Cherry barb surfacing for air...

[Lonewolfblue]

Any reason a male cherry barb would be going to the surface for air? My water parameters are excellent, and all the other fish are doing great, including the cories on the bottom. He's been doing it a week now, even before I added my DIY CO2. So I know it's not that. Anything I might be able to do for him? Other than gasping now and then, he looks normal.

 

[MattAquaBio]

It could be indegestion. Or maybe ich in the gills. What kind of aeration do you have? How warm is the tank? Do you have daphnia or Algea in your tank?

 

[An t-iasg]

If he's been doing it for a week now, I would consider treating with an antibiotic. One time I had a betta with red gills (bought him that way) and I used Maracyn and the gill inflammation went away. Can you tell if your barb's gills are red or swollen? Was this the tank that had ich recently?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

It's my planted 26G. When I had the ick in the 75G and transferred it to the 75G, I noticed a couple of the fish in the 26G flashing as well, so I treated for ick as a precaution. Currently I'm running the Emperor 280 biowheel. Lots of surface aggitation. The current temp is 79 degrees. All other fish doing great. Can't really tell if his gills are red, as he's red, lol. Makes it difficult to see. Also, lots of algae in the tank, lol. No daphnia.

 

[MattAquaBio]

lol well it sounds like you've got plenty or aeration in the water so i doubt its that. Even with the algea it would have to be a lot of algea to suffocate the fish, and it wouldnt just be him either i suppose.
It very well might be an internal parasite. My girlfriends pearlscale goldfish got a parasite from (i think) a plant she had put in her tank without rinsing off first or anything. It did that for a couple weeks, it gradually started doing it less, but instead it would just sort of sink to the bottom like it had the shimmies. I asked the guy at my lfs and he said it was probably an internal parasite or bacterial infection. By the time i got to her house to treat it it was dead so i really dont know.
One other possible thing is flukes, the parasite lodges in the gills (as you know) and it might just be starving it for oxygen. The fish dashign around and then coming to a stop is a common sign but i've also read that they surface (and sometimes sit right next to the bubble stone). You could try quarantining him and treating him with an antiparasite medication. I dont believe raising the temperature would work for him.
HTH.

 

[Zacharyws]

i saw this happening with my danios when my tank got to 80 i just dropped the water level and it went back to normal

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The temp is 78-79 now. I put in a powerhead and he's not doing it any more. I only turn it on a couple hours a day. Gives the fish a good work-out, lol.