Cherry Barb Injured/Sick

[jmpgop]

Hey there - I got a female cherry barb from my LFS Saturday evening. I added her to my tank (as I don't have a quarrentine tank) slowly over about an hour by adding water from my current tank to the bag, then scooped her out and put her in. I have 1 other male cherry barb. I am working on building a *school* but I have learned my lesson to not add too many fish too quickly (36 gallon bow - ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5ppm, ph 7.8 temp btw 74 & 77).

My tank is rather young, completing its cycle in late July...

I planned on getting 2-3 more females and another male today.

Unfortunately - my new female looks to have what I believe to be may be a broken tail (the male started chasing her Sunday night and I noticed the tail problem Monday/last night) OR would it more likely be TB?

I stood in front of the tanks studying these fish for at least a 1/2 hour before I picked her out and bought her... Would a fish show signs of TB after getting her home in less than 48 hours - I guess maybe it would if it was already happening - BUT none of the other fish in the tanks at the LFS looked to be having any problems...? I don't believe I saw a bent tail when picking her out though. COULD the male have broken her tail... Grrrr - what do ya'll think?

Regardless, I plucked her up this morning and put her in a breeders tank for the time being until I decide what to do & to keep her from getting chased.

Should I return the fish to the LFS and buy a complete school to break up the beating that the males can give 1 female OR???? Keep her and see what happens AND complete my school today to see how she does with some others to break up the beating from the males? How do you know if it is TB or a broken tail... (there are no sores or bloating in her belly and she is eating fine)?

AND None of my other fish are showing any signs of any illness.

(Angel, Pearl Gourami, 6 various Danios, 1 Pleco, 1 mystery snail, 2 cherry barbs)



Janelle

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

i have no idea what to reccomend, but id take the fish back and get a school as you said. iv never heard of broken tail, and TB is kinda uncommon... i think you should be safe and do that.

buuut..... when u say broken tail, do u mean shredded tail FIN or bent/curved back (spine)?

 

[jmpgop]

right at the end of the tail it is bent on the side (not the body but the tail). The male cherry was *right on her tail* chasing her probably all day Monday. I was at work all day and didn't have time to pull her until thi smorning...

Just doesn't seem like TB as described though. And you're right - it is uncommon to have that. And all the other fish in the (combined filtered) tanks at the LFS were (seriously) fine looking... No one looked ill...

And my other fish are fine.

I feel bad taking it back (as ya'll know the outcome of that) but I think it is probably the right choice. Poor thing.

 

[LyndaB]

When fish are meant to be in schools, as barbs are, it usually is harder on the fish to add them one or two at a time, even though you're correct in that you want to add fish slowly to a new tank, but in this case, it's working against you.

 

[jmpgop]

@ Lynda - would you say then that the fish was beat up? Would you keep it and just go ahead and add to the school (and yes, as I had planned to do today!) Please know that my tank had gone through an ammonia spike when I added a fish just a bit back (I had to pull several fish out, put them in to my ten gallon, bring the ammonia down which got over 4.0 and then add the fish back). It was quite scary - I'm a bit gun shy to add more than a fish at a time!

And with the school, what would be your balance of female to male with this tough crowd?

 

[LyndaB]

I don't do ratios. I do schools. So I'm not sure..... but I think for cherries it would be 1M:2F. Someone please correct me if this is wrong. I kept 8 of them and had no issues.

I don't understand why adding one fish would toss you into a mini-cycle. You've got enough fish in there that you should have a sustainable bacteria colony.

If it were my tank, and you're down to what, 1 cherry? I would add at least 5 more.

As for whether or not she's was beaten up, there's a lot of variables. She may have already been injured at the lfs. She may have been injured during transition into your tank. She may have been attacked due to lack of proper school.

 

[jmpgop]

No - not adding one fish at this point, adding a whole school of fish at one time concerned me about a mini cycle. Tank parameters look good after 2 more fish (2 cherry barbs) so I would feel Okay adding a few more I guess. I just don't want to jack up any of my other fish!

we're off to the LFS. They only have 2 females - so we may have to stop at another LFS also. (I need to go to the first one as they have agreed to take the small Chinese Algae Eater from my other tank that I got from my sister n law off my hands!!! YAY!!!) I think I'm going to add 4 more females (to make 5 females) and 1 more male to make it 2 males. (7 total barbs)

Wish me luck!

 

[WAGS]

Hi there! I have 7 Cherry barbs in my community 40 gallon and they do well together. School them. Did you go out and get more fish last night then?

 

[jmpgop]

I did get a school. I have 4 females and 2 males and they are doing great! I appreciate the advice folks. They are such a beautiful fish and I am so pleased to have them as part of my tank. And I love having two schools of fish (danios and cherry barbs now).

Did ya'll know the Cherry Barbs are endangered in the wild due to their decreasing habitat? These are now bred in captavity and may be their only chance of survival of the species

And unfortunately, I did take the one with the bent tail back to the LFS. Best decision for everyone including the fish IMHO. Poor thing.

Janelle

 

[JoeBob]

Dang, wish I'd read this one sooner! Hope it's working out for you, but here's my 2 cents. I kept 8 in a school with 3 females and 5 males, at some point one of the males got injured in the same way. Crooked/bent tail, decided since I'd had him a while to just see what happened. He lived on for about a year and half like that before he died, but I had them for nearly 7 years! They're really great to watch the males perform, enjoy!

 

[jmpgop]

Thanks Joebob!

Unfortunately I did return the fish. I just didn't know. I wish you would have seen it earlier too! I probably would have kept her with my school of 6 that I have now. (As I said, I have 4 females now and 2 males). They are just lovely and I am very happy.

Janelle

 

[LyndaB]

I hope everything works out well for you.

 

[jmpgop]

Yeah - Okay - Things are working out really well with the Cherry Barb School. What a really COOL fish.

Thanks again ya'll for your help!

I like them very much and I wish I could hug them!

I do really wish my Pleco would stop knocking over my Buddha statue though! Sometimes I get sick of sticking my arm in their toilet to pick him up! HA!