Need advice please, bullied Tiger barb has all fins nipped.

hey, so I recently added 3 tiger barbs to my 30 gal tank, I added them in because it was recommended to help solve a problem between my other fishs(my angel fish and dwarf gaurami would fight a lot) so I got 3.
Shortly after the smallest of them died, the other 2 stayed, 1 was smaller than the other. I noticed the biggest one liked to Chase around the smallest one.
I thought they were just playing since the smaller one also chased around the big one, but about 1 ½ weeks ago I realized the small one would hang at the top and kinda tilt to the side, I looked closer at him and one of his side fins was nipped in half.
I put the bigger barb in 'timeout' for a day or too and then put him back in. He didn't bother the smaller one for a day or 2 and I thought it was all good, until I noticed the smaller barb started staying inside a decoration and not coming out what so ever.
I let him do his thing since the bigger tiger can't really get in there, or so I thought. I just saw yesterday that the tiger barb does in fact fit in the decoration, the smaller tiger barb comes out and his side fins AND back fins AND his back side are completely nipped. He is really bad condition, he can swim but he rather stay at the very top, he's now resting completely sideways.
I really don't know what to do, I have melafix but have heard it just kills the fishes faster, does anyone one have advice to help my tiger barb

 

Hello, I feel like you have had some bad advice there, not sure who would advise to get Tiger Barbs to police Gourami and Angel fish, but they have led you astray.

Alot of the behaviour you describe is completely normal with these fish and the problem with the Tiger Barbs is how few you have. Nipping and other behaviour that looks aggressive is how they communicate with each other. This is why they have to be kept in larger groups, so this behaviour is spread amongst more individuals.

my angel fish and dwarf gaurami would fight a lot

This isn't a good combination especially in a smaller aquarium, the only solution to this is separate tanks in my opinion.

'timeout'

This is rarely ever a good idea.

 

awh okay thanks, i have no spare tanks at the moment but will separate my tiger barbs for now

 

As jinger mentioned, a small group of Tiger barbs is never a good idea. And keeping them with angel fish and gourami is definitely not a good idea.
Nipping aside, slower swimming fish may find the sometimes hyperactive Tiger barbs to be very stressful.
Yes, you can separate your remaining two barbs but they are quite social fish that prefer a good sized group and plenty of room to swim so being alone may cause more stress.
Can you return them to the fish store?

 

unfortunately I cannot return my fish to the pet store BUT I did put my "sick" barb in a big bucket with a heater a plant and just a lil but of melafix, he is swimming ALOT but he's strips are fading??? is that a bad thing???

 

unfortunately I cannot return my fish to the pet store BUT I did put my "sick" barb in a big bucket with a heater a plant and just a lil but of melafix, he is swimming ALOT but he's strips are fading??? is that a bad thing???

It's a sign of stress. Might be just from being in the bucket but there could be other things going on. You should have an airstone in the bucket and ammonia will build up without a cycled filter so you'll need to test regularly and change water as required.

 

It's a sign of stress. Might be just from being in the bucket but there could be other things going on. You should have an airstone in the bucket and ammonia will build up without a cycled filter so you'll need to test regularly and change water as required.

awh, okay I'll try to fix the problem