# Two male cherry barbs hiding out and not swimming around too much



## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

All my fish seem to be fine excpet the 2 male cherry barbs. They stay hidden and come out only for food, but even then they stay close to the bottem and don't seem to be eating like they used too.

Any reason why?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Sitting on the bottom and not eating is a familar sympton to me now. The fish that died from tape worms did that first. They got "sunken-bellied" and died. The fish that ate the medicated food recovered. I'm sure there are other possible causes, but look up internal parasites. Several kinds seem to be "going around" and unlike many common diseases that come home with new fish, often take months before symptons show. 

I think I'm going to start dosing new fish with Prazi-Pro as a preventive measure.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

emc7 said:


> Sitting on the bottom and not eating is a familar sympton to me now. The fish that died from tape worms did that first. They got "sunken-bellied" and died. The fish that ate the medicated food recovered. I'm sure there are other possible causes, but look up internal parasites. Several kinds seem to be "going around" and unlike many common diseases that come home with new fish, often take months before symptons show.
> 
> I think I'm going to start dosing new fish with Prazi-Pro as a preventive measure.


So if this be the case, which I highly agree with you, what are my next steps?

I don't have a quaranteen tank (it was givin away as a gift :chair


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

You take the carbon out of the filter (either slit the cartridge open and shake it or just replace it with a wad of filter floss. Then you treat the water with Metronidazole (Seachem) or PraziPro or Jungle anti-parasite fizz tabs and feed the tank medicated food for a week. Jungles sells a pellet with Metronidazole or (and this seems to work better with finicky eaters) you thraw frozen brine shrimp, add Metronidazole powder http://www.sunlightsupply.com/aqua/...HEM_METRO&title=Additives / Food&type=product, then refreeze and feed them this for a week. Both the food and water treatments claim to be enough alone, but I like the insurance of a double hit. Even though I also treated the water, the fish that didn't eat died. I think its likely you will lose the 2 sick fish, but if this is what it is, treatment will save the rest of your fish.

After a week, you change 30% of the water and you can dose a second time or put in new filter cartridges and call treatment done.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

I keep hearing how we shouldnt medicate the whole tank?
This is a safe method to nurse the fish back to health. Get some medicated food and drop it in for all the fish to eat?


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Yes in many instances, such as parasites, you really want to treat the entire tank. The parasites are often fairly easily spread, especially if another fish has died of this. If you have sensitive fish like coryadoras then you might want to do half of what the full tank remedies suggest (such as the jungle fizz tabs). The food can be fed to all, it will not hurt the fish that are not affected and it will help the fish that are infected. 

While many parasite curatives state that they are enough keep in mind that in this instance you are dealing with an internal organism that cannot really be reached by external treatments. In general water is washed through the mouth and over the gills, this is well before the stomach thereby making it difficult for the treatment to reach the stomach where it will be most effective. This is why it is important to do both a tank wide curative (it helps to prevent other fish from getting it) and a food curative. All fish should eat the food and any fish infected, even those not showing symptoms right now, will benefit. If they appear reluctant to feed off of the food then you can try soaking them in garlic (this did not work for me but I have heard it works well in general). You can also skip feeding for a few days and then feed when they are more likely to eat strange foods. 

I recently lost a cherry barb to this. At the end he was sitting at the bottom. About 2 weeks ago I lost a female cherry barb to the same thing. She was much more obviously skinny. One thing I noticed in my male is that months ago his stripe became less apparent and his color was starting to fade. Since parasites can take an extended time to work I now believe that this might have been related. At the time I was told it was likely just old age. He was about a year and a half old so I do not think that was the case. 

Hopefully this helps.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

The meds claim to be very safe and I didn't lose any that didn't show symptoms before I treated. Like you, I've been reluctant to medicate when I wasn't sure what was going on. But once you know, you should treat the whole tank, this stuff is contagious. Do any of your fish have white or clear or wiggling poop? By the time I saw obvious signs, though, I had lost a lot of fish. 

Unless you have another suspected cause, in your place, I would try PraziPro and medicated food.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

Thank you so much for the info.
I will be finishing work right away and there is Petsmart a few steps away. So from what I gather I need the tabs and medicated food right, hopefully they have what I need.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

Hey, I remember a lady from petsmart gave me some yellow powder that they dont sell to the public to me. I wonder if that was parasite medication....


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I would find out for sure what it is before you use it.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

This is exactly what I did.

I went to the store and asked that same lady what it was. She said it is parasite medacation. She said to add 3 teaspoons once and after 3 days 2 more. After 5 days change the water.

I took out the filter, it was all brown again. When I took it out a whole bunch of white peices came into the tank and polluted the water. I hope thats not too bad. I cut a white filter out and slid it in. I took 3 teaspoons of the power and dumped it in. Some of the power is sitting in the rocks and the cherry barbs are picking at it. Also some of the fish are eating the white peices???

Anyhow I hope I did it right.

She also said to add 1 teaspoon of melafix a week, and it will help the fish a lot. She said she ahs been doing it for years.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

The 3 teaspoons can be pre-dissolved prior to adding to a tank. That is a really good way to do it so that the fish won't peck at it. 

Were the white things that went into the water moving? Or are they solid like little pieces of calcium? If they are white and moving I would try to get as many out as possible as my guess is it is not a good thing considering what is happening in your tank.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Metronidazole is a yellow powder, so thats likely what it is. Good stuff.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

Obsidian said:


> Were the white things that went into the water moving? Or are they solid like little pieces of calcium?


It must have been a build up of something. Everytime I pull the filter out that's what happens. I lift it up and a whole bunch of those white flakes/paper style peices go into the water, and the fish think its food and eat it. They look really soft. It's gunk of some sort. I'm sure other people get this too.

Edit: Good, I put 3 teaspoons in, 3 days later I'll put 2 in. It feels strange to put a filter in with no carbon, but hey, I guess it works right?


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Yes the white papery stuff is hard water residue, calcium and other hard water deposits. )


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

Obsidian said:


> Yes the white papery stuff is hard water residue, calcium and other hard water deposits. )


*And that isn't a problem hey?*
The fish liked it anyhow.
Num num in their tum tum

My PH is 8.2 and it seems I have very hard water.
So far my favorite fish in the tank are the bolivian rams, they are more interesting then the others now!

Let's hope this medication works, I'll keep you informed.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

Well, the "yellow stuff" seems to be working!

My two male barbs are out and swimming with the rest of the fish, and eating too for that matter.

I guess I can do my 30% water change Wednesday right? O and change the filter back.


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