My gouramis keep on dying.

[J_t_r]

Hi, I'm having problems with my gouramis.

Started off with two blue dwarf gouramis, had them for bout 2 weeks. Then got 2 Flame red gouramis and 2 neon gouramis. With in a couple of days one of the flame reds where stuck on the bottom and found it really hard to reach the surface. With in 2 days dead, ph 6.6, ammonia o, nitrite 0, nitrate 5ppm and water temp 29deg. Since then each thurs/Friday one shows the same signs and dead on the weekend. 2nd and 4th ones had slight bloted. When the second one died my ammonia had a slight jump to .25ppm, corrected it very quickly with water change and prime. Since then water has been spot on.

Any ideas??

Thanks.

 

[bradlgt21]

Well the ammonia spike was likely from the rotting body in the tank. Are there any visible signs on them? Does it look like they have dust or salt on them. Ich is a very common parasite that goes through a tank fast. It gets brought in from fish at the store and attacks your tank. I learned this the hard way with gourami as well. It took out the sick gourami and one of my $25 plecos. I was pissed after that I realized it would have been much cheaper to buy a 10 gallon tank and sponge filter and set up a QT tank.

You said they are bloated, this is usually a sign of parasits or worms in there stomach. You might want to pick up some anti parasite meds.

 

[tolawdjk]

Welcome to the frustration that is dearf gouramis.

My advice, say "what a pretty fish" then walk and look at a different tank at the LFS. These things will die for no apparent reason. They have been so inbred to bring out the various color variations that any little thing can cause them to die off.

Good news is that there are some really gorgeous gouramis out there that are much more hardy. Honey gouramis will get you about the same oranges and reds. Pearl gouramis are nice, especially the males when they reach maturity. The blue color can be a bit harder, but the three spots can be pretty, if a bit larger and in my experience more aggressive. You can also look for dwarf neon rainbowfish if it is that blue color you are after.

 

[mykidsmylife]

If everything with your water is fine, but the DG keep dying, I would highly suspect Dwarf Gourami Disease. Just do a quick search online and you can find a lot of information on it. I agree totally with tolawdjk, pretty fish, but just walk away from them. There are plenty of other types of gourami's who aren't as prone to this and several species have already been mentioned. If you are looking for something smaller, the wee little Sparkling Gourami's stay really tiny and are extremely pretty. I have one cruising around my 125g and just love him.

 

[J_t_r]

Well the ammonia spike was likely from the rotting body in the tank

They would have only been dead for a max of 8 hours, would they start rotting that quickly?

Are there any visible signs on them?

Nothing that I could see, still had good color right till the end. Only thing I did spot was their fins where damaged when I pulled them out. Suspect others had a nible.

You said they are bloated, this is usually a sign of parasits or worms in there stomach.

Only 2 of them where bloated, which has me a little confused. Still trying to work out if I have one or two problems. For got to add my LSF gave me pimafix which I have been using for the last week and still loosing fish.

If it is one of these Dwarf Gourami Diseases, how long is the life cycle?

Thanks for all your replies.

Jake

 

[Manafel]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that both primafix and melafix are known not to be good for fish with labyrinth organs(such as bettas and gouramis. I would look into parasites. do you have other fish in the tank?

 

[J_t_r]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that both primafix and melafix are known not to be good for fish with labyrinth organs(such as bettas and gouramis. I would look into parasites. do you have other fish in the tank?

Bad enough to kill them? In the tank I also have pairs of silver dollars, angel fish, silver sharks, glass catfish, brissle noise cat fish and some guppies. All show no signs at all, swimming round very heathy, eating and no strange markings.

 

[Jannika]

That's because Dwarf Gourami Disease only infects them. It's so prevalent among Asian imported stock (which most are), that the majority of dwarfs will die fairly soon in home aquariums. There's no treatment, unfortunately. It's not your fault, but the only way to get these fish farms to change their disgusting practices is to stop buying the fish.