Ill (possibly Dead...) Tiger Barb

[toomanymikes]

Hi

This is my first post so sorry if i havent introduced myself before. I have a tank with 4 tiger barbs and one of them just (what looked like) passed away right in fromt of me. He was swimming around all happy then all of a sudden he turns upside down and drops to the bottom of the tank. I picked him up in a net and now he is lying in the net besdie the heater. His fins were moving but now they seem to have stopped.

The tank is fully cycled and the temp and parameters are all as should be, also the fish was not the runt of the pack so had not been bullied or stressed. I dont want to dispose of the fish yet because im not sure if he is dead. Any advice welcomed!

 

[toomanymikes]

OK, so the poor little bugger is defo dead. Bye Abbey, you were very funny.

 

[MHunt]

First off sorry for your loss, it can be unnerving to loose fish, but all fishkeepers suffer it at one time or another, you kind of get used to it.

There is an emergency section with some very helpful members and mods who frequent there so that is probably the best place to put general 'my fish is sick questions'

The first thing most people want to know is tank size, what's it stocked with, and the water stats, ammonia, nitrite nitrate and pH. Also any symptoms you have noticed, for example i generally know if a fish is on the way out because it begins to sulk, keep away from the main group of fish even at feeding time. But anything else you notice like injuries, fungus etc are important in diagnosis.

Good luck with your fishkeeping and hopefully you won't loose many more fish.

 

[toomanymikes]

hi, thanks for your advice - the wierdest thing is the readings are all 0 apart from ph at 7.2. all the others seem fine but i will keep my eye on them for the next month before restocking.

 

[MHunt]

hi, thanks for your advice - the wierdest thing is the readings are all 0 apart from ph at 7.2. all the others seem fine but i will keep my eye on them for the next month before restocking.

Those test results are odd. When did you get the testing kit or was it done at your LFS?

 

[Lateral Line]

Your filter converts ammonia->nitrite->nitrate so you should have some nitrates unless you are VERY heavily planted. If that is not the case, where is the Nitrogen going?

 

[MHunt]

Your filter converts ammonia->nitrite->nitrate so you should have some nitrates unless you are VERY heavily planted. If that is not the case, where is the Nitrogen going?

That's why I was unsure about the quality of the testing kit.