My community is having a huge issue

Okay. So I had just upgraded from a heavily planted 5 gallon to a heavy planted 20 gallon. I just transferred my fish to this new 20 gallon a week ago. I have nothing fake in it. Everything is earthly. It has a heater and a filter.

I had a rosy minnow, a metallic guppy, a puffer fish, and a platinum green tiger barb in my 5 gallon. Yes, I know it was over the general 1 inch per gallon rule. They were doing great in the tank though.

Since I have upgraded to the 20 gallon, I have also added many plants and I have also added 2 green tiger barbs. They aren't platinum. I think one is male and one is female.

Day 1, the tiger barbs are swimming together immediately.
Day 2, the tiger barbs are continuing to swim in peace and harmony.
Day 3, I notice that my rosy minnow has an extremely small nip in his fin. I don't know what its from though.
Day 4, the platinum green tiger barb and the female green tiger barb are doing a mating dance.
Day 5, all of the barbs are separated and I don't know why.
Day 6, all of the barbs are still separated. Sometimes they will swim in a group of 2.

Day 7, one of the barbs is behind the filter with a HUGE gash in its tail. the entire middle of it's tail is gone. The platinum green tiger barb is chasing one of the other barbs. I tapped on the glass and the chasing stopped. The green tiger barb hides behind the filter with the damaged green tiger barb. The platinum tiger barb is aggressively swimming around the fish tank. immediately after this I had taken the platinum green tiger barb out and put him in a giant cup (it was a tub of potato salad) with some moss in it.

Correct me if my assumption is wrong. I think that the male green tiger barb got attacked by the platinum barb because of mating competition. so the damaged barb is hiding behind the filter because it's too weak to swim against the filter. (it's letting me though him a lot too). I'm guessing the female was being chased.

Questions:
why did all of this happen and yet my beautiful metallic guppy is unharmed?
what should I do with the platinum tiger barb? can I leave him in the cup for a day or two?
is the fin of the damage tiger barb going to grow back? what can I do to treat him?

also, my green spotted puffer fish isn't really eating. I tried feeding him bloodworms and brine shrimp and he seems uninterested in it. he LOVES snails though. I don't have any right now though and I'm scared that he is going to starve. will he eventually eat the blood worms?

 

what kind of fin damage is this?

I have three tiger barbs. one is a platinum tiger barb. 20 gallon tank w/ filter and heater @ 74 degrees. lots of plants and 2 pieces of driftwood.

 

Looks like fin rot.

 

Tiger barbs generally require a much bigger group - they bully constantly and with only 3 fish the bullying gets very focused where as in larger schools the aggression is spread out.
I'd considering returning or re-homing the barbs for the time-being. I'm not sure about treating the wounds.

As for eating after re-homing fish can take at least a few days to settle, I wouldn't put too much food in as that can definitely foul your water.

 

I agree with Yeoy, barbs should be kept in larger schools to help distribute the aggression. My theory as to why your guppy remains unharmed is that it was interspecies competition, generally there should be more females to males in a tank, not the other way around. However now that your injured barb is out of the tank the aggression could be turned onto your guppy, or not fish tend to be random at the most frustrating of times. The damage on your injured barbs fins should grow back, nature always has a back up plan. I would recommend quarantining him for now so that you can help prevent infection or the worsening of his fin damage via pristine, heated water with maybe some aquarium salt. Do you still have your 5 gallon? That would be a perfect QT/ hospital tank unlike a bucket. If you don't just make sure to keep the water parameters perfect and try some salt for a week or two and add an air stone to help oxygenate the water. I hope he gets better!

 

I believe that the general rule is that if a caudal fin is chewed away to the peduncle (where tail meets body), the tail would not grow back, otherwise it should. I can't tell from your pic, but in places to looks very close.
I would quarantine him in something larger than a delI cup (i.e. your 5 gallon, perhaps treat with meleflex or the antibiotic you or your LFS think appropriate.
I would also return the two healthy barbs now, and the injured one when and if he recovers.
As tiger barbs are notorious fin nippers, I would not trust them with a guppy. Best of luck-rick

 

To me, it looks like a bacterial infection. I would quarantine the fish and treat with maracyn plus.

