My Dwarf Gourami died...

brackishwannbe

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Dec 17, 2002
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... what kill him? I've had a pair of Dwarf Gouramis' since I started my community tank and when I feed the fishes last night, everybody was in fine condition. However, this morning I found my male Dwarf Gourami belly-up under the drift wood. I recently added a pair Sailfin Mollies to the tank, because I'm going to be starting a BW tank and planned to use the Mollies as the first fish in the tank.
I also lost a Zebra Danio last week after a major water change/decor cleaning. He was injured when I moved the decor around. He was MIA two days ago, I searched the tank throughly, but didn't find him until this morning when I found the Gourami. My question is, could the Sailfins be aggressive enough to have killed the Gourami. I've never seen them nip at the other fish in tank. I also have Swordtails, Cories, Betta's, Danios, and a Pleco, and have not seen any of the fish aggressive towards the others, except for the male towards they own female.
I'm also at the limit of amount of fish in the tank, its a 29G. Mabye is was a territory dispute? Any ideas... Thanks.
 
The tests were:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
PH 8.3

There was severe fin damage to the gourami. Also today was my weekly water change. I did notice my male Betta acting a litle sluggish. I should of did a water change two days ago, but hopefully with doing it today I wouldn't lose another fish. Trust me, that was a hard lesson to lose the fish. It will not happen again. Thanks.
 
the ph seems sort of high..........

have you tested the tapwater ph at all? at the ph you stated ammonia would be pretty toxic even if it was from a small fish degrading.

without knowing for certain the damage was there before the fish died is pretty inconclusive. most other fish will see a dead tankmate as an opportunistic meal.

something feels missing here...........
 
The tap water is around 7.6 - 7.8...


I did a 25% water change yesterday and everybody is very happy. I've tested the tank water yesterday and today, here's the results:

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
PH 8.2
GH & KH, way off the chart!

The different lfs have told me that I have excellent water for brackish or cichlids tanks.

... also I noticed today that female betta & swordtail both have nips out of the tail fins. I guess I got fin nipper, none of this happened until I added the pair of Sailfins, guess they going into a different tank in awihle.
 
You might have a problem with the Gourami & Betta not getting along. Bettas & gouramis are from the same family and don't always get along. Also, make sure you add dechlorinator to the water when doing water changes - very important.
 
Originally posted by brackishwannbe
The tap water is around 7.6 - 7.8...


I did a 25% water change yesterday and everybody is very happy. I've tested the tank water yesterday and today, here's the results:

PH 8.2
GH & KH, way off the chart!

The different lfs have told me that I have excellent water for brackish or cichlids tanks.

ok...... what's causing the ph climb? rocks? shells? substrate?

like i said.... the ph is high and most of those fish won't like it.....

maybe test tapwater ph/gh/kh after 24 hours.........?
 
Ph changes are more detrimental to the health of your fish than absolute #'s. I'd suspect that the Betta and Dwarf got into it and the Dwarf lost :( They are both territorial and closely related. My Gold Gouramis and the fry have spawned/thrived in water with a high Ph-high 7/low 8 range Gh-13, the Kh is very low-only 3. Merry Christmas, Steve :D
 
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