Cherry barb not well

[GSL]

Hi, I have 4 cherry barbs in my 29gal tank for about a year now. 1 of them is not doing well for the last 15ish days.

She constinuously gasps, has a nipped tail, has a shrunk belly and mostly floats instead of swimming. I have tried frequent water changes, adding a couple of live plants and adding an airstone intermittently. I have added pics showing her condition compared to other cherry barbs. Temp is 78F, Water parameters seem reasonable (see image 5 days after last water change) although I don't have a way to measure ammonia. 

Seeking advice on ways to help her heal. 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by GSL
Typo

[nabokovfan87]

The first picture I see fin rot on the tail.

The third picture you have a wound on the barb that looks like a fungal infection.  It looks like you'd want to treat with a few medications at this point.

cc @Colu @Odd Duck can you help us out here with full recommendations.

The most urgent issue is going to likely be fin rot, which you would tread with a medication called kanaplex.  You can also use salt and botanicals (Indian almond leaves) for this situation.  The salt will help the fish with osmoregulation, reduce stress, and help the fix with gill function.  You will need to make sure you add an air stone to the tank if you add any medications or salt.  The botanicals have antifungal properties.  All of those would be helpful right away for the sake of treating the external issues.

On 10/27/2023 at 11:06 AM, GSL said:

Temp is 78F, Water parameters seem reasonable (see image 5 days after last water change) although I don't have a way to measure ammonia. 

Barbs like cooler waters.  If you only have barbs in the tank you can safely drop the temps to 72-74 degrees without issue.  This helps to increase oxygenation and reduce stress as well.

On 10/27/2023 at 11:06 AM, GSL said:

This shows what looks like some nitrite in the water.  Because of that I would suggest doing an immediate 50% water change followed by the dechlorination and salt added to the tank.  For the salt, you can do 1 TBSP per 2 Gallons of water and that should be sufficient for what you're treating.

In terms of monitoring things we need to figure out why you're having nitrite spiking and keep a very close eye on it.  Sale helps with nitrite and ammonia burns.  Water changes are your best friend and you can repeat those every 24 hours as you need to.  There's a lot going on here, but let's take it step by step and get things going in the right direction.

[Colu]

Looks like fin rot that's close to turning in to body rot the other fish looks like it has a wound with possible secondary fungal infections it's difficult to tell if the white patch has a fuzzy appearance I would get an ammonia test kit if your seeing nitrite you will have ammonia present as well do a large water changes as @nabokovfan87suggested add prime to help detoxify any ammonia or nitrite What I would do is treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic such as kanaplex or maracyn2 and a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 10 gallons at that level it won't harm your plants and you can add some Indian almond leaves as they have antibacterial and antifungal properties as well add an extra air stone during treatment give an update in a week before then if your seeing not improvement or there  getting worse @GSL

Edited October 28, 2023 by Colu

[GSL]

Thanks so much for your inputs! The pic with 3 barbs is a bit misleading - they are just fine and the white dot is just a image artifact.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/27/2023 at 6:26 PM, GSL said:

Thanks so much for your inputs! The pic with 3 barbs is a bit misleading - they are just fine and the white dot is just a image artifact.

Good to hear.  It looks so much like a fungal spot!

Kanaplex + Salt then.  If you can move the fish to treat, that's best, that way you can use the higher salt dose (and avoid salting the plants)

The thing I just realized, the color on all of the fish seems pale.  I wonder if anyone can comment on reasons for this (apart from temp + oxygenation just causing stress).  Keep an eye on the color too, if they get any more pale it might be significant.

[Odd Duck]

@Colu and @nabokovfan87 have it all correct.  Salt, antibiotics, and more aeration - either one @Colu listed is appropriate for fin rot but if you don’t see pretty fast improvement you’ll need Maracyn-2 in the food as soon as possible.  Kanaplex / Kanamycin does no good in the food since it’s not absorbed from the gut but it will treat externally for fin rot or surface skin infections.  Once infection gets inside the body tissues it may not penetrate from outside well enough to resolve a deep body tissue infections.  Maracyn-2 is absorbed from food so it will get fin or body infections as long as it’s not a resistant bacteria.

The plants you’ve added are a good idea overall but may be affected by high doses of salt.  You can go up to about 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons before most plants are affected but if you go higher dose than that, your plants will likely suffer.  Can you separate the sick fish into a hospital tank so you can treat only that one?  Your other barbs don’t really look as bright as they should, so I do think you need at least low dose salt, more water changes, and more aeration in that tank, possibly more biofiltration since you should not have any nitrites as @nabokovfan87 mentioned.  You’ve likely had an ammonia spike in order to get a nitrite spike.

If you can move the sick fish, you can monitor more easily and treat just that one at the higher dose of salt and with the antibiotics.  The other fish will likely respond to more water changes, more aeration, and light dose salt, plus avoiding ammonia / nitrite spikes.

What’s your filter in the tank?  You said it’s a 29 gallon, is it only the 4 barbs in there and no other fish?  That’s a very, very light bioload if you’re feeding appropriately.  You really shouldn’t have any ammonia or nitrite spikes and your nitrates should be very minimal.  What was your previous water change volume and schedule?  I’ve got over 30 guppies and had 8 juvenile bristlenose plecos in a 10 gallon (overfiltered) and all doing well.  I just moved all the young bristlenoses today as I was feeling like I was pushing too much for the filtration to get reliable growth from them.  I have another 10 G with 2 young adult small species plecos (only get to 5”, currently about 4”), about 30 young bristlenose fry and 10 otocinclus plus recently added a single male guppy for mosquito control since I saw a couple larvae in yet another pleco only tank.  This tank also has massive biofiltration for the size tank and all are doing well with very low nitrates, no ammonia, no nitrites.  Water changes not as often as they probably should be for optimal growth but I have to fertilize to keep the plants going.  Lots of plants in the tanks.  Most of my tanks aren’t this loaded, I use those as an extreme example.

There has to be something going very wrong if you only have 4 barbs in a 29 G with ammonia and nitrite spikes with fairly high nitrates.  Help us narrow down the issues with more information about your tank, your filter(s), your tap water parameters, your feeding schedule and amounts, any other inhabitants, anything you can think of that might matter.

[GSL]

So sorry for posting so late! Unfortunately the cherry barb did not make it so didn't feel like opening up this thread for a while 😞

 Thought of adding some more info if anyone looks at this thread in the future:

1. Fish: multiple other fish in the 29 gal tank, namely - 1 anglefish, 5 neon tetras, 1 siamese algae eater, 1 hillstream loach and now 3 cherry barbs.

2. Filteration: plants - 1 amazon sword and a of valisneria; aqueon quietflow led pro 30 filter with ammonia reducer filter pads.

Personally, in retrospect I suspect overfeeding was the issue and ended up dialing it back. 

[nabokovfan87]

Very sorry for you issue. I have been there and it's tough. It's really tough to get subtle details dialed in when you're seeing an issue over time like that.