Vertical Tiger Barb

[Spamtastic]

Hi,
Ive finally registered for these forums after 3 months of using this as a great resource!
Im a noob with keeping fish tanks however, I adopted my brother-in-laws 20gal tank.
Ive only had one death in the 3 months Ive had the tank which was a very old Tiger Barb.

Ive come home today to find a female Tiger Barb bobbing up and down vertically and she keeps going upside down too!!! It seems like shes having trouble keeping her rear end down. Been looking around and just can't figure out whats wrong with her, 'breathing' appears normal, scales are flush with the body and this morning, she was feeding fine. I dont have a hospital tank so I have placed her in a breeding net to keep her from being harrassed.
Nitrates 5
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
pH 7.2

Stocked in the tank, I have:
Gary the Golden Gourami (My best friend!)
4 Serpae Tetras
6 Tiger Barbs

Any help would be very much appreciated! Thank you.

 

[The young one]

My tiger barbs go vertical most of the time, they're only resting but if she's going upside down then i don't know what it is.

 

[Spamtastic]

Yeah Ive seen them go vertical but they stay in the same place, she cant keep still and she keeps almost doing roly-polys in the water.
Ill be heading to my LFS first thing in the morning! Firstly to get a hospital tank and also to see if there are any meds they reccommend.

 

[The young one]

i've never seen mine do rolls, i'm not an expert as i've only had tiger barbs for about 7 weeks now. I hope she'll be oright.

 

[Spamtastic]

Okay, went to my LFS this morning and they said it could be a blockage so they suggested getting a cloth dampened with conditioned water, lying her on it and gently running my finger over her belly from front to back a couple of times. Ive also bought a small hospital tank for her so at least now she can be put totally to one side while recovering.
Im a bit worried about causing her more stress as Ill obviously have to handle her to do this, what does anyone else think?

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like swim bladder to me.
What do you feed your fish.
is the fish bloated.
What does it look like when the fish goes to the toilet.
Does it look like the tail weighing the fish down in the water.
If the fish is still eating feed some peas.

Swim bladder causes.
Bad water quality.
Unstable temp.
Poor diet.
Injury.
Deformed swim bladder.
Birth defect.
Interrnal bacteria infection of the swim bladder.
Gulping air.
Poor diet.
Internal parasites.

http/www.flippersandfins.net/SwimbladderDisease.htm

 

[Spamtastic]

Thanks for the reply and the advice Wilder.

The fish are mainly fed flake food with weekly treats of frozen food (I mix between Daphnia and Bloodworm). A month ago, I started giving the odd shelled cooked pea.
She does look a little bloated but not to the extent Ive seen on pics showing cases of Dropsy.
Her poo hasnt changed (I last noticied her go a couple of days ago but not since). The last I saw it was a single line of dark colour, looked pretty normal.
It seems like her tail end is always wanting to float and shes wriggling constantly. Yesterday she was having problems keeping away from the top of the tank but this has improved.
Ive just thrown a cooked shelled pea in there and shes not interested in it. She did eat some flake last night.
If its water quality affecting her, then the fact Ive moved her into a hospital tank should help, I hope. As its a new tank, Im monitoring levels every couple of hours just to ensure levels are ok.

 

[WILDER]

Are the bloodworms and daphnia frozen, live, or freeze dried.
Do you mush the peas into small pieces.
I would improve there diet with more frozen foods like daphnia and brime shrimp.
Feed peas twice a week.

Once fish start to turn upside down they rarely make it.
Can you issolate her to try a bacterial med.

 

[Spamtastic]

The foods always frozen as I was advised dry frozen foods can cause constipation.
The peas are squished between my fingers before it goes in.
Shes in a hospital tank so she is currently isolated. Any suggestion on meds?

 

[WILDER]

Anti internal bacteria med by interpet.

Let me know how she gets on, but it's not sounding to promising.
Good Luck.

 

[Spamtastic]

Ok, added the meds and also read up on Wilder's link (thanks again for pointing me in that direction) and all signs are pointing to swim bladder problems.
Ive done a small (10-15%) water change in the main tank just in case water quality was the cause (but readings appear fine, but will now invest in a more accurate kit now I know sticks are pants!).
The sick Barb seems to already be gaining more control over swimming now, not seen an almost-roly poly in an hour!

Thanks again for the advice Wilder

 

[WILDER]

Thanks for the update.
Good Luck.

 

[Spamtastic]

What an improvement, this morning shes looking much better!
Shes still not accepting a pea but Ill keep persisting with her.
Should I continue to keep trying this or should I offer her some frozen bloodworm?

 

[WILDER]

Don't feed bloodworms just now.
Try some frozen daphnia or brime shrimp.

Keep trying the peas, but remove the uneaten ones.