michael1973

PLEASE HELP. My male krib is sick , his gasping all the time and the pectoral fins are not moving in sync he still eats a bit and follows the female but he's not a lively as before.
tank is 3 months old 20g/90ltr
tetratec in600 filter
live plants
silica sand
6 phantom tetra
2 small platy
pair kribensis

Nick G

Do you know what your water parameters are? ammonia, Nitrites ,Nitrates? pH level?
If you post this info then it will help us diagnose the problem, oh and welcome to Fishlore!

michael1973

hi nick thanks for the welcome.
i had the water tested at my LFS yesterday because i thought the ph was at 9.9 but they said it was 8 and all other tests were ok this is the second male i've had the other died after acting the same way.

Nick G

A female Krib will reject a male that isn't 'up to scratch', and chase him aggressivly. Is your male Krib smaller than the female? This can be a common occurrance and can result in the death of the male.

michael1973

the female is about 3" and the male a little bigger her belly is red and she does her dance for him and tries to entice him out of his cave when his not following her but , he just looks like he get out of breath

Nick G

Hmmmm, ok, doesn't sound like she's the problem then. I take it all the other fish in the tank are ok?

michael1973

yeh, there all ok, also the male krib has been rubbing his gills on the sand which poss look slightly swollen but im not sure as he is flaring them wide open to breath.with the male i had before him i thought he had ick so i treated for that then i read that it could be internal bactiral infection so i treated for that with plenty of water changes in between, but he still died.he also was moving his pectoral fins out of time, is that a sign of something? i just dont know what to try next.

michael1973

also nick as i sit here looking at my tank i can see some tiny insects crawling on the rock what are those?

Nick G

What do the insects look like? Rubbing gills can be a sign of ick, but I wouldn't medicate unless you see more definate signs. Red and swollen gills can also be a sign of ammonia poisoning but I would think that it would be affecting the other fish too. Did you get both your Kribs from the same tank at the same store?

michael1973

being new i paniced and went for meds.the insects are tiny but i can see them moving they are sort of round and they jump and land somewhere else i can also see them on the sand.i've never noticed them before and i look a lot!

Nick G

Do you feed your fish brine shrimp? Could be those. If so the fish will eat them

michael1973

no brine shrimp, but frozen bloodworm.and yes i brought the orignal pair from the same tank the male got sick and died so i replaced him with another male from the same tank and then the female got sick the same way and died so i replaced her with a krib from a diffrent tank and now the new male.I dont like to see them ill and i hope its nothing im doing.

Nick G

Same store though?

michael1973

yeh i know what your saying.lets see what happens with the diffrent female out of the diffrent tank but! the same store. the lfc looks great ,nice and clean the fish look healthy all the staff have kept fish for 20 years or so. i dont know, nice to chat with you nick catch you again soon i have to go my wife is kicking me off the pc.