Sad Day:(

[Rice_slayer]

I knew something was wrong with one of my tiger barbs this morning when he didnt come up to feed. The smallest of my 5 tiger barbs died today I have some algae build up on the rocks and back of the tank, would this cause his death. Im going to get 2 new tiger barbs to join the rest tonite, i was wondering if i should let the bag float in the water with the new barbs for a bit before i put them in. Also on the black stripes of the barbs, there is a little bit of mettalic green substance, what is this? RIP little tim .

 

[Boxermom]

No, the algae wouldn't have killed them. The metallic green sounds like it might have been a green tiger barb, but its hard to tell without a photo. To properly acclimate any fish, you should definitely float the bag for 15-20 minutes, closed, in the tank to equalize the temperature. Then open the bag, pour about a half cup of tank water into the bag, re-close it and float it. Repeat that step 4-5 times, to acclimate them to your tank water. Then, once you've added tank water to their bag 5-6 times, scoop them out with a net (or you can pour them into a bucket and scoop them out of the bucket, that's what I do), and add them to the tank. DO NOT add the water from the store to the tank. Not ever.

 

[Rice_slayer]

O ok thank for the tips! I looked at pics of green tiger barbs, thats what mine are! Im still kinda sad that i failed that poor fish . He wouldnt eat this morning, so i have no clue what was wrong with him. How many tiger barbs should i get tommorow, 2 or 3? Its half price on fish tommorow too . The thing is the other 4 dont seem sick at all, they are all swimming around and chasing eachother as they always do.

 

[Rice_slayer]

sry for double post, but i got 2 more tiger barbs today to make my school a school of 6. Luckily the all get along REALLY great. As soon as i took them out of the bag, the other 4 swam over to make the new 2 part of the group. The have been swimming together now. The old 4 of my tank seem happier now and all of them are swimming around alot more now.

 

[Bignose]

sry for double post, but i got 2 more tiger barbs today to make my school a school of 6. Luckily the all get along REALLY great. As soon as i took them out of the bag, the other 4 swam over to make the new 2 part of the group. The have been swimming together now. The old 4 of my tank seem happier now and all of them are swimming around alot more now.

Rice,

The real question here is, what are the water stats? I know that this is a relatively new tank, and it probably has not cycled yet. If you are not familier with cycling, please read about it in the pinned topics or search google for "cycling fishtank" and there will be many, many good articles that explain it. In a very quick nutshell, ammonia is excreted form your fish and you have to cultivate a large enough colony of ammonia-eating bacteria to remove all the ammonia every day. The big problem with ammonia is it is poisonous to your fish. In high enough concentrations, it will kill them, exposure to even a little ammonia will weaken their immune systems and make them more vulnerable to diseases.

The moral of the story is that fishkeeping is really about well over 95% water-keeping. Keep your water clean, and your fish will reward you with long, happy lifes.

If you do not have a water test kit (most serious fishkeepers consider it an essential tool as it is the only way to know exactly what is happening in your tank), take a sample of your tank water to your nearby LFS. Any LFS worth anything will test your water for you.

Until you can get the ammonia concentration to zero, and then the nitrite concentration to zero, the fish are in danger.

When you get your test results, post them here and the members can help advise you on the best next step to try to make sure that no more of your fish die. It is important to note that the very first thing anyone is going to ask to help you diagnose a problem in your fishtank should be what are the water stats: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate for sure, and maybe pH, GH, KH.

Oh, and the green on the black's of the tiger barbs is just about how the light reflects of the colored cells of the fish. It is called the Tyndall effect after the physicist who first described it. If just the blacks are changed, it is just a light effect, but any change in the orange color may very well be a sign of something else, like stress. Stress possibly caused by poor water, and I cannot urge you enough to buy your own test kits so you know exactly what the condition of your tank water is.

 

[Rice_slayer]

How much will this water test thing set me back? And my tiger barbs are green tiger barbs, i have already found that out. They all seem to be getting along nicely, tank has algae on it, but im really short on cash and have to keep this 10 gallon tank until november then i will get my 20 gallon.

