Help....my barbs seems really sick~!

Lisa · 06-29-2007, 03:17 AM

Hello everyone,
My 33G tank is fine. I tested the water using the professional test kit. I have checked the NO2, No3, ph level and the book said everyone's at the right level. I have changed my water more frequently because of the enormous of apple snail babies.
My tiger barb's scale seems to be sticking out, if you look at it directly, you'll see the scale kinda sticks out. I have another tiger barb's fin rotting. I had put 6 caps of aqua plus in the tank last night. But so far, doesn't seem like it's helping.
Tonight I have replaced the foam and carbon in the filter.
Are all this problems caused from my over populated snails? If so, would change of water be enough to help the barbs? My other barbs are fine right now.
What should I do? Should I put the two barbs to a 10G tank and see if that helps?

Please help!
[V]

Zooalx · 06-29-2007, 04:18 PM

Putting the barbs in a ten gallon would have been the first best thing to do. Adding the aqua plus to your main aquarium killed all of the beneficial bacteria that was living on your filter like any antibiotic will do, so your ammonia and nitrite levels will end up rising higher than you really want them to. The way you put it, it sounds like you waited about a day before you replaced the sponge and the carbon in your filter with a new clean media.
As you'll learn from this and other experiences with the aquarium, constant help can do more harm than good for your fish. Taking things slowly and observing them over time will help reduce stress on the fish both sick and healthy. My advice is to remove the two barbs to your ten gallon aquarium and to treat them there, and to do massive water changes around 2-3 times a week on the 33 gallon to try to dilute the antibiotic. Good luck.

Kuli_Loach · 06-30-2007, 07:17 AM

Not going straight into what it could be, could be parasites. With the scales uplifted, it could be ick if there is a substance that looks like salt there. The other sounds like tail rot. Take out your carbon filter on your tank and treat as soon as possible to prevent the spread to other fish. Do not put in new tank because that could just spread it to your others.

Zooalx · 06-30-2007, 04:15 PM

But the ten gallon is just a hospital tank which means that she must empty it out after treatments. so fish disease wouldn't have the chance to spread to her other fish.

Kuli_Loach · 06-30-2007, 05:01 PM

Ok, if they clean it after every use then it is fine, I have a tank I put them into, but ick I don't, I just treat them in that tank as I said before.

Tommy Gun · 07-01-2007, 11:13 AM

Welcome to the forum Lisa!

Quote:

Adding the aqua plus to your main aquarium killed all of the beneficial bacteria that was living on your filter like any antibiotic will do

This is not always true...I am not familiar with aquaplus exactly (although I have a product called aquaplus and it is a dechlor conditioner), however, not all antibiotics kill every single type of bacteria.

With scales sticking out, this sounds like it might be dropsy. This usually results in a fish starting to look like a pinecone and can be fatal. It is bacterial in nature...HOWEVER, it is an internal infection which means you need to add medications to the fishes' food in order to get the best result.

Water quality is an issue when this occurs, so be sure to check your water parameters often and do water changes as needed!!!!

NOTE: Please be aware that the vast majority of the members here (including myself), if not all of us, are NOT trained professionals, biologists, pathologists, etc...which means we are not able to ID or diagnose diseases or illnesses with 100% accuracy and the above information is nothing more than a 'slightly-educated guess'.

Lisa · 07-02-2007, 12:50 AM

Thanks everyone! I hope changing 20% of my water every three days help to stablize and better the condition of the water. I'm afraid of putting any medication in it. Well...and the pinecone one is dead. The other one is still around, seems like the change of water helps. But it still flows or swim funny. It's weird...I wonder if platies are more hardy than the barbs. I said that becuase my platies are still fine.