shollia

Ok so my bf finally got 2 tiger barbs he really wanted. Only 2 to begin with b/c the green ones they had at the store we went to only had HUGE green ones.
So we stuck the 2 into the quarantine tank and everything was fine.
Week later, we go out and get 2 green barbs. They look healthy and act healthy for a while, until one of them starts to hang out at the top.
Knowing this is a bad sign, I scoop it out, but it died a short time after that.
Other 3 barbs were just fine...
So the next day, we go out and get a replacement barb. Well.. this one only lasted a few hours in the tank. I take the blame for this death though b/c it was probably shock that killed the poor fish b/c I didn't acclimate it long enough.
However... when that fish started to go bellyup.. so did the other green barb all of a sudden even though it had been perfectly fine before.
So I try to take good care of it, but it's not in good shape at all. I put it in clean water, but it's just struggling from going bellyup.
I put it back into the quarantine tank not knowing what else to do, and it did seem to be getting a little better. Very weak, but still better b/c it was actually keeping itself upright and was swimming stronger.
But in the morning... it was dead.

Now... one of the regular tiger barbs... even though they were healthy before... is dead. I noticed it hanging at the top but it still darted away quickly when you put your finger in the water so didn't think much of it, but I did start the tank on tetracycline just in case.
Well.. few hours and I find the poor guy dead stuck to the filter intake tube.

Now.. there is only one barb left and I dunno what the heck went wrong.
I've been changing the water every single day b/c the tank isn't cycled. I've been monitering the ammonia and it's never above 0.50.
I started using Amquel which is supposed to neutralize ammonia....so I don't think ammonia would've been a big problem.

What on earth is going on?? Did perhaps the first green barb that died bring something nasty into the tank to cause the others to end up dieing? They did end up acting the same way from what I can remember.

If it did bring something.... and god forbid the last barb ends up dead... what should I do with the tank? Throw out all of the gravel, etc and clean it? I'd hate to put more fish in there and them get sick from whatever was killing the barbs.

0morrokh

I am sorry to hear about that.
It is hard to say what exactly went wrong. However, I do know that Tigers are becoming more and more inbred/mass produced, and so especially the "special" varieties such as the green ones can be weaker and susceptible to disease.

lolagurl

This problem seems to remind me, about a year ago when i didnt knwo anything about fish. I had a 5 gallon tank had 3 fish in there, and i put another one in. That one died the same day. Bought another, it died the same day again. It might be when you keep putting a new barb in , it has already reached its carrying capacity. Maybe your tank is already to full

Gunnie

It could be any number of things. I am so sorry you are going through this! How long did you acclimate the fish before putting them in the tank? It's also very possible that your fish were sick when you bought them, and some just succumbed earlier than others. I guess all you can do is wait and see what happens to the survivor.