HELP With Dwarf Gourami

hope4peace

hope4peace

AC Members
Nov 14, 2007
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White Mountains of NH
Real Name
Amanda
The dwarf honey gourami I got Wednesday night and has been fine since isn't doing good at all. hes barely alive in the corner only moving when he starts to fall down. barely breathing. I cant even see his gills move just when he moves his fins. this fish usually swims away when I come to the tank but he just sat there when I put my hand in to move the thermometer that he was hiding next to over. I'm pissed off and upset at the same time. Is there anything I can do for him? he doesn't look sick, hes been eating. and hes been swimming around just fine until now. 10 gal tank ammo 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0. the only thing that has changed from when he was fine and now hes not is last night I put my cories in there cause two of them are missing their whiskers and I thought it might be because of the gravel and the bottom in the gouramis tank is sand. they are doing fine, they never bothered him but yet now hes barely alive? is there anything I can do to help him?


he just fell down hes on the bottom now but still alive.. i think one of his feelers are broken, could that be whats killing hi?

now he just swam back up. now hes falling. swimming, falling, swimming...
 
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hes swimming more but still goes to the bottom at times. he stopped and was just sitting up in that corner again for a while then started swimming again?

is it possible he was just REALLY REALLY tired? I'm so confused.

Maybe hes just really forcing himself to swim so he wont die?

what about the fact that one of his little feelers are broken? How do you suppose that could have happened? will it heal? or will he be ok without it?
 
it should heal up. How long have you had him? what is your qt set-up like (any hiding places, substrate, etc)
edit, just read you got him wednesday.
what was his behavior like up until these issues started?
 
this is a pic of the tank hes in, the middle plant is live. I moved it in with the cories last night as I stated in the first post.

CIMG0533.jpg


His behaviour until now has been.. spend a few minutes hiding behind the filter... then chasing his reflection back and fourth around the walls of the tanks. sits in the bottom for a minute and rests. goes to the top and gets some air. swims around behind the plants. Hes never just sat in the corner t hough. and never looked as if he was dying. but now he looks b etter? hes swimming more but still resting more than usual.


temp is 78.4 and now hes sitting on the bottom under the lilly almost on his side, he only moves when he starts to fall over.

EDIT: you can see him in the fake plant on the right on the bottom sitting there.
 
he ate a little when Ive fed the past few days.. as for the other.. well Ive never seen any of my fish .... I don't see how anyone does without watching them 24/7? or is there something wrong that I don't see my fish go? Ive sat and just watched them for 10+ min and never see it happen so I really don't know. now hes sitting up in the corner not moving again. I just don't get it.
 
Well, I typically don't notice healthy fish pooping, but if they are having a problem like intestinal parasites, one symptom is long white stringy poo, which is obviously abnormal.
Water changes can never hurt....are your cories all acting normally?
 
Are you sure you're doing the nitrate test correctly?

You say the cories lost their barbels. Thats usually a symptom of high nitrates and not gravel as many people have cories and gravel that work well.

How often do you do water changes and how much?

If the nitrates are high and fish you add will get sick and die. The only reason that the fish already in the tank are living is because they adapted with the gradual rise. If you put them into a perfect tank the shock would kill them also.

Maybe buy another test or bring some water to a LFS and ask for exact numbers, don't take good or fine for an answer.
 
they are acting fine. I did a 50% water change last night before I added them. That was about 14 hours ago. They aren't lethargic at all. acting like they always have. no labored breathing. nothing.
 
about the nitrates I have been keeping them low. and I am sure about the test results I use a stop watch timer to get it right and even when they read in the 0-5ppm zone I still do a water change.

there is no possible way that the gourami is suffering from high nitrates. As for the cories I really highly doubt it as I said I keep the levels very low. the tank was just set up wednesday when I got the gourami and I used half a filter pad from my betta tank to get the b bacteria started. I did a 50% water change last night before I added the cories, after my ammo was reading .20. nitrite and nitrate at that point were 0. all levels now are 0.

as for bringing water to my lfs I don't trust them the least bit.
 
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