 

[tetras4me]

the alge shouldent have killed them. i think they just died natrully. but if you dont want the alge there get a placostamus or a gourami

 

[Rice_slayer]

I want to get a pleco but people say my tank is over stocked as it is. I just put some stuff called cycle and waste control in it. 2 of the fishes just recently had faded stripes(black ones) And they were chasing this really fat one. Dunno if they are trying to breed or a fight for dominance in the tank.

 

[Bignose]

It is highly unlikly that it was 'natural causes'. Tiger barbs should live well over 6 years if they are kept healthy.

tetras, please dont advise him to add more fish to an already overstocked 10 gallon tank. A pleco, especially a common one, should in no way whatsoever be in that small of a tank, and gouramis with their longish fins will be inviting targets for the tiger barbs.

Rice, Please answer this simple question so I and others can help figure out what is going on in your tank:

what are the current water stats? Take a sample of your water to your LFS, they will test it for free if you don't want to buy a test kit yourself.

I (we) need to know if your tank is cycled or not. If it is not cycled, that is probably why your fish are dying. We have to know this before we can help diagnose any problem.

Please write down the ammonia, nirtrite, and nitrate concentrations and post them here. Simply put if you don't want to get this information, I (we) cannot help you any further.

 

[Rice_slayer]

I went to the pet store and damn those kits are expensive! there $10 a pop for one of each. Which ones do i need? I saw PH nitrate and ammonia. And i know its over stocked, i am looking at a 20 gallon long tank for it. The fish arent dieing anymore, they are all healthy now and swimming quite happily. And i dont get payed till friday so i cant do much with the tank till then .

 

[Rice_slayer]

Sorry again for double post, but i took a sampole of ym water to the pet store to get tested since those kits cost WAY to much. Anyways i dont now the numbers, guy didnt tell me but he said my ammonia,nitrite,and nitrate levels are where they should be for a 10 gallon tank. He said if i wanted an algae eater(plec) that i would have to have a little hut for him and change a gallon of water every week or so. Also he said that my fish died of natural causes and said i have taken good care of my tank . That makes me feel better.

 

[rob newland]

Green on a tiger barb doesn't neccessarily mean it is a green tiger barb - green tiger barbs have lots of green on them, yet i had some normal tiger barbs that had small bits of green on them - apparently this is a way of sexing them, along with the fact that females are normally bigger and fatter.

 

[Bignose]

Okay, I'm going to give this one more shot, there is no fish at all that you can add to your overstocked tank. Not a bristlenose pleco (3-4 inches big) and especially not a common pleco (18 to 24 inches big). Plecos are notoriously very messy fish. Any fish, algae eater, plant eager, meat eater, whatever, any fish will add to the bioload of that tank, and you will have too many fish for that small of a tank.

Firstly, if you dont want algae, look into the root cause of algae. Overfeeding, too much light, too many nitrates in the tank are all common causes of algae. That, and having algae is not the end of the world, it takes just a few minutes of cleaning a week, also aglae is part of nature, so it is not the end of the world.

Secondly, proper care of your tank includes doing about a 25% a week water change anyway, especially with your overstocked tank. Not just a 10% if you should happen to buy a pleco.

LFS employees are notoriously hit and miss. Did the employee say "the ammonia levels are fine for a 10 gallon tank"? That is a very weird statement since the proper ammonia level is zero, for any size tank. Employees can be caring and knowledgable, but they can also be minimum wage help and only interested in the sale. There are some very knowledgebly and caring people on this forum. I'd seek some further advice than just the guy at the LFS. Ask around here, especially in the "chit chat" part of the forum, that section gets a lot more traffic than the cyprinid section.

 

[Rice_slayer]

dang, well i would rather have another fish in there but, i guess not. Anywho, i should have reworded that, he said nitrate and nitrite levels were fine, and he said that ammonia was very good. i use this waste control stuff once every week to help control that. So how many gallons should i take out a week 2 or 1? Also i saw that the 20gallon long tank is VERY ugly they have, it has like 5 inches of glass around and 2 and a half inches of black plastic so its ugly.Then the other 20 gallon doesnt look too much bigger then my current 10 gallon. I saw a 25 gallon kit that looked nice, but it was a kit and not an alone tank