1 gourami dead

[sbundy]

this morning one of my gouramis was swiiming with lots of difficulty. it seems he was hurt at the bottom of his body(tail). as well the other gourami was constantly nipping his tail. he obviously died few hours later. i tested right away my water:

amonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 10

is it possible that he got hurt by another fish, probably other gourami, and thats why he died? he was perfect yesterday!!! any suggestions or opinions?

also, i added some fake plants to my tanks as well as a backround picture. my rainbows seemed to have become a little more agressive. is this normal? also my gourami died one day after my plants and backround were added.
thanks for ur help!

 

[themadblimper]

What is the color of the backround? Sounds as if he was picked on or diseased. Your water parameters are near perfect, so it cant be bad water.
Believe it or not, the color of the backround can cause aggressive behavior in fish.

 

[Roan Art]

Where did you put the plants? Are you blocking the "schooling" path of the rainbows? They need a clear area to school in and a direct line of sight.

Boesemanis can get aggressive with smaller rainbows, but not normally other fish. All rainbows *need* to school with their own species, and since you don't have "proper" schools and other rainbows in there, they may get aggressive. It depends on the strain of Boesemani you have and there is no way of knowing unless you got them from a breeder.

Ideally you need 6 Boesemani and 6 Irian rainbows, but Irians get to 6" and Boes can go 4". Six of each would crowd the tank.

Roan