Cherry Barbs Dying - Please Help!

[joloco]

in the middle of aclimatising 6 new cherry barbs that i bought this afternoon, went to have dinner i've come back and one is swimming upside down and one is dead!

i've only just added the tinniest amount of tank water and left them for 30 mins.
the other four look ok but i'm certainly not adding them to the tank!!

what on earth could be going wrong

ph 8.5
nitrate 0
nitite 0
ammonia 0

the two corries i just added from the same shop are fine and swimming around perfectly well.

three are now dead
- i've not added any more tank water since that first small amount

a fourth is now twitching and swimming upside down!
this is horrible they're dying in front of my eyes


so now four are dead, the remaining two are making massive gill movements and gasping
i can't believe in the space of an hour four have died

down to one alive out of six,
this sounds exactly like a case of too quick acclimatisation i know but i've only added the first amount of tank water!
how can this be?

 

[WILDER]

What was the ph of the lfs to your tank.

 

[joloco]

well its less than 3 miles away so i can't imagine its radically different, but i'm not sure

and if so then surely the corries would also have died?

the remaining barb is swimming around the bag quite happily - no large gill movements or gasping

 

[DarkEntity]

If you have a running tank with healthy fish id say it was a dodgy batch of fish you were sold

 

[joloco]

the tank has been setup for 4 months now, and all the fish in there are healthy




should i add the surviving barb to the tank or take them all back?
i'm tempted to take them all back, but as the sixth one appears fine will they take them all or just the dead five?
i've never returned fish before and i'm not sure what the protocol is

 

[WILDER]

I agree it sounds like a dodgy batch to me aswell.
Now the barb settled down add some more tank water not much check the temp in the bag to the tank to see the temp difference.
Sorry before you add the water take a ph test out of the bag water.

 

[joloco]

ok the temp in the bag is the same as the tank - i've already checked

ph is 8.5, so maybe the ph of the bag was 8 at the beginning but surely no less

added a tiny amount of tank water, the barb is doing rapid mouth movements but otherwise seems ok but then he is swimming in a bag of dead fish so may be a little stressed

 

[DarkEntity]

me personally i wouldnt put him in my good tank, id keep him seperate even if its just in a plastic tub floating on the main tank and gradually add tank water to it see if he survives the night. I wouldnt risk my tank for 1 remaining good fish.

and i def would take all the dead fish back tomorrow and request a credit or replacement.

 

[WILDER]

I agree if he still rapid breathing something not right.
Get him out of the bag of dead bodies that might be stressing him out.

 

[joloco]

if he survives the night would you add him to the tank or take him back with the dead

i don't really want to add him but i don't want to write him off either

 

[WILDER]

Settle him down first add a teaspoon of salt to his water.
Stir the salt in some tank water in a jug so it disolves first.
Do you have a tubber ware container so you can float him in the top of the tank.

 

[joloco]

i've got a second bag i've put him and the water from the first bag into, he's floating on top of the tank now

will any salt do? i only have table salt

 

[WILDER]

Add half a teaspoon of salt then it should settle him down.
Table salt fine.

 

[joloco]

ok salt added - have to wait and see if he makes it i guess

 

[WILDER]

Is he spinning or swimming upside down.