systemic bacterial infection VS the tiger barbs

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Crap.

Everything was going GREAT. But one of my 9 tiger barbs had just a touch of fin rot that was not going away on its own.

So I bought some Melafix and Pimafix (for fungus), and added them to the tank at recommended doses. Why not - it can only help, right? Harmless stuff, stress reducer.

Day one - lots of foamy bubbles on the surface. Tank inhabitants seem very active and much more colorful than usual. The snails are even going nuts - both are WAY further out of their shells than I've ever seen. This is great!

Day two - Many of the barbs are starting to shimmy in place and are non-responsive to me walking past or even to food. Edges of fins getting ragged and white. Other fish, while not sick looking, are nonetheless acting strange. Female German Ram resting on bottom at times - but she maintains a healthy appetite and coloration, no fin problems. Killifish huddled together near surface. Kuhli loaches darting to the surface. Oxygen problems? Did a water change. Everyone acted better. Decided I had been being paranoid. Add a bit more pf both medications (calls for daily doses for 7 days).

Day three (last night) - Things are looking better for everyone except the barbs. They are no longer eating at all - mostly just sit there shaking and shedding white skin or slime. Red sores forming. Fins continuing to deteriorate. Added carbon filter pad to filter, medium water change. Tank temp was a bit down (it just got cold here - moved heater from corner to middle of tank, turned up a degree or two.

Day Four - (now)

I thought for sure there would be dead barbs this AM, but they're all holding on. I'm kind of at a loss on what to do - I know tiger barbs are often inbred and weak - plus, these were the fish used to cycle the tank, which may have weakened them further. Maybe they've always been kind of sick, and this is why they haven't been much trouble to the other occupants.

Are they doomed?

This sucks. Everything was going great until I added that goddamn tea/medicine, and something went horribly wrong in there.

Ph is 6.4 (bogwood), Nitrates between 40 and 80, no ammonia or nitrites.

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Came home from work today and most of the barbs seem to be looking a BIT better. A couple look worse, though - red ulcerous looking sores all around the base of the tail fin, badly frayed white edged-fins, and a few red, bleeding--looking sores on the body. Although they are all still hanging in place for the most part, some of them DID swim around a bit after another medium water change, and even peck toward some food.

It's hard not adding Melafix - all the problems they are having are the types of things it is SUPPOSED to be excellent at treating. You know, as opposed to CAUSING.

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[An t-iasg]

I know that bettas and gouramis are sensitive to Melafix. It's possible that the barbs are too. It sounds like water changes, rather than Melafix, are helping. Continue to do water changes, especially to get the nitrates down. Do about a 20% change every day -- you don't want to lower the nitrates too quickly, since the fish may have become accustomed to it.

It sounds like the barbs need to be QT'd and treated with an antibiotic. I have had good luck with Kanacyn in the past.

About the barbs shaking -- "shimmy disease" affects mostly livebearers. It's not a disease of itself, but it can be a sign of low electrolytes in the water. Do you use any aquarium salt? That can add beneficial electrolytes to the water. The usual dose is one tablespoon to 5 or 10 gallons of water. Start out with one tablespoon per 5 gallons, and add more gradually, to see if it helps the shimmy.