Tiger Barb mass illness!

[Shibby_430]

First off, here are the parameters:

Tank size: 75g
pH: 7.0
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 10 ppm
kH: 100
gH: 75
tank temp: 78

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): About a week ago I noticed a few of my tiger barbs had lost some color. Now, even more have lost color and are now swimming vertically, sometimes almost upside own, and are rubbing/flashing on my decor. Water parameters seem fine, I have no idea what the issue is! I’m afraid when I get up tomorrow they are all going to be dead

Volume and Frequency of water changes: Weekly water changes of between %40 and %50

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: I only add stress coat and stress zyme during water changes and this month I dosed the tank with Tetra Easy Balance. The Easy Balance dose came after the Barbs showed symptoms. I run two Emperor 400 filters.

Tank inhabitants: 25 Tiger Barbs (albino, green and regular), 13 Red Minor Tetra, 3 Pictus Cats, 6 Cherry Barbs

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): We added some new artificial decor the previous water change that we did two weeks ago

Exposure to chemicals: None that I know of

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[HoldenOn]

That is an example of dropsy in tiger barbs. New to fish keeping so I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Is it just the tiger barbs they are affected or so any of the other tankmates show any of the symptoms?

Also the tank decor you recently added, what is this made of and did you source this from a reputable fish store?

 

[Shibby_430]

Is it just the tiger barbs they are affected or so any of the other tankmates show any of the symptoms?

Also the tank decor you recently added, what is this made of and did you source this from a reputable fish store?

one of my Pictus cats is acting very lethargic and strange now. I purchased the decor from PetSmart. I’m not sure what it’s made from, plastic? It’s just the regular artificial plants that you get from there.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Has anything been sprayed around the home within vicinity of the tank? Air freshener, cleaning products, paint..?

 

[Shibby_430]

Has anything been sprayed around the home within vicinity of the tank? Air freshener, cleaning products, paint..?

No, no chemicals

 

[mbsqw1d]

OK. Other than the recent addition of the plastic plants, there's nothing obvious that looks to have suddenly caused these symptoms. I'd recommend that you do a large water change, at least 75% if you haven't done so already and try and reset the water parameters. Then we can concentrate on what, if any, disease has affected the fish

 

[Shibby_430]

OK. Other than the recent addition of the plastic plants, there's nothing obvious that looks to have suddenly caused these symptoms. I'd recommend that you do a large water change, at least 75% if you haven't done so already and try and reset the water parameters. Then we can concentrate on what, if any, disease has affected the fish

I’ll knock that out this afternoon and post when it’s finished. Thanks!

 

[mbsqw1d]

I had an incident where my shrimp were clearly unhappy and trying to escape the tank. I had done nothing to cause this and so just did a large water change, this seemed to sort it and they resumed their normal activity. Water is the most solvent liquid and so we'd be surprised what chemicals can end up in our aquariums. Dunno, perhaps the LFS shop keeper cleans their shop with a spray bottle of chemicals and this has contaminated the decor? Who knows? Anyway.. look forward to hearing from you post water change

 

[Shibby_430]

OK. Other than the recent addition of the plastic plants, there's nothing obvious that looks to have suddenly caused these symptoms. I'd recommend that you do a large water change, at least 75% if you haven't done so already and try and reset the water parameters. Then we can concentrate on what, if any, disease has affected the fish

OK. Other than the recent addition of the plastic plants, there's nothing obvious that looks to have suddenly caused these symptoms. I'd recommend that you do a large water change, at least 75% if you haven't done so already and try and reset the water parameters. Then we can concentrate on what, if any, disease has affected the fish

UPDATE: Did about.%75 water change last night. Water parameters are the same as above except Nitrates are about 5ppm.
There are more Tiger Barbs behaving this way now. Still flashing on decor, hanging out by the heater. Took a cruise to my LFS and they mentioned Swim Bladder? Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[mbsqw1d]

from the description of their swimming behaviour, it doesn't sound swim bladder related - with swim bladder problems, the fish either struggles to get up from the bottom of the tank, or swim down from the top.
Hopefully your Tiger Barbs are struggling with constipation and are bloated, causing air build up inside them and making them tip up when they swim. I say hopefully, because the alternative is dropsy and fish generally don't recover at this stage.
The other concern is the 'flashing', they're clearly irritated by something in the water. You may need to do another large water change to remove whatever it is.

With regards to potential bloating, what do you feed and how often?

I'll look into salt treatment and post that here as that can do harm