Two issues surrounding tiger barbs

Hey all, I will also attach pictures to (hopefully) help with the description of the issues.

First off, I'll say that the tank is giving me ammonia and nitrite readings at (or very near) 0.00 (liquid test kits, not strips). The pH is the same as usual, the temperature has not fluctuated since the introduction of the fish (78º).

I recently restarted my aquarium, got it cycled and then added my fish - all tiger barbs. One thing I noticed from the start was that one of the regular tigers (I got green, albino and standard) had a very dark patch of internal organs and the area behind the side fins was darker red than the others. I thought this may be attributed to the stress of the move (from my LFS to my home) and may not be overly serious so I opted to give it a few days to monitor it.

So, that's the little guy bottom middle-ish.



His condition hasn't changed and he swims normally, not exhibiting any signs of stress or discomfort. This condition has been present from the inital emmersion into my tank and hasn't lessened or worsened. Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Second, I think I have a bit of a swimbladder issue in a few of these guys. It doesn't seem extremely serious with the fish swimming upside down, sinking, nor floating up top - but there are a few who are angled downwards slightly while immobile. When they move, they swim upright normally like the rest of their fish friends. I did some research into this and think it's probably a case of over feeding them. The first course of action I'm going to take is to just not feed them for a day or so and see if this situation changes (even though that sucks for the other guys who will invariably get a little hungry - a seperate q-tank is not an option right now, unfortunately ). I think I got a little anxious feeding them this first week as my last tank occupants were 3-4" cichlids who ate a considerably amount more than these tiny tigers.

Unless more experience tiger keepers can shed some light on this and prove to me it's something different and offer advice based on past experiences.




Going to feed them peas for dinner tomorrow evening or Sunday and see how they like that.

 

Hi!

When you say the condition has been present since the beginning, do you mean that the fish was exhibiting signs of this "transparency" at when you purchased it?

I do agree with holding off on feeding for a day or so. While I don't generally think any of these are problems, I'll wait for someone with more fish disease experience to chime in.

Good luck!

 

The transparency isn't what concerns me as much as that the innards of the fish stand out boldly. I can see the insides of all of the other fish but none of them are as dark nor as red as this one in particular. And yes, the fish has had this since it was introduced to the tank. I presume it also had the condition while at the store, I just didn't notice when the staff scooped it into the baggy for me (I didn't pick individual fish, just asked for 5 of each 'colour' variety).

And the reason I think the 'tilting' might be cause for concern is that they haven't always done this. It is only in the last 24 hours (they've been in the tank a week now), and it's not all of them - only about 1/3.

 

There resting my barbs do this all the time its normal

 

I'm not sure about this "resting" suggestion. A couple of them have started doing headstands and going to a 90º angle. Again, they're not staying like this for too long, and when they move they swim upright and normal.

Seems a lot like a swimbladder issue.

 

verf

If they can swim normally for a good amount of time i would really rule out swimbladder personally. When my fish had swimbladder they couldnt swim right at all, they would swim weirdly and when i tried to get them to move they would swim away as fast as they could with the swimbladder sypmtons. So as long as they can swim normally for even short periods of time thats a good thing.

As for the red spots my clown loaches have had that for a little while. I dont think its anything to worry about.

As for overfeeding your fish will go a week easy without food.

On a side note the inside of boiled peas is supposed to help with swimbaldder and is also healthy for fish.

 

Agreed, it is normal for barbs to be angled nose down. They shouldn't, however, be perpendicular to the bottom - should be around 45 degrees. Rotating over to 90 degrees could be a matter of the current pushing them that way. Swim bladder issues result in the fish not being able to maintain it's position in the water - they either sink or float, but cannot maintain a particular depth.

As far as tiger barbs are concerned, they will headstand as a sign of submission. Tiger barbs are anything but peaceful, and there is usually a considerable amount of infighting. Tiger barbs that don't want to get involved in that will more or less sit on the sidelines, nose down.

 

OKay, great input guys (and/or gals) - thanks a ton. The tilting was a bit concerning because it didn't seem present from the beginning but if it's normal I'll stop worrying about it.

My previous fish experience has been mainly with malawi cichlids, danios, and tetras but I haven't had an active tank in a couple years. I'm a bit out of shape with this and tigers are new to me, though I really like them and have been very happy with my choice of fish.

 

Just an update, on the off chance anybody was following this riviting storyline. I haven't lost a single tiger in the month I've had them (knock on wood). I did add two algae eaters a while back and one died tw days later, but the other is still living fine without any noticable issues.

 

Glad things are going well for you. Makes the hobby much more enjoyable