Cherry barb swimming?

[jammedfool]

One of our cherry barbs is acting a bit odd.

He's been staying in one place most of the day, and now just come out this evening.
The rest of the group are swimming fine, a couple seem to be dancing very close even... but this one seems to be struggling to swim straight and maintain his level in the water. Anything I can do? Only got these yesterday...

Thanks!

[VikingMummy2015]

Could be acclimation issues sadly. My cherries have been active from the word go. My ratio is completely skewed so tonight I have 7 males chasing each other because the single female is getting ready to spawn again .
Feed lightly for the first week, keep an eye out for any bullying, but it may well be it doesn’t recover. But still early days so fingers crossed .

[jammedfool]

Ok thanks... my wife thinks he's like zoolander and can only turn right!
I'm pretty sure I have 2, maybe 3 males and 3 maybe 4 females... I asked for 2/4 ratio anyway.
One male is very active, at one point he was side-on on top of a female... could they already be getting ready to spawn?

Would stresscoat help for the slow one? I used stability on adding the fish...

[VikingMummy2015]

I had spawning within days....they are the most overtly Randy fish i’ve Ever kept .
I’ve never used stress coat and I don’t think it would make any difference to what sounds like swim bladder issues (as far as I can tell it’s dechlorinator with aloe Vera).
How did you acclimate them? (She says, heading to bed so can’t actually reply further tonight). I do a minimum 90 minutes of dripping in tank water, gradually replacing the whole bag with tank water essentially.

[jammedfool]

I'm not sure I did 90 minutes,
I think it was 15mins bobbing, opened the bag and added about 500ml tank water using a little measuring cup which i'd just used to dose stability, then another 2 times at 15 mins before netting them and adding...
I think it was about an hour total but not strictly timed, same as i did with the guppies and pygmy cories in the other tank,
wondering if it was something to do with their ordeal at the store... I almost ended up with a tail-less one until I pointed it out!

[Suse]

I think you just got a fish that is sick, stressed, or otherwise not feeling well They will withdraw and isolate from others by instinct. It's not a good sign. Very possibly the conditions it's been shipped and kept in. I don't buy livestock from P@H as there are often sick fish, and they put them out for sale within a couple of hours of them arriving in store. They have no change to recover or be observed, never mind quarantined.

I don't think it's the fault of your acclimation process. When I buy fish locally that have been kept in the same water, I personally don't acclimate - just net them out straight into clean water. I have read up on the relative risks compared to keeping them in prolonged stress in a small ammonia-filled bag ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aDq7IRwcASQ ). I've never lost a fish during or following acclimation - they always settle immediately and are eating a couple of hours later. You demonstrated yourself how much ammonia was in that bag!

I do slowly acclimate fish who are coming from very different TDS water (ie hard water versus my very soft water) as this can cause osmotic shock. But not otherwise.

Everyone has to make their own decisions on acclimation and I'm not telling you not to. I'm just saying this as I wouldn't want you to blame acclimation and go back to P@H for more badly treated fish

[plankton]

A pic or video might help.
Fish can take a couple of days to settle, and there's always one that's different to the rest.
I hope it's not got a problem, keep your eye on it.

[jammedfool]

He's been sat on the bottom this morning. Whenever I get close to the tank he wakes up and swims about. I have noticed him getting chased a little by the other bright red one briefly.



I'm going to put him in a small tub on his own and try to feed a crushed pea.

I may have to take him back one way or other but hoping I can help him.

Edit:
Moved him into his own spot, he's not touching the pea or any other food :/

[jammedfool]

Well I think the time has come for our little friend... He's now struggling to stay right side up and spending most of his time belly up

The rest seem ok, even randy as @VikingMummy2015 mentioned. I'll keep an eye on the rest but it looks like a trip back to p@h this afternoon...

Edit: he's the right way up again but with limited movement... what a rollercoaster!

[VikingMummy2015]

Sorry he’s struggling. I hadn’t realised they were P@H ....in which case it could be literally anything going on as Suse says.

@Suse i personally acclimate even from local supplier because I like to be extra safe, and my LFS is still 20 miles away (previously it was 30-40 miles). Sometimes they buffer their water etc. I add literally 2 drops of Prime to the bag and then am confident they’re safe and able to be slowly acclimated.

But with P@H even that’s no guarantee because of conditions in the store. With our very first fish, p@h had taken delivery of them literally hours before we bought them and one barely survived the trip home and certainly snuffed it within hours.