Tiger Barbs & Gill Flukes Symptoms?

[Clarousel]

I've been searching the net but I can't seem to find the answer to my question.

I think my tiger barbs are breathing heavily (constantly opening and closing their mouths). But they don't scratch neither are their gills swollen (they don't stick out or anything). Although I can see their gills are red inside, I'm not sure if it's considered "reddened gills" cause I don't know how normal fish gills look like I treated for gill flukes once but they still continued to breathe that way. None of my other fish have this problem and I've had the tiger barbs for almost 2 months now. Is this something I should worry about? I've been wondering about this for some time and finally decided to ask!

I don't have a water testing kit (still waiting for it to arrive) but I did a 50% water change yesterday and do 40% weekly changes.

Just cleaned out my tank as much as I could and changed all the water. Not sure what to do next.

 

[Caprichoso]

Gill flukes can be difficult to treat and much of the time when you realize something is wrong, the damage has already been done. Flukes will damage the gills to the point that even if you finally get rid of the flukes, the fish's gills are damaged too much. The reason for the flaring gills is because the fish cannot get enough oxygen and usually dies as a result of oxygen starvation. The fish may not scratch or rub at all. The other thing that you have to consider is your fish may have been exposed to ammonia but since you don't have a test kit, there's no way of knowing. Ammonia poisoning can also cause long term damage to the fish possibly leading to their demise. Normal fish gill colour from the outside should be very pale pink. If something is looking red, there is most likely a problem. Looking inside the gills it can be darker in colour. Keep doing daily water change of 25% for the next 10 days. Let us know if there is any improvement.

Good luck

 

[Clarousel]

Gill flukes can be difficult to treat and much of the time when you realize something is wrong, the damage has already been done. Flukes will damage the gills to the point that even if you finally get rid of the flukes, the fish's gills are damaged too much. The reason for the flaring gills is because the fish cannot get enough oxygen and usually dies as a result of oxygen starvation. The fish may not scratch or rub at all. The other thing that you have to consider is your fish may have been exposed to ammonia but since you don't have a test kit, there's no way of knowing. Ammonia poisoning can also cause long term damage to the fish possibly leading to their demise. Normal fish gill colour from the outside should be very pale pink. If something is looking red, there is most likely a problem. Looking inside the gills it can be darker in colour. Keep doing daily water change of 25% for the next 10 days. Let us know if there is any improvement.

Good luck

My tank wasn't started right so I am considering this is the result of that.

Hm the gills aren't pale pink but they're not blood red. I'm currently finishing my treatment for ich. Will do the water changes and see if things improve.

 

[keimak]

Well I don't know is it sick or not but my tigers always breathe fast, but not so fast until it looks like it is out of breathe.
I've been keeping them for months now

 

[Clarousel]

Well I don't know is it sick or not but my tigers always breathe fast, but not so fast until it looks like it is out of breathe.
I've been keeping them for months now

Asin opening and closing their mouths as though they're chomping on food? Mine used to dip their heads down (cause my tank wasn't cycled) but not anymore. I didn't notice the fast breathing thing until I read on the disease symptoms but they don't seem out of breath either

I tried to take a closer look at their gills. They're not red or dark colored. Sort of pinkish but not very pale pink definitely.