Unwell Cherry Barb

[OutOfFocus]

Hello all,

One of my Cherry Barb females has fallen ill rather suddenly and I lack the experience to diagnose or cure the problem. For a couple of days I'd been noticing her regularly resting on the substrate and rubbing her belly against plants, then yesterday I noticed a red blemish on the underside of her head. She could still swim fine, and was very camera shy so I struggled to get any photos of her, but at feeding time I saw her resting on her side instead of her belly for the first time and snapped some pics before she darted off. After returning home from work today I found her on her side again and while she did swim away she's definitely having some problems.

Some other info, let me know if you need more:
Three weeks ago I dosed the tank with NTLabs' Anti-worm/fluke medicine due to my Pearl Gourami showing signs of worms and while I have done larger water changes and added carbon to the filter I'm a little concerned that it may have caused some kind of reaction in her. All my other fish seem fine, water tests have come back with no ammonia/nitrites and I'm using London tap water. The tank's been running with few issues for about two years though when I bought the barbs I did have a case of gill flukes that I'm not sure they ever 100% recovered from as they still flick occasionally.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Bradders]

Hello - I am sorry to hear about this.

Can you please provide us with more information? Ideally, the below. (It's as bit of a pain but provides us a picture).

1. Full tank screenshot.
2. Filtration and media used.
3. Size of the tank (litres).
4. Amount of fish you have in there.
5. Feed regime, amount and brand.
6. Water change frequency, type of water conditioner used and how much.
7. Is there anything else you can think about in terms of the environment?

 

[OutOfFocus]

Sure, though it's not the prettiest tank. This photo was taken two months ago after I'd taken a short holiday and come back to a lot of evaporation so it's not perfect conditions but the gourami's doing a cute little wave. Planting wise everything's the same and I haven't added any new inhabitants, water's just at a higher level.
2. An Aquaclear 50 HOB and Nicrew Magi700 internal filter, both filled with sponges and the HOB has some biomedia balls too
3. 130L, though a lot is taken up by hardscape/deep substrate
4. 6 Pepper Corys, 14 Glowlight Tetras, 10 Cherry Barbs, 1 Pearl Gourami. Countless Cherry Shrimp, MTS and Ramshorns, plus 4 Amanos and a Rabbit snail
5. Feed once per day, rotating between Hikari Bug Bites and Organix daily granulate. Various frozen foods once a week and a hikari algae wafer every few days. I couldn't really give you an amount
6. Once a week, around 25%? I use Seachem Prime as a conditioner
7. Due to the HOB I've only got half the tank lidded so water does evaporate quite quickly, I'm not sure if that's a problem but figured I'd mention it. I'm not sure if there's anything else worth noting, been sitting here for a while thinking about it.

 

[Bradders]

Thanks for this - this will help people get a picture.

It's hard to tell - it looks like a bacterial infection on the skin and perhaps some swim bladder issue. But I can't make it out.

I am hoping someone will be along soon with some helpful advice.

 

[PARAGUAY]

I was thinking swim bladder also, if it's dropsy the scales will have a pine cone look, could be parasitic, rubbing against things would be an indication ,the redness could be a sign of injury,sorry can't really help more ,maybe try esha exit in combination with esha 2000 ,which treats a lot of conditions including bacterial, quarantine if you can and test for ammonia and importantly nitrite

 

[Bradders]

And to address the 'flicking' you describe that you mention never really had gone away.

Do all of your fish display this behaviour, or is it just one species etc?

 

[OutOfFocus]

Thank you both for the advice but unfortunately she passed away overnight. I'm surprised at how fast she deteriorated, kicking myself for not acting sooner.

Do all of your fish display this behaviour, or is it just one species etc?

Just the barbs.

 

[Bradders]

Really sorry to hear that. She looked in bad shape, but as long as your others are doing well, then I would put this down to a random fish loss. Keep an eye on the others!