Sick Male Cherry Barb

[Alaric]

My only male cherry barb over the last couple of weeks had trouble swimming - his tail was sinking. He has now been resting on the bottom of the tank for 2 days and is only moving when disturbed by a passing cory. He's still brightly coloured, same size - no bloating and he's not gasping at all - seems quite peaceful in fact. Water quality fine and all other fish (2 corys., 2 dwarf honeys, small loach, 4 female barbs (one being his daughter ) in 63L tank doing well. He's over 4 years old as he is the first fish I got. Is he just dying of old age? I've tried searching but apart from poor water quality (which is not the case here) no other suggestions as to what it could be.

Hope I've posted this correctly as it's my first post.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Firstly, welcome to the boards.
Sorry to hear of cherry barb not doing his best. From your description it does sound to be old age. Is he still eating? If so he may still have some time left in him.

 

[Alaric]

Thanks I'm not really a fish expert - I did check and saw that 4/5 years is average life span for a cherry. I've never lost a fish to old age b4 really sad but Geddy's had a happy life all the female barbs to himself and has always been a lovely bright reddy orange He's not eating when I put food in but could be getting some off the bottom as I make sure some falls near him. It's difficult to tell but he does look quite peaceful and not in distress so I shall see how it goes as there doesn't seem to be anything I can do except keep checking the water quality