Xhilrian

We have 3 rosy barbs in our tank. I recently learned that we have a male and 2 females, and they're breeding. One of the females is staying towards the bottom of the tank in the corner. Its somewhat underneath a plant, so is she laying eggs or do I have a problem?

Also, one of our tetras got ick (i'm pretty sure it was ick) and died. The other fish look fine, but should we treat the water anyway? And how can I treat it without hurting the frog?

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore!
Is the female showing any other signs of problems? Is she getting food? It may be that she's laying eggs, or it could be that one of the other fish is chasing her away from a mate or from food (I have a female molly who murdered her tankmates by driving them away from food. They hid under a log in the tank until they died).

It would be odd for one fish to develop ICH without any of the others showing any symptoms. Did the one who die develop numerous little cysts that looked like grains of salt. If so, that was ich.
Good news is that ich can be treated by raising the temp to 82.5 (83) over the course of a few days. At this temp, the ich parasite can't make it through one of its stages. Keeping the temp this way for two weeks will guarantee that all of the parasites are dead.

Xhilrian

It had a white spot on its head so I'm almost positive that's what it was but... Fish are new to us.
She's getting plenty of food. She twists around with and bumps into the male a lot, so she isn't having problems moving around. The other female leaves her alone so... I'm kind of stumped.

sirdarksol

Only one white spot on the head would not be a fatal case of ich (I don't think. Hopefully someone who has actually seen ich can verify this). Ich is actually present in the majority of fish tanks, and is usually just a minor parasite, similar to fleas on a dog or cat. It's only when something allows the ich to overwhelm the fish (usually some other stress that weakens the fish' natural defenses, like its slime coat) that the parasite causes harm to the fish. Fatal cases will appear as if a fish has been liberally salted, I believe.

A single white spot on the head might have been a tumor, or a type of Hole in Head syndrom, or a fungal infection. Or it could have been an ich parasite that was not actually the reason the fish was ill.

As far as the other fish, I think she's fine. I don't know the mating habits of the rosy barb, but that sounds like fairly typical mating behavior.

Xhilrian

Well, there was a red trail on its head right in front of the white spot... It just happened suddenly.
Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it!

sirdarksol

That sounds to me like it might be HIH, which is actually a mysterious illness. There are ideas of how it happens, but nothing is certain.
It may also have been ammonia poisoning, which can appear as random red spots and streaks (it damages capillaries).

How long have you had the fish? What are they being fed?
I notice now that you don't know what the nitrogen cycle is. Give me a moment to dig up the article on it. smacking self in forehead. Can't believe I didn't think to check aquarium info on my first post.

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
Okay, here it is.
The basic idea is that fish produce ammonia as a waste product. There is a type of bacteria that consumes ammonia and produces nitrite as a waste product. There is also a type of bacteria that consumes nitrite and produces nitrate as a waste product.
Ammonia is highly toxic (ever sniffed the stuff? If you haven't, don't. It's enough to drop a grown man to the floor. Fish have to actually swim in the stuff)
Nitrite is less toxic, but still dangerous.
Nitrate is only toxic in large quantities.
It takes time for the ammonia-consuming bacteria to grow, and then, after that, it takes more time for nitrite-consuming bacteria to grow. The entire time is usually around a month (though there are ways to speed it up).

Xhilrian

I'm not sure how long we had the dead one. I think maybe a week or two. We've had the barbs for 2 weeks, and the frog for as long as the dead tetra.
We did have high levels of ammonia a few days ago, but when we got it tested, it was fine. We did the salt treatment and 1/4 water change.

sirdarksol

Ugh... Pet store suggestions.
Salt is generally not good for fish. Pet stores suggest it because it's an extra thing they get money from. I have only once suggested the use of salt, and that was because a member couldn't get at the proper medication in time to save her fish, but had salt on hand.

I'd suggest getting an API Master test kit so you can do your own tests. Pet stores generally use test strips, which are not accurate. Plus, you don't have to turn to the pet store every time you're concerned about the quality of the water.
I'd also suggest daily partial water changes (25%) until you have zero ammonia and zero nitrites (as suggested in the nitrogen cycle article).

Xhilrian

Okay. Thanks again!

sirdarksol

No prob.
I know I've thrown a lot of info at you all at once. It's stuff that those of us around Fishlore wish the petstores would give people before they sold them fish.
Three years ago, I was in the same place you were, and now I'm a moderator here.

Xhilrian

The more info, the better. The fish and frog are thanking you right now likely. (Except one of the barbs, he's not very nice...)
This forum was a really great discovery for me. We've had betas before, but never an actual aquarium. It's a bit overwhelming.