First off, I'd like to say hello and thank you so much for your time in advance! I'm sure my lil fishes would thank you too 
My honey gouramis look black and just plain bad and I'm not sure what's wrong with them. Please help!
We have a 10 gallon tank with 2 honey gouramis, 2 kribensis, and 1 bolivian ram. Tank has been set up for about 3 months and we got the 2 honey gouramis in question about 2 months ago. They have been black looking for over a month at least. Temp is 78 degrees F and we have 2 live plants and an ornament ("desert arch rock" from Petco). About 30% water changes have been done on average every 2 weeks. Dip strip tests have come out within safe parameters, although it has tested total hardness to be about 150/Hard and pH between 7.2-7.8/neutral-alkaline which I don't believe is a problem but not sure, just throwin it out there. There is a reoccuring brown/orangish algae problem that slowly grows back, mostly on top of our arch decoration, a few days to a week or 2 after cleaning (cleaning is done only with water, never any chemicals). We feed them mostly flakes but also blood worms every few days.
I've attached some pictures instead of trying to describe the condition, so please view them as they might say it all. The bigger of the two honey gouramis is more black and weird looking than the other. The first time we put them in the tank they looked a little tiny bit dirty or 'off' to me and it progressively got worse over a few weeks time.
NONE of the other fish have ANY visual defects or any problems and seem to be perfectly healthy. The two gouramis actually seem to act and be healthy too, except for their color. (The big one is also a bully to the smaller one and chases it frequently, unfortunately. Maybe we need to get another of a certain sex?)
To help with their blackness, the fish store sold us this "Ich Cure with Formalin (formerly Zoa Cure)" stuff that says it's "An effective cure for any external protozoans" and we've been using that for over a week with very little results. It seems to have SLIGHTLY helped because now they have golden/honey strips along the top and bottom edges of their body but the rest of them is just as black.
Sorry this is so long! If you have any idea what their problem might be, we would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions!
My honey gouramis look black and just plain bad and I'm not sure what's wrong with them. Please help!
We have a 10 gallon tank with 2 honey gouramis, 2 kribensis, and 1 bolivian ram. Tank has been set up for about 3 months and we got the 2 honey gouramis in question about 2 months ago. They have been black looking for over a month at least. Temp is 78 degrees F and we have 2 live plants and an ornament ("desert arch rock" from Petco). About 30% water changes have been done on average every 2 weeks. Dip strip tests have come out within safe parameters, although it has tested total hardness to be about 150/Hard and pH between 7.2-7.8/neutral-alkaline which I don't believe is a problem but not sure, just throwin it out there. There is a reoccuring brown/orangish algae problem that slowly grows back, mostly on top of our arch decoration, a few days to a week or 2 after cleaning (cleaning is done only with water, never any chemicals). We feed them mostly flakes but also blood worms every few days.
I've attached some pictures instead of trying to describe the condition, so please view them as they might say it all. The bigger of the two honey gouramis is more black and weird looking than the other. The first time we put them in the tank they looked a little tiny bit dirty or 'off' to me and it progressively got worse over a few weeks time.
NONE of the other fish have ANY visual defects or any problems and seem to be perfectly healthy. The two gouramis actually seem to act and be healthy too, except for their color. (The big one is also a bully to the smaller one and chases it frequently, unfortunately. Maybe we need to get another of a certain sex?)
To help with their blackness, the fish store sold us this "Ich Cure with Formalin (formerly Zoa Cure)" stuff that says it's "An effective cure for any external protozoans" and we've been using that for over a week with very little results. It seems to have SLIGHTLY helped because now they have golden/honey strips along the top and bottom edges of their body but the rest of them is just as black.
Sorry this is so long! If you have any idea what their problem might be, we would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions!
