Gold Gourami problem

[boo-boo]

I moved my gold gourami from a 16 g to a 90 g last night. The levels are all 0, temp is 78 degrees. I noticed as soon as I put her in the tank she started surface breathing much more than usual. I assumed it was just a sign of stress from the move. As she has continued to spend a great deal of time at the surface breathing (actually staying there and taking 6-8 breaths as apposed to her usual occational 1-2 breaths) today, I starting to worry.
I also just realized that her left feeler (long sensory fin, hope that's the right term) is broken about in half and is hanging. Although I was quite careful in moving the break must have happened during the move as I didn't see it prior. Not sure what to do/watch for?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

[mduros]

Your nitrates should not be at 0. IF they are testing at 0 then something is wrong with your water tests. Please give us more detail. How long has the tank been up? Is it cycled? Do you have adequate filtration.
Take care,
Mary.

[boo-boo]

Sorry, to clairify; ammonia and nitrates are 0, I have to get a test kit for nitrites so I don't know that level. The tank is newly set up (3 days) and hasn't gone through a cycle yet. However I have a Top Fin filter on the tank from the 16 gal that was fully cycled, in addition to the new Emperor 400 filter. And in addition to the gourami I only have one Silver Dollar in the tank right now.

[jm1212]

if ammoina and nitrates are zero, chances are the nitrites are going to be elevated :(

[mduros]

That explains it. Please get a bubble wand and air pump, that will add aeration to your tank and should soothe your fish. I am not positive but I think you should still go through some sort of cycle. Though the filter from your cycled tank will definitely help to seed the new tank so cycling should be much kinder. Please get yourself a full test kit. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals with the test tubes is a good one.
Take care,
Mary.

[boo-boo]

o.k., I have a air pump so I'll get that going now.
What about her sensory/"feeler" fin? Anything I can do/look out for?

[jm1212]

my brother has an opaline gourami and his feeler thing broke, and it took a while but it did heal :)

[Nim Dibbley]

how could it just break? maybe it got stuck in the net while moving?

[boo-boo]

I suspect it did get caught in the net. Not sure how I was as careful as possible.

[Grundy]

You may also want to make sure that your water level is not right to the top of the tank. If the water from the Emperor is allowed to drop a centimeter or so into the water that will help with aeration and surface agitation. The gourami will not want a waterfall but some surface agitation should help the oxygen level.

[ryanhayes9]

my gold goramis break a lot from all the moving

when salt fish do that i normally reccomend a powerhead for surface aggitation for more oxygen transfer but gouramis are laybrinth breathers also

[Grundy]

Any updates?

[boo-boo]

Thanks again everyone for your help.

I was at the LFS today to by a nitrate test kit and the power went out..in the whole town. Someone's not paying the electric bill and I thinks it's our wacky governor...but hey that's another discussion entirely!

So I can't report that level. However I did install the airpump and lowered the water level a bit it create more water aggitation. The gourami seems to be soothed by these actions and is back to surface breathing on a more normal rate. The sensor fin broke off completely (it was dangeling at first), but she seems to be fine. She's swimming normally and eating well. As some of you may recall I had some aggression problems with her in the smaller tank and as you all predicted the larger environment has stopped that behavior completely. In fact now that it's just the two of them in this rather large tank, they seem to hang around each other for comfort..funny.

Anyway, thanks for the support
Brenda

[Grundy]

I'm glad they (and you) are doing better. Sorry the move was so exciting for you...