Somethingfishy

Ok, so last thursday I got my first set of fish... 3 tiger barbs, I've cycled the tank for a week before hand, had my LFS check my water then i got my Tiger barbs. Things were good untill this morning when one of them is just chilling out by the heater looking straight down to the sand! I dont get it? is he sick... not make the transfer well? I checked my tank for alkalinity and pH and all the good mess and it was in ideal conditions... he also looks a lot less colorfull than the other two, but i figured that was just him.

Let me know what you think?


Maybe I'll just move to chichlids....
They're more of my attitude!

atmmachine816

agghh I know what that is but I can't remember I'm so sorry but I don't think it's good either, wait till butterfly or somebody else knows comes on.

sorry can't help

Austin

Somethingfishy

UPDATE: I fed em' and they ate normal... all three... but the one goes back to being a loaner... i dont get it?

Isabella

It takes MUCH longer for a tank to cycle than 1 week. Many tanks will not show any readings even for the 1st week. It may be that your tank is currently cycling and hence the strange and sickly behavior of your fish. If it is cycling while you have fish in it, you should be performing 50% water changes EVERY DAY until ammonia = 0 and nitrite = 0. nitrate should never exceed 40, and it should be best kept under 20 at all times.

What did you LFS use to test your water? What readings exactly did he/she give you? (Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH)

Once again, if you had your tank running for one week only before getting the fish, the tank was most likely not cycled (tanks usually cycle for around a month).

Somethingfishy

These are my reading on my tester - made my jungle labs...


Nitrate - (NO+3) 10 - safe
Nitrite - (NO-2) 0 - safe
Total Hardness - (GH) 75 - soft
Total Alkalinity - (KH) 0 - Low
PH - 7 - neutral

I don't know if this helps - I did a 50% water change and tank looks a lot clearer. I added salt made for freshwater tanks and conditioner before I added it to the tank.

I also don't have an airstone, could this be the problem?

He's still acting weird and now another one is starting to do the same. just hanging there, looking straight down. the littel one is trying to play with them and they do then they go back and hide out again. I guess it wasn't cycled enough. Poor fishes. I feel bad now.

Regards

Somethingfishy

OK, i went to my LFS, and they said they were having problems with the barbs... they said they were most likely a loss. oh well... we all have issues.

I then asked what I should do to get my tank back in order when they die. I told them I'm interested in chichlids and they said to put in a cure-all and let it run for 24 hrs with the carbon filter out, and then get 2 ft. of guppies and get my tank cycled better... then in about 4 weeks get my first set of chichlids... and let them eat the guppies!!!

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

Regards

Brut

they could also be playing odd man out..

atmmachine816

I would wait for butterfly or gunnie for input on the barbs, you can PM one of them if you want since it's urgent. DON"T buy any guppies and let the tank cycle fishless, it's better that way and unless you buy some large cichlids the cichlids won't be able to eat the guppies right away. Do you have a test kit?

Austin

Somethingfishy

yes i do, those were my readings from earlier today...

I guess I'll have too PM one of them...

Thanks

atmmachine816

There both on now so hopefully one will see it soon.

Austin

O duh, I think it has something to do with there swim bladder

Somethingfishy

I don't know, but its really aggravating. So what should I do to start over?

atmmachine816

I pm'ed buttefly for you to see if she know's what it is, just be patient, don't do anything yet.


austin

Somethingfishy

Yea, Thats why i popped smoke so I can get the correct thing to do. the folks at my LFS are really nice, but i don't think they know a whole lot of whats going on. I'm just ready to start enjoying this hobby... instead of trying to fix when its not even begun...

atmmachine816

Popped smoke?

Somethingfishy

sorry military term...

(in trouble... pop smoke... smoke greande.... HELP)

atmmachine816

O I'm too young to know that . If you just stick with it in a day or two people here will be able to help you figure things out, now you'v understand with expierence why it's not recommended to cycle wiht fish though. (i'm not critizing you) Don't really worry about anything we'l help you figure stuff out and as long as you do your research before making purchasing you should be ok.

Austin

Butterfly

Are you using the test strips by Jungle Labs? If so get a testing set by aquarium Pharmaceuticals as soon as possible. The strips are really unreliable.
Since the LFS is having problems with th barbs then you most likely got a sick one from the store and since your tank is still cycling that just makes it sicker still. You may loose it.
As Isabella said continue to do daily water changes. You didn't give us an Ammonia reading, do you know what it is?
If your just waiting for them to die (or did I misunderstand) why not give them back to the LFS, continue fishless cycling then get the Cichlids you want.
Carol

Somethingfishy

no no no, I'm not waiting for them to die, i don't want them to die... I was just saying a "What if". I'll cal tomorrow to see if they'll take them back... my alkalinity level is low, could that be it? also, i turned the water down to 76 and turned the flow down to low, see if that changes anything... they eat fine. but if worse come to worse I leaned my lesson and will forever do my cycling fishless and wait a good long time. Should i go and buy 100% ammonia if they do sadly die?

Somethingfishy

Update: look like one is getting better and the other worse. I feel bad for the little guy and the one with no problem is nipping the out of the other two, whats the best thing to do for these guys?

Somethingfishy

Awesome, the LFS took them back... now time to re-cycle!!!!!!!

Thanks for you help with my stupidity

molson622

Out of curiousity... when a pet store takes something back what is the general protocol? If you bought it there is it like merchandise? You get your money back? Or is it just taking them off your hands?

Golden Fish

XthisdaywakesX
My Tiger Barbs do the same thing. ALL of em. When they were new They set up "ranks" among the school. A couple of them always seem to get picked on so they try and stay out of the way of the others.
My Barbs sleep (if thats what its called??) head standing at night. I have had them for a while now and they still dispute rank every now and then and they always hang out head standing style when they are just chilling. It is kind of cool to see all of them headstanding in a group. however if they are headstanding all the time I think that is a bad sign like the others have said. They are really cool fish, maybe give try some different ones from another store?
Here is some pics of the Barbs sleeping Tony Hawk style.

Attached Images

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atmmachine816

Well it all depends, some just take them off your hands and sell them, others will give you in-store credit, and once in awhile you can get cash though not usually. Usually the big chain stores just take them off your hands or won't at all and the smaller/privately owned might give in-store credit. you might get money back or in-store credit if you just bought a fish and it was sick or died but that's the store's livestock return policy.

atm