help is he dying

[Jess213]

HElp my cherry barb is having trouble swimming he is just laying at the bottom on the tank~ he looks soo helpless what is going wrong~ 2 days ago i started treating him wiht ick and yesterday i noticed he was having trouble floating i did a water change thinking maybe the meds were hurting him~ he doesnt seem to be doing bettter he can swimm only a little before he lays on the bottom please help i dont want him to die

 

[Angel Lady]

what are you water readings? It could be the ich medicine. All you have to do to treat ich is turn your heater up to 85 degrees and add a little salt if you dont have any scaless fish. and do a 20 percent water change every other day for a week or so and this will kill off your ich. How long has your tank been going.

 

[Jess213]

ive had my tank for maybe 5 years or more~ when i got him he was in one of those aquababie tank i odnt kno if your familair with them they are this cube with gravel a snail a plant and liek 3 fish~after i got them i put him into a bigger bowl type thing and thats how ive had him~ welll after i started treating him wiht ick 2 days ago i noticed hes been acting very differnt. and this morning i noticed he was having reall trouble so i did a water change thinking i poisioned him after that i didnt really notice a difference in him other than he is moving a lil more but he look like its hard for him. i went and got my water checked and they said the water was fine.
soo i dont kno wut i should do wait it out and see if he make it the nite i guess im just worried

 

[Jess213]

he doesnt seem to be getting any better please if some one can tell me something i think he will be dead in the morning if i dont do anything!!!!

 

[Jess213]

wellll hes still struggling this morning help!!!

 

[Angel Lady]

did you get all of that ich medicine out of the water. I think that is your problem, if the fish was acting fine othe than the ich. Then it seems to me that is what is stressing your fish out. Dont you have any testing kits like ammonia,nitrites,and ph nitrates. It would sure help out if i knew what the readings were. That tank is awful small for that fish anyway. how many gallons is that tank???

 

[Jess213]

hes in maybe a 1 gallon tank and hes the only one in there~ i dont have kit but yesterday all the nitrites and amonia and the ph were fine! i didnt remove alll the water i remove more than half ~ should i do another water change!!! hes still here and he can swim but it looks liek its hard for him~ he just sinks to the bottom and is off balance sometimes going on his side~ i odnt kno wut to do and i dont want himto suffer~ i thought for sure he want going to make the nite and he did~ could it have been possible that he didnt have ick and its something else??

 

[Angel Lady]

That sounds like swimbladder to me if the fish will still eat try giving him some shelled out frozen peas. Mash them up real good and feed him that. Sometimes if this is swimbladder it will help I know it does in gold fish. I am sure it will for other tropicals. I would change the water again to. that tank is really to small for your fish the rule of thumb is a inch of fish per gallon of water.

 

[Jess213]

welll i tried peas and he wont eat and even tho he moves around the tank some hes starting to stay on his side~ do u think i shoudl treat him with some anti bacterial meds or is it to late~ i dunno since hes still hangin in there im ready to give up!!! but thanx for all your advice and help i appreciate it!!!

 

[Jess213]

welllll sad news he finaly passed !!! but at leaste he wont suffer anymore!! and thank you to allthose who tried to help and posted their thoughts its appreciated!! my little cherry barb up to the goldfish bowl in the sky

 

[jams.alaskan]

Sorry Jess - there probably wasn't anything that you could do.

ALASKA