Gouramis sick? i need help

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Adler

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Jan 15, 2020
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I have 4 3-spot gouramis.
a few moments ago my male gold was kind of floating but his head pointing down, i frankly believe my male gold won't last long because he has always been kind of lethargic compared to his female tank mates. I can even pet him without him freaking out.

also i noticed that my female gold was sleeping/resting but what caught my attention is that she was doing so at the bottom of the tank, right on top of the gravel.

these 2 behaviors only happen when they rest, when they awaken they swim just fine.

I've noticed that when they rest they tend to do so at different levels, sometimes low mostly middle and top, but never resting on the gravels, which is my concern.

little white and blue are just fine, but if this is something i can fix i will try, i want my fish alive.

i still haven't found a water test kit, all i could find was a ph test kit. will the ph kit help me figure out the problem? are they sick?

i think i have an algae bloom, i have to basically do water changes weekly because by the end of the week my water gets a slight green algae color. i even have to scrap some algae spots on the wall of my tank.

sorry for the low light pictures, i didn't want to use flash on them resting.

P_20200219_013652.jpg

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OrionGirl

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First, petting the fish can be stressful. It damages their slime coat and can introduce chemicals (soap, lotion, etc) to the water.

Second...I don't understand why you are concerned that they hang above the surface to rest. This sounds completely normal.

Third...how old is the tank? How was it cycled? What size is it? Weekly water changes are pretty common, in order to remove wastes that accumulate. pH isn't going to be terribly helpful on it's own. A test kit for nitrogen compounds will be better.
 
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FreshyFresh

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Not sure where you are from, but is mail ordering a test kit possible? API master test kit is a common and inexpensive one.

What size is your tank? Other inhabitants? That many gourami can be an issue as time goes on.
 

fishorama

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We've told you before, those fish are NOT going to work in your small tank. Now you are seeing the beginnings of problems, they will only get worse as time goes on & the fish grow & mature. I'm sorry you were given such poor stocking advice, you have some hard choices ahead very soon.
 

Adler

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Not sure where you are from, but is mail ordering a test kit possible? API master test kit is a common and inexpensive one.

What size is your tank? Other inhabitants? That many gourami can be an issue as time goes on.
yes! i ordered a kit, had to buy on amazon. As for tank size it is a 20G, other inhabitants: when i bought an amazon swordplant it brought 4 baby snails with it. I've been warned about my tank size and adviced to get a larger one which i will eventually


We've told you before, those fish are NOT going to work in your small tank. Now you are seeing the beginnings of problems, they will only get worse as time goes on & the fish grow & mature. I'm sorry you were given such poor stocking advice, you have some hard choices ahead very soon.
thanks for your help, being really helpful right now!
 

Adler

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last time i saw my fish they were in their normal behavior (this was friday morning,) i returned today and find my male gold with what seems swimming bladder: arched body, unable to sink (he swam down but floated right back up), struggling to keep himself upright.

note: i left for the weekend, was supposed to return yesterday (sunday) late night but for safety reasons i stayed one more night and returned today. my family also left for the weekend on saturday. so they haven't eaten through mid saturday until evening monday.

i've read that not feeding them could be a solution but i don't think this will apply this time

i've been doing my research on swimming bladder but from what i get it isn't a disease itself but a symptom to many diseases.

i need help to rule them out.
1. Congenitally deformed bladder. No way i can check this or can I? the fish has always had a slim body.
2. Cancer or tuberculosis in organs adjacent to the swim bladder. still a slim body, no signs of bloating.
3. Constipation. could be, i don't really pay attention to which or how much they poop i just see the astonishing amount of feces on the gravel.
4. Poor nutrition. maybe? i wanted to put male gold on a separate tank for some time, since he is slowish and ate the least of all 4. barely anything while the others overfeed.
5. Chilling or rapid fluctuations in temperature. i doubt this is the case, all other fish are normal and temperature changes here happen over the course of hours (day and night).
6. Serious parasitic infestation. i highly hope this is not the case.
7. Serious bacterial infestation. i highly hope this is not the case.

this is what i've done so far:
on a separate container, i took water from the tank and moved male gold there. so far he's been able to improve a bit his posture and doesn't seem to struggle as much as he used to, but he is still there.

fish status:
his underside fin (pelvic fin i think it's the correct term) has a like red stain (i'm assuming it is blood ?). the fish while still gold, the stripes he has have faded.

i'm on my way to get peas and see if that can help as i've read that helps with swimming bladder problems.

please help me find a solution!
 

FreshyFresh

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This fish could have been sick when you bought it.

Isolating him in his own hospital tank is a good plan. I'd keep up on water changes in this tank and maybe turn up the heat and aeration. Don't feed. Just monitor.

Going forward, read the labels on the foods you feed your fish. The first 3 ingredients should be whole protein and plant materials. No grains, fillers, byproducts, etc. My experience with gourami is they suffer from blockages easily. The key to prevent this is using only quality foods and not overfeeding. I typically feed my tanks 4-5x week.
 

MeganYiun

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A lot of gourami fish end up getting bloated and sick because of bad water parameters in small tanks. Here is a pic of one I saw the other day posted by someone. Get yourself a larger tank and maybe some live plants because they help ensure your water is doing better.


image source
 
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Adler

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fish died on thursday.

i'm left with 3 female gouramis now.

what would be a good tank size for my 3 gouramis and about 6-10 bloodfin tetras? i also would like at least 3-5 siamese algae eater or rainbow sharks and 1 new male gourami.

This fish could have been sick when you bought it.

Isolating him in his own hospital tank is a good plan. I'd keep up on water changes in this tank and maybe turn up the heat and aeration. Don't feed. Just monitor.

Going forward, read the labels on the foods you feed your fish. The first 3 ingredients should be whole protein and plant materials. No grains, fillers, byproducts, etc. My experience with gourami is they suffer from blockages easily. The key to prevent this is using only quality foods and not overfeeding. I typically feed my tanks 4-5x week.
this is the food i feed my fish:
Seachem NutriDiet® Shrimp Flakes
Tetra BloodWorms Freeze Dried Food


i stop feeding Aqueon Tropical Flakes because drops of water got into the container and most flakes are stuck to the bottom or formed a ball of flakes and now i don't know if this is safe to feed the fish.
 
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