my answers:
 
Size of tank?
Main tank is 180L (47 gallons). Its 1 meter wide and 41 cms deep. Height is 50 cms.
 
How long have you had this tank running?
6 weeks. The quarantine was seeded from my main tank.
 
 
How long have you had the barbs / stocking in that tank?
for the past 4 weeks or so
 
What are the symptoms of this barb, the more details the better?
Only symptom is that its stomach is looking flat - like a straight line, and his back looks bent to me (but could be because of the stomach looking flat). he is lying on the floor, seems like paralysed towards his tail. He is able to move is side fins, which he is using to jump/hop around.
 
 
Is there any chance of a close up picture where we can see more details of this barb?
 
Will try post one.

 

[Shreyas]

A close up ( the  best I could get with a iPhone)
 
  
 
A picture of my main tank (planted with CO2)
 

 

[Munroco]

The fact that the fish seems to have no buoyancy

 

[Shreyas]

And what can I do for this? Any medication (apart from what I am dosing) ? The dose is state to be repeated daily for 3 days. I also added like 1tbsp of salt to the 15L aquarium yesterday. 

 

[Munroco]

Does the fish try to swim, and if so does it just sink back to the bottom, or can it "hover" in the water? Does it try to stay upright when it lying on the bottom?

 

[Shreyas]

Does the fish try to swim, and if so does it just sink back to the bottom, or can it "hover" in the water? Does it try to stay upright when it lying on the bottom?

No it's lying down on its side, breathing and once in a while hops off say 1inch over the bottom and sinks back. Sometimes it gets up flat on its belly for a few seconds but then again goes sideways

 

[Munroco]

This does sound to me like it could be swim bladder disease. I have only just got back into this hobby after a long break and there may be treatments available now that weren't available 20 years or so ago. Googling will bring up a lot of treatment suggestions.

 

[Shreyas]

Guys wanted to give you an update on my cherry barb. I had him in a quarantine tank for about 4 weeks and he survived. His body still looks bent to me but he is now swimming around (not hopping anymore) and has been moved to my main tank where he is moving around in the dense vegetation. I used salt + some azoo magic disease treatment. Also fed him peas for a few days to give him some energy. All of this seemed to work!!!

Thanks for all your help responses!!