Problems in my tank with gouramis

[Iconoclast]

I have a problem in my tank...
My gourami's will one by one become lethargic, and just hang out on the bottom of the tank not moving. They look a bit pale, their fins are a bit ragged, and their gills look pink.
After awhile the fish just die, they do eat but not alot before they die. I have lost 3 such, and now I have a fourth going down. The fish all do chase one another so maybe it is overbullying, but otherwise I see no white specks, no huge color change, nothing.
When I test, Amon and Nitrite are good, PH is at 7.8 and temp is around 80. Nitrate is at 20 which is not bad at all, anyone have an idea?

 

[gophersnake13]

First don't buy any more fish until you figure out what is wrong, also maybe it would be better if there was only 2 gouramis because from what I read they can sometimes be very territorial.

 

[Karnaaj]

Gouramis are very prone to dropsy. If you go with just two make sure they are both males. Males are very rough on the females.

 

[Iconoclast]

What is dropsy? I have also noticed the area in front of their fins looks inflamed, I would not call it the gills but the same area.

 

[TJT]

my dwarf gourami is acting similar with that swelling in the gill area.

 

[Iconoclast]

Anyone with any info that may be of help, I do not think it is dropsy from what I have read.

 

[moboe]

I had 2 dwarf gourami a couple of months back and have since lost them both. I was told that they can often suffer from constipation, and a vegetable (spirulina, et al) diet is very important for them. Maybe the swelling is from constipation?

 

[Iconoclast]

Thx for the suggestion, it is more a pink color around the gill area than swelling, and I do feed them all veg flake food.
I do notice all of the fish are getting lighter in color, and the weakest one is the lightest of all. Does that suggest anything at all?

 

[fishfan10]

The pH could be a slight problem but Im not sure. I think 7.8 is fairly high for a gourami. Also, are there any other fish in the tank? Sorry about your loss.

 

[Iconoclast]

I have 3 yellow gourami, 2 dwarf gourami, 2 red gourami, a cory, and 9 small tetra fish called dadeli's or something close to that.
I actually have caught the yellow fish twice stuck to the filter influx today and had to push it off, I had wondered how two previous fish had gotten there and now I see they were too weak to swim away from it.
Is there anything I can purchase that will at least keep the other fish ok for now? I have PIMAFIX and MELAFIX coming in the mail, I heard they can work well to reduce this type of stress.

edit: Just lost the yellow one with the problems, I humanely flushed him. It is just sad to see the fish all happy and eating, and then progressively get lighter and then listless and then die in days. I did another check, everything looks good, PH is at 8.0, everything else same as before. Do you guys think I need to lower the PH and if so, how?