2 Strange tiger barbs

[nicolecandy44]

I got 2 tiger barbs and some other fish about a week ago; they were fine when they arrived but now they are acting a bit strangely. One tiger barb (the skinnier one) began hanging around the filter and heater one day, and I never thought of anything to it because my mollies like to do that every so often. But then the next day I saw he started tipping a little over to the right and going sideways. I quickly netted him out and was ready to put some salt in when he started swimming normally again. I studied him for about half an hour the decided to net him back into the community tank. He is now hiding and not eating. The second tiger barb is fatter than the first one and eats a lot. 3 days ago, she started floating to the top and is now vertical, nose down. I thought this was a sign of constipation because I haven't seen her poop in a while, so I tried feeding peas but she won't eat anything. I don't know why I didn't go get a water test earlier I'm going to get one tonight.
Please help I don't want these two to die

 

[TankMan]

One of my cory's went almost vertical about a few days ago. Not to scare you, but he died two days later. I had no idea what was wrong with him and my parameters were fine.

 

[nicolecandy44]

Yes I know...I really hope she doesn't die though

 

[librarygirl]

Is the tank fully cycled? If you can post parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH) that might help us figure out the problem (or at least eliminate a water quality issue). Sorry about your fish, I hope she's OK.

 

[Sparky74]

My barbs will point down at night when I shut lights off. I believe this is normal behavior when they are at rest/"sleeping". All of mine do this at some point after lights out.

Not to say you may not have another issue, but the pointing down(as long as it's not constant) is normal.

Barbs should also be kept in numbers. The more the better. If you only have 2, they will probably be aggressive towards the other fish in the tank.

 

[cejones94]

I have 4 tiger barbs n they have the same strange behavior sometime...especially the nose down thing...all of my fish hang out by the heater from time to time tho. Hope it isn't a bigger prob, good luck

 

[TigerBarbs]

Yea i have 7 tigers and they do that too at night but it could be a swim bladder problem.

 

[nicolecandy44]

That's what I'm afraid of..I thought it might be a swim bladder issue.