unexpected death

[DoctaQ]

i came home to find my sparkling gourami dead today, its insides are completeley hollowed out. interesting.
i dunno what killed it. it didnt show any symptoms, perhaps it didnt eat much but it did not die all skinny or anything. it looked fine.
the tank is pretty peaceful, one other sparkling gourami and a school of pygmy cories and a few khulis. two amano shrimp.
one of the cories are scratching occasionally in the sand but i dont see any ich

any suggestions as to the scraching or the death? parameters are pretty decent, no nitrites or amonia. nitrates below 20 ppm probably even less than that.

 

[Fish Hobbiest]

it could have been a parasite (ich isnt the only parasite around)
did he show any signs at all of being sick?

 

[DoctaQ]

i guess he didnt eat much but he wasnt sunken or anything

 

[Fish Hobbiest]

what are your water params? and whats the temp in your tank?
if he wasnt eating then something most have been causing him not to eat

 

[DoctaQ]

the water is pretty soft and the acidity is quite low. the other gourami is eating healthily and the other fish are out and about

 

[jpappy789]

How long did you have it? Sparkling gouramis do not live long, and it would be hard to tell how old they were when you purchased one. Most fish will go after other dead fish, which could explain why it's "hollowed out."

 

[DeputyChiefJR]

I might also blame the other gourami. They can be suddenly violent and territorial.

 

[jpappy789]

If it's another sparkling gourami I doubt it. They do just fine in groups compared to other gourami species.

 

[DoctaQ]

well it was quite small when i got it, grew maybe 50 percent larger after i got it, although the same batch at the lfs is still quite small. i dunno how to tell its age i guess. if it grew does it mean it was young?

i didnt mention that i went on vacation about a month ago, could it be a latent stress reaction? because it was not well taken care of, two gobies died.
also the two are a breeding pair, they had two spawnings, during which of course the male became territorial. but there was no breeding happening here, i dont think it got killed by another fish but could this cory scratching disease have also killed it?

 

[wataugachicken]

occasional scratching is normal for any fish. same as if you go out in public somewhere and see a person scratching their head - don't automatically think "lice!", just think "he must have an itch on his head". of course, if that person/fish is doing it constantly and really going to town on it, then there might be a problem.