Who killed my tiger barb?

[mulishafan90]

I put 5 tiger barbs into my tank, after moving the last of my decor and gravel from my other tank into this one, and they were getting along fine with my stock (Rainbow shark, speckled molly, 2 zebra danio, and a small 1.5" crab). I woke up the next day and could only find 4 of them so I started moving the decor around and found one of the barbs dead missing ALL of its fins and I was wondering what you think caused it. I never had a fish die on me cuz Im kind of new to this, but do you think the crab ate him or was it the rainbow shark or a disease or what?

 

[Scouser]

With the lack of fins it could be ammonia?

I've heard that high levels burns the fins away...

 

[jcolon]

Tigerbarbs are notorious fin nippers. Was it the smallest tigerbarb?
The smallest are often bullied by the larger. How are the other TB's doing?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

How big of a tank is it?

I suspect the rainbow shark if all of them are dead.

 

[Terrance]

The other fishes killed it, then the crab nibbled the fins off!

 

[jcolon]

How big of a tank is it?

I suspect the rainbow shark if all of them are dead.

There's your next suspect!

 

[mulishafan90]

It is a 60 gallon tank but do you think the fins could be missing because the crab cut them off? I do not know if this is possible, but the fishes fins were clean cut. I am wondering if I should put the crab back in the tank because I put him in my 10 gallon this morning thinking it was him. The other tiger barbs are healthy, I do not see them fight or anything.

 

[siva]

Crabs and rainbow sharks will both eat dead fish, but I've never had either of them kill a fish. It's more likely the barb died from another cause and then was picked at.

The barb could have died because it was unhealthy at the time of purchase, or from toxins in your water. Are you testing you water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

What kind of crab is it..a red claw or fiddler I'm guessing? They are brackish semi-terrestrial crabs. If you aren't familiar with the term "brackish" it's mildy salty water. You use the same salt as you would for a saltwater tank, but much less. They need a set up with land access. They cannot survive long term in a freshwater tank without air. I would turn your 10 gal into a proper crab tank for it.