JRoss

I thought the gravel could be a problem, but it looks much too big to fit in his mouth. Gravel looks to be about a centimetre or so long, where as his mouth is much smaller. There is more movement in his mouth today compared to yesterday, but he still can't shut it. Breathing looks to be normal, and he was eating this morning. These two signs I imagine are most important.

Well I can usually see how fast they're breathing by the speed at which they open and close their mouth (I'm guessing thats what you mean). In his case, his mouth just stays open and doesn't shut. Can't see anything inside his mouth. We're wondering if he got too close to the heater while it was on and hurt himself that way - given that the other fish are all ok... Can fish burn themselves on the heater? It actually looks like he has no lips.

As mentioned, having difficulty with getting a decent photo, but these two seem to show his mouth which he cant close like the other fish can. Apologies about the image quality.

I'm a bit of a newbie and need some help with diagnosing what is wrong with my fish please. This morning he was fine, but tonight I noticed he was sitting down the bottom and his lips don't look right. The upper lip seems darkened, and the lower lip the normal colour, both lips kind of look turned in and he isn't opening and closing his mouth much. In addition his left pectoral fin looks a little red, and he has a small red spot just behind his right eye. I've moved him into an old tank and water changed the main tank. All other fish seem fine. We're trying to get photos, but he won't stop moving at the moment after being transported to his temporary home. He's a small barb, although I'm unsure exactly what type. Similar size and shape to the rosy barbs though. Any ideas??

The fish is the runt of the litter, so to speak - the smallest in the tank. There are 4 other barbs (Rosy and Ruby) and 4 borneo suckers. Perhaps I'll do more water changes than usual for the next couple weeks then.

I've just noticed that one of my Ruby Barbs seems to have a little chunk out of her tail... suspiciously about what you'd expect to be fish "bite size"! She still eating and swimming, although a bit more anti-social than usual. She looks fine, but just wondering if anyone knows if this is normal and whether it could affect her in the long term?

But if it is the current they like... why do they sit on top of the filter where there is little flow?

Thanks for your advice. Janelle, mine seem to be in love with the filter too. I guess it must be the vibrations. I'll keep putting the algae wafers in every now and then, and just clean them up in the morning if they're still there.

I'm interested to know what you all feed your bottom dwelling less active fish? I've got 4 Borneo Suckers which are brilliant at hiding, but I never seem to be able to catch them feeding. I'm guessing they get everything they need from the sides of the tank, although my tank is fairly new and so there can't be a whole lot there to feed on yet. I have tried putting in algae wafers a few times, but the other fish notice it before the Borneo Suckers do, and they hover around it for hours, presumably scaring the suckers away.

Thank-you for your comments - they are very helpful. Heater is now on its way! I'm sure there'll be a lot more questions from this quarter as I learn more and more. Cheers.

I'd like some advice on heaters please. I would like to add more fish to my current collection of 5 barbs (2x Ruby, 3x Rosy) which are currently in an unheated tank. I am quite interested in Odessa Barbs which my LFS has in a heated tank. One of the people at the LFS suggested that I would be fine to get a heater and put it in with my current 5 fish, then add the Odessa Barbs. I would like a second opinion though, because my experience has been that the LFS doesn't always give the right advice... Would my current 5 fish mind the addition of a heater? They were sold from an unheated tank and seem more than happy with their current unheated environment. If so, what is the optimum temperature to increase the tank to, and does it need to be increased over a slow period of time? Also, in future would it be fine to buy a half dozen or so danios from unheated tanks and put them into the heated tank?