MrsM3197

Folks, something odd is happening with one of my tanks and I'm hoping somebody can give me a little insight. About 3 weeks ago I bought 4 cherry barbs (1/m, 3/f) to add to the 3 (1/m, 2/f) that I already had in the 29 gal. They came from PetSmart, so I made sure I Q/T them for a full 7 days...that's just what I always do when I purchase new fish. On the 7th day I added the new fish with their tankmates in the 29 gal. Water parimeters in the Q/T same as the big tanks 0-0-10, temp 79F. I added the new fish gently to their new home, and over the past few days I have lost every one of the new cherry barbs. Just Bloop! Belly up and gone! The 3 original barbs are fine, the Dwarf Gourami is beautiful, the neons are lovely, the snail and shrimp are thriving, and the ottos are feeding well and happy. My water parimeters are good...I test them faithfully. What could I have done wrong?

Red1313

Stress? they've gone into 3 different tanks in less then a week.
Are you sure that they weren't showing and sort of symptoms before you put them in?

One other one is that there's something in you're water (virus/bacteria ect.) that you're fish are healthy and used to, but the new fish didn't have immunity to?

Hopefully someone else has a better idea.

Shawnie

aww poop im sorry you lost your babies!!
other than they were stressed as red said, are the water temps the same? if so, I cant see where you did anything wrong...only other suggestion I try to make is check the lot# aka expiration of your test kit...ALOT have been sold lately that expired a few years ago...goodluck mrsM

MrsM3197

Still stumped....they didn't go in 3 different tanks in less than a week. I bought them a little over 3 weeks ago, then put them in the QT to monitor for disease, watched them closely for 7 days then introduced them to the big tank. Over the past 2 weeks every few days I'd see one dead. I lost the last new female yesturday. I checked the expiration on my test kit just to make sure and it doesn't expire for quite some time. The temps in the QT and the big tank are both 79F. It still could be stress I suppose...but I was so careful to eliminate stressors as much as possible. Maybe there is something in my water that my fish are used to but the new ones weren't...but how in the world would I begin to know what to test for if my others are showing no symptoms? Argh! I'm confused!!!

Barbrella

I"m so sorry to hear you lost your little barbs.

This is strange, since cherry barbs are hardy beyond belief and usually can survive just about anything short of a toxic spill.

It's possible they were harbouring a disease since I can't think of any water conditions that would kill barbs and not Neons and DGs.

Very puzzling.

Shawnie

very confusing..and I think red meant 3 tanks by the one at the pet store, the qt tank, then the big tank....hmmm seeing how those 3 were the only ones affected, and you got them from the same place, id suspect something was going on with them prior...theres sometimes really no explination..maybe try 3 more from a different fish store? they are very hardy so im confused too!

MrsM3197

Well, I guess I'll just leave well enough alone for a while and just watch the tank and see what happens. None of the other fish that are in there are showing any sign of illness at all. I mean, I could go ahead and medicate the tank for "just in case" but I wouldn't know what I'd be medicating for because there were no symptoms from the cherry barbs before they died either! If I were to do that I'd have to relocate the inverts and the meds would probably crash my cycle. I just got to sitting here and wondering and thinking with my fingers moving...Michael betta is recouperating from a nasty case of ick...I wonder if somehow I cross contaminated a tank? I think I'm gonna kick the heat up in the big tank to about 83F, there's plenty of airation in the tank and if there are any ick spores that oughta take care of um.

Lucy

I'm really sorry about your fish, especially since you don't know what happened.
I'm going to agree with Barbrella. Since it was the new ones who passed, I'd tend to think they were already ill.

Plecolover12

Sorry you lost your fish! I do not know what could have happened. Sometimes fish are kept in really small tanks at the store and they feel overcrowded and ill. But you cannot tell when a fish will bring disease. I hope the same thing won't happen to your fish.