Tiger Barb With Hole In His Side

One of our 2 year old tiger barbs is being attacked in the tank and has a huge hole developing in his side..... we suspect it’s our rainbow shark since the shark has been very aggressive to the barbs since we moved them from a 30 gallon tank to a 75 gallon tank. We’re amature fish owners, please help!

 

You need to remove the injured barb as it will continue to be picked at. Set it up in a small tank or container. You will have to do daily water changes. Fresh water will aid with the healing. I’m not real knowledgeable about what type of meds to use, but meds are necessary here. Hopefully someone will chime in.

 

Woah, that’s a pretty good size hole. I would definitely move him into a quarantine tank to avoid any possible outbreak of anything.

Is the white part on the hole fuzzy? How long has it been like this? Has the shark been removed from the tank?

Best thing you can do is keep the water pristine, which is why I recommend a smaller tank, a 10 gal would work fine. You can throw in a sponge filter if you want but you ideally should be doing daily water changes.

 

I’d say this has happened suddenly. We love to watch our tank and do so daily, so we noticed this pretty soon. Weve seen the shark attack them but never this brutally. We just assumed he was territorial over his new hiding spot, since we had moved them and changed the scenery. He used to be very docile.
What should we do with the shark? We have him separated by he can’t stay there forever... we will separate the injured fish and do as recommended but we’re bery scared he won’t make it. He swims very erratically and floats to the top a lot. They’re about 2 years old so we’re rather attached, especially since he’s a green tiger barb.

 

You can keep the shark in a separate container, a cheap one from walmart will work until you can rehome him or buy a bigger tank.
They get aggressive as they get older and if it’s tank mates are smaller, he constantly harass them.


For medicine, I would use melafix to help the open wound heal and pimafix to prevent any fungal infection to spread on it. They can be added together. Remove the injured fish asap because the other fish will begin to eat the fish if they see he is weak. Also, a tub would work as a quarantine tank here too.

 

Wow. This fish has a pretty bad infection too. I hate to say it but I don't think this fish is going to make it. May be best to euthanize him. What else is in there is tank?

 

We’ve gotten him separated with some medication. He doesn’t look so good but we will try unless he starts to take a turn. Besides him and the shark that we removed, there’s 9 other barbs, a mix of albino, green, and regular, as well as a Pictus Catfish and a sucker fish.

 

Tell me more about the sucker fish? What species, if you know? If not how about a picture?

 

im pretty sure he’s a rubber nose pleco. He’s very elusive so it’s hard to get a picture. But I looked it up and he looks like the rubbernose pleco

 

Ok I was just making sure it's not a Chinese algae eater. Those guys like to chew holes in the sides of there sleeping tank mates.

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Your welcome, but as I said i don't think he's going to survive. I'm sorry

 

That was my first thought when I seen the hole.

 

We’ve got him separated with medication. In the morning we will reassess. I’ll update. In the mean time, what do we do with the shark? I don’t who would rehome him and we don’t just want to flush/kill him...

 

Your LFS should take him. Ask Petco, PetSmart they take in fish too.

 

Agree it's either that or get a new tank for a species only tank.

 

Your little barb isnt going to make it. Besides the trauma of getting apple cored theres the infection which will take him out and can spread. If he is having swim issues it's just a matter of time.

They look mighty small for 2 years old. Tigers should be 2" or so full grown.

 

He did pass away, we found him this morning unfortunately through the night he was gone. We’re very sad

 

The others are two inches or so. The alpha of the group is definitely longer than 2in! We just assume that one was male. Because besides the baby albinos we have, he was the the smallest of the old group... here’s a pic of all together. The greenies are the smallest compared to our regular barbs. New babies have been here about a month.