barb having trouble

Subject: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:03 pm

my tiger barb seems to be having a little trouble swimming, it swims around with no trouble when it is playing with the other barbs but when they are not playing it has trouble swimming, he does'nt sink or float he will just like do" head stands" in the water,
i think it is "swim blader".

does anybody know any form of treatment for swim blader, i know a little bit but i want to get as many treatment ideas as possible.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:22 pm

It's actually very common for barbs to do headstands in the water. Happens all the time. You can try feeding it a peeled pea, but I'm not sure how much it will help.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:29 pm

yea i hear thats ment to help with constipation,
do you think the fish will need taking out of the tank?
i would think it is ok to keep him in there with the rest as if it is swim blader it should ok.

im gonna not feed them for a while, i will just give them a couple of peas tonight.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:32 pm

My only worry with keeping him in the tank, is that the other barbs will gang-up on him if he does have swim bladder. But it sounds like normal barb behavior, so I say just leave him in there.
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Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:35 pm

the other barbs are playing with him and he is chasing them about aswell but he seems to be left alone when he is "head standing".

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:43 pm

Based on the description, it sounds like either A. The barb does have swim bladder and the other fish are avoiding it because it has a disease, or B. The barb is showing signs of mating behavior (not sure about this one, but it's possible), or your just worrying too much and they are all just fine. Wink

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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:51 pm

mmmmm, im gonna feed him some peas over the weekend and keep an eye on him.

if there is no change i will get a move on a try and sort him out, somehow. Rolling Eyes

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:56 pm

If there's no change in his behavior, and everyone is getting along fine, I say don't worry. It's better to not mess with him if theres nothing wrong, than to try to fix it and creating a problem yourself. Smile

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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:13 pm

yea, but his behavior is strage, and i have just turned the light on in the tank and had a close look at him and he seems to hae lost a lot of his colour.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:23 pm

If you had just turned the light on, it's normal for him not to have as much color. When fish sleep, they lose almost all color, it's a survival technique to help them not be as noticeable. If his behavior doesn't change, but doesn't seem to be affecting his health, I still say don't try to change it. He may just be the odd one in the groups, barbs are full of personality after all.
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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:52 pm

ok, we wil leave it at that. :face: bounce

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:53 pm

i like ur pic aswell! Very Happy

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:39 pm

problem kind of solved. Wink

i put the barb in another tank and noticed he was ok and swimming normal, i put him back with his mates and i turned the fiter off and he was doing ok and he was still swimming fine,
so i think the problem was that the current from the filter was making it hard for him to swim. bounce

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:09 pm

Hmmmm, that doesn't sound quite right. Barbs are very strong and fast swimmers, so they actually enjoy current more than anything. Besides, you can't have the filter off permanently, it has to be on all day unless during water changes. If he started swimming with the other barbs when the filter turned off, it's because they were scared. Tight schooling behavior is a sign that the fish are scared, they will scatter about and loosely school when comfortable.
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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:25 pm

the other barbs have no trouble with the current, but as soon as i turn the filter on one of the barbs does head stands and has alot of trouble swimming, and kind of looks drunk,
so i think it is a matter of that barb building his strength up.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:40 pm

Hmmmm, then swim bladder may be the culprit. Can you post the water parameters, the size of the tank, and what other fish you have in it. Him doing headstands seems normal, swimming problems, not so.
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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:42 pm

the swimming problems only occour when there is a current for him to contend against.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sat Feb 09, 2008 11:03 pm

That isn't quite normal, he should be fine with the current, but him not being fine, shows a problem. My suggestion is to put him into a QT tank for now, this may be early signs of another type of disease, and you certainly don't want it to spread to the other fish.

Oh, and just in case, what are the readings for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? And what size tank is it, and what other fish are there?

I hope hes alright, Chris!
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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sat Feb 09, 2008 11:13 pm

Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20ppm

and all the fish are:
5 tiger barbs
2 marble hatchets
4 neons
2 peppered corys

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sat Feb 09, 2008 11:36 pm

Alright, there aren't any other fish that could have stressed him, besides the other barbs. I guess the best possible thing to do, is to QT him, until you're sure what he has. Hopefully he has swim bladder, as it can be cured fairly easily.
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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sat Feb 09, 2008 11:45 pm

theres a cure for swim blader??? study

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:05 am

Not necessarily a cure, per say. But it is easy to help get rid of. Just QT him and do alot of water changes, and he should get better, but I'm not sure how far the disease has gone.
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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:03 am

he is still in with the others and he seems to be geting better, the pupm is on and he seems to have a lot more control over his swimming.

you said that it is not unusual for them to do head stands, do you know why they do it?
sleeping??????

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:17 pm

Alright, that's good! And I believe they do it when sleeping, they do it while vibrating for mating, and they will headstand naturally because of their body shape, I believe.
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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:27 pm

cool cool, hopefully problem solved.

thanks for all your help Very Happy

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:33 pm

No problem! I'm glad I could have helped. Smile

_________________
The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:32 pm

i done some research and it seems Tiger barbs will headstand after a nice big meal which is nothing to be alarmed about.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:25 pm

Yup, it's completely normal behavior. I have seen them doing it more than just after a meal though, but at elast you know it's completely fine. Smile

_________________
The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:40 am

its good to see you doing as good moderator job Very Happy

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:31 pm

Lol, thank you? Just realized that this topic was a health question, so I decided to move it. Wink

It was fun figuring out how to move it. Oh, and by the way, how do you sticky topics?
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The only difference between the animal and the human, are the letters that they are spelled with.

Subject: Re: barb having trouble Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:47 pm

when i add a new topic at the bottom of the page it gives me an option to get it as normal or make it a sticky topic.

i think it is not enabled on your account so i will change your settings.