 

It does look like bacterial fin rot and I second the recommendation of Maracyn Plus.

 

I believe that the general rule is that if a caudal fin is chewed away to the peduncle (where tail meets body), the tail would not grow back, otherwise it should. I can't tell from your pic, but in places to looks very close.

I had Serpae a tetra that partially regrew it's tail after it was bitten nearly clean off by his comrades. So it is still possible for the barb to regrow his tail.

My advice would be to rehome the barbs (unless you really like them, in which case rehome the other fish) because tiger barbs are nippy as others have already said.

 

Are you aware of the nitrogen cycle? (words should be a link to an article). If not please read up on it, since it is the most important thing to understand when keeping fish.

Also, fish in an unicycle tank can become aggressive, since the elevated toxin levels can make them cranky.

My post in the following link may also be helpful::

 

I merged your two threads. Please start only one thread per topic. This will help you get the best advice. As you can see there has already been some confusion where people who responded in the one post didn't know that the tigers where in an improper school, which can lead to aggression.

 

Tiger Barbs are fussy little things, pet stores will tell you they are hardy. IMO from the two schools of Barbs i've had they aren't very durable. You've got to get the schools just right (6 or more) and the sizes plus if anything is off they try to destroy one another. They need plentiful hiding spots all over the tank which it sounds like you have but they also like caves. From my experience if you have any ammonia in the tank they will immediately begin bickering...it can be frustrating because they bite fins immediately. You could put some Kordon Fish Protector in the tank to calm them down and build a nice slime coat. Also double check your temperature, they will dart around or hide if the temperature is too high. But most importantly triple check your parameters in the tank.

 

tiger barbs are honey badgers. they don't care ..... they are in to everything and are always hungry and devour most of the food as fast as you put it down.

I have 6 tiger, 3 green and 2 albino and they are always chasing each other and are really scattered about the tank. I noticed they nipped the top fins of some of my albino cory cats.

looking to rehome them but can't seem to part with them yet, as they are interesting to watch. they really need to be in a tank of their own and probably in a bigger school than what I have.

 

I believe that the general rule is that if a caudal fin is chewed away to the peduncle (where tail meets body), the tail would not grow back, otherwise it should. I can't tell from your pic, but in places to looks very close.
I would quarantine him in something larger than a delI cup (i.e. your 5 gallon, perhaps treat with meleflex or the antibiotic you or your LFS think appropriate.
I would also return the two healthy barbs now, and the injured one when and if he recovers.
As tiger barbs are notorious fin nippers, I would not trust them with a guppy. Best of luck-rick

Rice has it right on. If the damage happened over night it was probably aggession from one of the other barbs. Melafix would helf the wound heal and reduce the probability that an infection such as fungus would occur.

 

I'm not sure about going to check the parameters. I normally just bring a sample of my tank water to petsmart to check in on it. the tank hasn't had it's cycle yet because it isn't a month old yet.

I had quarenteed both the platinum barb (the attacker) and the damaged barb
I woke up this morning and the damaged barb was dead. so I am going to buy 3 female green barbs to see if this issue gets any better. that would be a school of 5

I do water changes everyday.

 

API Master Test kit they are available at practically every pet store as well. You simply measure water in vials and add colored chemicals that in turn reveal a color. You compare that color to a chart and viola...you can check your parameters.

A month isn't necessarily the amount of time it takes to cycle. There is no set in stone amount of time to cycle a tank. Your fish are most likely suffering from Ammonia or Nitrite poisoning. Definitely continue frequent daily water changes until you get a test kit.

 

If your not going to get a test kit then daily 50% WC would be a good idea

 

HI justinmm

Welcome to FishLore!

I'm really sorry about your fish.