The very first tank I got around 2 years ago was a 29 gallon tank that I got used. It came with two male blue three-spot gouramis (though they are/were brown) and a platy. Currently, there are a handful of platies, one of the gouramis, 6 serpae tetras and 4 cories the tank.
When I first got the tank, the previous owner had had it and the gouramis for over a year, and I suspect more like 2-3 years. There weren't many hiding spaces in the tank, so the male gouramis learned to live together. These gouramis are hardy. The tank and water was in filthy, horrible shape when I got it! One of them survived columnaris, and I think they both had gill flukes, both well over a year ago.
Once I got the tank, I added a bunch of ornaments and plants (real and fake) and one then two decent sized caves on opposite ends of the tank. Eventually, they each claimed a cave as their own territory. They tended to spend 80-90% of the time in their own caves, only occasionally venturing out for food or whatever. For a little while after they established their territories, they'd to the kissing fight if they'd both ventured out. But they quickly settled down.
Since then, they got pretty lazy, and rarely ventured out of their caves. With the java moss hiding the cave entrance in the front, I often didn't see the one in the left cave for weeks (months?) at a time. Then suddently, he'd appear, and start eating like crazy. Then he'd disappear for weeks again. I often wondered if he was hibernating! ;-) The younger gouramis in my other tank will occasionally disappear for a day at most, but almost always come out to eat. Heck, the other ones come out to beg for food 2/3 of the time when I walk by! Almost never with these guys!
Neither gourami had much interaction of any sort with any of the other fish, other than occaisonally chasing a cory out of their caves.
Like the gouramis in my other tank, they seem to alternate between looking for food when they notice me to quickly hiding when I walk by. These two are much more skittish than the others though, most of the time, at least.
About 4 months ago, give or take, the other gourami started freaking out on a regular basis. He'd swim VERY quickly all over the tank, often hitting the top quite loudly. And I'd definitely hear the water getting sloshed around. This would go on for anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute. Then he'd calm down. Sometimes, he'd repeat it a few minutes later as many as three or four times. Then he'd go back into his cave and wouldn't do it again for a day or two, or even a week.
But then suddenly, he started having a big reaction to whatever was causing his freakouts. It would end with him suddently going limp, often curled up in a "C" formation, and sinking. A few times it looked like he stopped breathing. It reminded me of an epileptic fit. If I tried to hold him up with my hand or net, he'd recover, somewhat slowly.
One day, I didn't see him again. I couldn't find him anywhere. Not in the back or the filter or even outside the tank. it was a mystery. A few days later, when searching some more, I discovered his decaying corpse lodged into a piece of driftwood. The wood had a sort of c-shaped crevace in the area I couldn't see, and he somehow must have lodged himself in there during one of his freakouts and couldn't get out and eventually died.
So, that was the end of it. Or so I thought.
The remaining gourami stayed hidden in his cave most of the time, only popping out every week or so for food or foraging. Everything was back to normal.
Until tonight. He's been coming out of his cave a bit lately. He is starting the same behavior. He's freaked out at least a half dozen times tonight, hitting the cover a few times. I've seen him take at least 5 laps around the tank, run into the walls and caves and other fish. It seems like he doesn't see where he's going, but he did react to my hand once.
Any idea what is happening? I'd be sad if I lost my oldest fish! He's still my favorite. (Don't tell the others!)
Is it just old age? Is he losing his sight and freaking out about it? Sick?
He doesn't seem to have any outward symtoms that I can see. Neither did the other one.
What's weird is that after the freakouts, both of them would swim around like nothing happened. At least at first. Though they were both less skittish about me being around then normal.
In fact, right now, he's swimming around the tank more than he has in months. But calmly now.
The tank has been cycled for years now. My ammonia and nitrite are 0. My nitrate is a bit high right now at 40 or so. Temperature and ph are normal. All of the other fish seem fine, if somewhat skittish when he starts freaking out all over the tank! I'm doing a 30%+/- water change as we speak. The filter is a Marineland Eclipse 170 (with regular filter cartridge changes), with a big air stone and a 250W (I think) heater. There's lots of java moss in the tank, too. I feed the fish a large variety of mostly flake foods, with some freeze-dried bloodworms (the gouramis LOVE em!) and brine shrimp and frozen brine shrimp from time to time, as well.
