whiddett
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hi. I have a tropical aquarium and a few months back I bought 5 Cherry Barbs - 2 female and 3 male. One of the females has now for around 5 weeks spent practically all the time resting on the gravel with its mouth wide open. Its like its mouth is completely jammed fully open and it never ever closes. Also, its head appear to be nodding and gills pumping all the time. The fish does move about quite often but rarely off the surface of the gravel. I read about a guy who had a cherry barb that got a piece of gravel stuck in its throught so Ive tried looking inside its mouth when it faces me. All I can see is something that looks white about as far back as the gills. It appears to be tissue as opposed to a foreign object. I dont know whether that is normal though.
All of my other fish appear fine but last week one of the male cherry barbs I noticed was suddenly sitting on the gravel too and the next day was dead. The sick female is still alive though so I guess it must be getting some food though I have not seen it eating.
Does anyone have any clue what the problem could be?
My aquarium is at 24.5degC or 76degF. It is a standard Juwel Rio 120 setup with gravel in the bottom. As well as the 4 Cherry Barbs I have:
2 scissor tails
2 torpedo barbs
2 hara hara catfish
1 leopard catfish
1 botia
2 black tetras
7 cardinals
8 neons
2 male guppies
3 leopard danios
2 rosy tetras
1 ansistros plec
2 white mountain minows
8 algae shrimps
1 red tail shark
3 five striped barbs
1 honey gourami
Last time the water quality was tested it was fine and I try to do a 20litre water change and gravel vacuum every 2 weeks. I change the carbon sponge every 6 weeks. The tank is planted and has a small piece of bogwood and other ornaments. I feed with catfish algae pellet food and either flakes or a cube of frozen red worms/brine shrimps. I try to alternate the food each day.
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks
Steve
All of my other fish appear fine but last week one of the male cherry barbs I noticed was suddenly sitting on the gravel too and the next day was dead. The sick female is still alive though so I guess it must be getting some food though I have not seen it eating.
Does anyone have any clue what the problem could be?
My aquarium is at 24.5degC or 76degF. It is a standard Juwel Rio 120 setup with gravel in the bottom. As well as the 4 Cherry Barbs I have:
2 scissor tails
2 torpedo barbs
2 hara hara catfish
1 leopard catfish
1 botia
2 black tetras
7 cardinals
8 neons
2 male guppies
3 leopard danios
2 rosy tetras
1 ansistros plec
2 white mountain minows
8 algae shrimps
1 red tail shark
3 five striped barbs
1 honey gourami
Last time the water quality was tested it was fine and I try to do a 20litre water change and gravel vacuum every 2 weeks. I change the carbon sponge every 6 weeks. The tank is planted and has a small piece of bogwood and other ornaments. I feed with catfish algae pellet food and either flakes or a cube of frozen red worms/brine shrimps. I try to alternate the food each day.
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks
Steve