# tiger barb acting strange and suspected ich on gourami



## hassan (Apr 4, 2007)

my tiger barb was hovering near the surface, with its mouth at the surface level gasping for air, and he was not eating properly, i removed him from the tank into a quarantine tank and added 50% new water in the tank and left him there for a bit where he was eating a bit

while tending to him i noticed on my gourami's.....there is two white spots, on one of them, i am suspecting ich? should i start treatment right away? or should i wait for a bit more to appear before i start adding salt

i am concerned about the tolerance levels for high temperature of for the tiger barb and the red honey gourami and the salt....specially when my barb is acting a bit strange? would it be okay to add salt in now and raise the temperature, or would that cause too much damage to the fish? >.< 

i don't want to lose any fish ._.

can i use normal table salt?

my checked my water just now and its as follows

Nitrate: less than 5
Nitrite: 0.1
Ammonia: 0
PH: 7.5 
4 red honey gourami.
1 tiger barb.
35 gallon tank
thanks in advance for taking time to read and help out >.< being new to the hobby i have many questions and concern for the health of my few fish.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Nitrites are detected. Do a partial water change to eliminate it. I am guessing your tiger barb was suffering from nitrite poisoning.

Any pics of your gourami with white spots? Monitor first before you start treatment.

I have used table salt before and I have no problems whatsoever with it.


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## hassan (Apr 4, 2007)

oo, okay i shall do the water change

i tried taking some pictures of the honey gourami's...there is not nearly enough light to get a picture of them on high shutter speed without using flash, i took some pictures using the flash, but it blinds out the two spots. here have a look:


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

It does look like ich but I would advise monitoring the gourami for awhile. In the meantime, give your fish vitamins to boost their immune system. Increase the temperature by 28 degrees Celsius.


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## nvmyluv420 (Mar 29, 2007)

i just experienced almost the same problem with my angel fish. being a beginner with the hobby i didnt realize that some fingi look like ich and they start to grow when the water conditions get poor. in my angels case ammonia levels peaked and she had some nibbeles on her fins. she started to grow white spots and a white film. one drop of melalueca oil cleared it up within hours! melafix is the store bought version of this oil.


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## hassan (Apr 4, 2007)

wow after i went to sleep last night....and woke up this morning, the ich spread like mad, its on all the fish now, do'nt think its fungi, looks definately like itch.. >.< I will start treatment when i come back from work..i hope the itch doesn't consume all my fish

will also look into fish vitamins, i didn't know such things existed lol

thanks for the help blue and nvmyluv420
^^


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## hassan (Apr 4, 2007)

oh and...hhigh temperature and salt tolerable by tiger barb and honey gourami?


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

hassan said:


> oh and...hhigh temperature and salt tolerable by tiger barb and honey gourami?


Yes.


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## hassan (Apr 4, 2007)

Blue said:


> hassan said:
> 
> 
> > oh and...hhigh temperature and salt tolerable by tiger barb and honey gourami?
> ...


awesome ^^

i added 30 tea spoons of salt this morning, came back from work now, tiger barb is VERY active, stealing food from the gourami's, looks like things are going okay.


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