Thanks for any help you can give!
When I first got the tank, the previous owner had had it and the gouramis for over a year, and I suspect more like 2-3 years. There weren't many hiding spaces in the tank, so the male gouramis learned to live together. These gouramis are hardy. The tank and water was in filthy, horrible shape when I got it! One of them survived columnaris, and I think they both had gill flukes, both well over a year ago.
Once I got the tank, I added a bunch of ornaments and plants (real and fake) and one then two decent sized caves on opposite ends of the tank. Eventually, they each claimed a cave as their own territory. They tended to spend 80-90% of the time in their own caves, only occasionally venturing out for food or whatever. For a little while after they established their territories, they'd to the kissing fight if they'd both ventured out. But they quickly settled down.
Since then, they got pretty lazy, and rarely ventured out of their caves. With the java moss hiding the cave entrance in the front, I often didn't see the one in the left cave for weeks (months?) at a time. Then suddently, he'd appear, and start eating like crazy. Then he'd disappear for weeks again. I often wondered if he was hibernating! ;-) The younger gouramis in my other tank will occasionally disappear for a day at most, but almost always come out to eat. Heck, the other ones come out to beg for food 2/3 of the time when I walk by! Almost never with these guys!
Neither gourami had much interaction of any sort with any of the other fish, other than occaisonally chasing a cory out of their caves.
Like the gouramis in my other tank, they seem to alternate between looking for food when they notice me to quickly hiding when I walk by. These two are much more skittish than the others though, most of the time, at least.
About 4 months ago, give or take, the other gourami started freaking out on a regular basis. He'd swim VERY quickly all over the tank, often hitting the top quite loudly. And I'd definitely hear the water getting sloshed around. This would go on for anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute. Then he'd calm down. Sometimes, he'd repeat it a few minutes later as many as three or four times. Then he'd go back into his cave and wouldn't do it again for a day or two, or even a week.
But then suddenly, he started having a big reaction to whatever was causing his freakouts. It would end with him suddently going limp, often curled up in a "C" formation, and sinking. A few times it looked like he stopped breathing. It reminded me of an epileptic fit. If I tried to hold him up with my hand or net, he'd recover, somewhat slowly.
One day, I didn't see him again. I couldn't find him anywhere. Not in the back or the filter or even outside the tank. it was a mystery. A few days later, when searching some more, I discovered his decaying corpse lodged into a piece of driftwood. The wood had a sort of c-shaped crevace in the area I couldn't see, and he somehow must have lodged himself in there during one of his freakouts and couldn't get out and eventually died.
So, that was the end of it. Or so I thought.
The remaining gourami stayed hidden in his cave most of the time, only popping out every week or so for food or foraging. Everything was back to normal.
Until tonight. He's been coming out of his cave a bit lately. He is starting the same behavior. He's freaked out at least a half dozen times tonight, hitting the cover a few times. I've seen him take at least 5 laps around the tank, run into the walls and caves and other fish. It seems like he doesn't see where he's going, but he did react to my hand once.
Any idea what is happening? I'd be sad if I lost my oldest fish! He's still my favorite. (Don't tell the others!)
Is it just old age? Is he losing his sight and freaking out about it? Sick?
He doesn't seem to have any outward symtoms that I can see. Neither did the other one.
What's weird is that after the freakouts, both of them would swim around like nothing happened. At least at first. Though they were both less skittish about me being around then normal.
In fact, right now, he's swimming around the tank more than he has in months. But calmly now.
The tank has been cycled for years now. My ammonia and nitrite are 0. My nitrate is a bit high right now at 40 or so. Temperature and ph are normal. All of the other fish seem fine, if somewhat skittish when he starts freaking out all over the tank! I'm doing a 30%+/- water change as we speak. The filter is a Marineland Eclipse 170 (with regular filter cartridge changes), with a big air stone and a 250W (I think) heater. There's lots of java moss in the tank, too. I feed the fish a large variety of mostly flake foods, with some freeze-dried bloodworms (the gouramis LOVE em!) and brine shrimp and frozen brine shrimp from time to time, as well.
Thanks for any help you can give!
