Random dwarf gourami deaths

[elliott_001]

About 2 weeks ago a found my female dwarf gourami sitting on the bottom of the tank, not looking well. She died that night, and i never did know why. I bought a replacement female for my male (and the tank in general).
Just now i found my male DEAD! Floating at the surface in amoungst some plants! Whats going on?! All the other fish seem fine, the female is fine (the same way the male was fine when the previous female died).

I really dont know what is causing this. Has anyone else had similar experiences?

 

[TCTFish]

Check water parameters. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH to make sure things with the bio are good or if anything is changing. This should be the very first thing done whenever something seems wrong. If the bio pans out OK, then you can rule out water quality as a problem and look elsewhere for a cause.

Please describe the condition of the body when it was found. Any scrapes? cuts? Puncture wounds? Broken scales? Red streaks? Frayed fins? Irritated or flared gills? Discoloring? Any splotches or excessive slime? Was the mouth wide open or was it closed? Was the belly bloated?

Keep an eye on the female for any signs of illness or parasites.

How long was it from the time the female was introduced to the time the male died?

What color is the surviving gourami (the female)? She is silver gray, right?

 

[fearlessfisch]

I have noticed that there always seem to be a lot of dwarf gouramis on the sick fish page of this site, but maybe it is just coincidence. They have always seemed a little sensitive to me. I know I lost several in a row when I was still changing water only once every two weeks. Since I changed to weekly water changes and gravel vacs, I have been much more successful in keeping them.

 

[elliott_001]

Ok,
NH3 - 0ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
NO3 -10ppm
pH - 7.2 (recently changed after adding diy co2 - came dwn from about 8 over about 3 days)
co2 - 20.8ppm
temp -86F+ due to possible ich signs, seem to have cleared but keeping it up for another week.

The male was floating with mouth towards surface, i think his mouth was closed, but i cant remember, i didnt really check.
No scratches or anything, seemed normal, still had colour, only thing was a tiny bit of fin nipping, but this could have happened after death.

Yes, the female is a silver fish.

The stroy of the dwarf gouramis - 8th jan bought 2 dwarf gouramis (male and female)
14th march female died, no marks, but was on bottom, having bit of trouble swimming.
15th bought new female.
25th male died.

He did seem a bit slow and dopey prevously, just kind of sitting near about 1inch from surface, completely still, but i didnt see it as alarming behaviour.

thanks.

 

[TCTFish]

pH - 7.2 (recently changed after adding diy co2 - came dwn from about 8 over about 3 days)

Did this occur around the time...

He did seem a bit slow and dopey prevously, just kind of sitting near about 1inch from surface, completely still,

???

It's a thought. When did you higher the temperature according to the timing of events you've stated? There may be a stress factor somewhere along the line that may have just taken it's toll on the individual fish. Same as the previous female. Water quality looks very good and no obvious signs of aggression. The nipped fins could have ocured after death, unless they are shredded. Shredded fins are an obvious sign of aggression.

I was just checking to make sure you knew the females weren't the pretty ones. There are a lot of people who think the color differences are gender differences and while they're thinking they have a pair, they actually have rivaling males and wonder why they're beating up on each other...LOL.

What I'd suggest is not introduce another male until the temp treatment is done and after any adjustments made with CO2. BTW...you can feed garlic soaked food to the fish as a way to keep external parasites from attaching to the fish. It works in the same way it does with us, dogs, and cats with repelling fleas, ticks, mosquitos and other blood sucking critters. Makes the potential host smell and taste bad. Kent Marine and Seachem have these products.

 

[elliott_001]

I added co2 about 3 days ago, my temp has been up for a few weeks now, my thermostat was having trouble keeping the temp up to 86 through the night, so i added another small heater, and thats doing the trick.

Occasionally i would see him just kinda sitting in amongst the plants, not really doing anything, but then he would come out and swim about a bit.

If individual fish can stress and the other be fine, then i guess thats what happened. Do dwarf gouramis stress particulary easy? I have to german blue rams, they seem fine.

Yeah, i thought thats what you were asking, i've come to like the females! There far less colourful, but interesting little characters non the less!

The garlic food sounds interesting! I think my ich is pretty much gone, i havnt seen any flashing for a while, and i only ever saw about two white spots on my rainbow shark. So i dont think the ich will get the chance to attach itself anyway.
Thanks for the help.

 

[TCTFish]

There may be factors that haven't come to mind. There's also the fact that we don't know everything about fish and their illnesses. Unexplained fish death without any obvious signs showing may never be found unless the individual fish is given a necropsy. In such cases where the other fish are healthy and the bio is good, the most you can do is just make sure everything is stable before introducing another fish...whether another gourami or some other species. It could be something as simple as the temps. Dwarf gouramis may not be able to handle high temps for long periods of time whereas the south american fish are adapted to withstand high temps considering their natural environments. It's always best not to have any kind of treatments going on or doubts of any fish in the tank when purchasing other fish.

 

[fishygurl]

The exact same thing happend to all three of my dwarf gouramis. The just randomly died. No reason what so ever that I could see. All parameters were perfect! It was crazy. Actually, I bought my gouramis the exact same day you did...LOL If anyone can figure out whats causing the gourami death rampage, ill be surprised. LOL

 

[TCTFish]

Perhaps there's a problem with the source of these gouramis??? That is a thought. Even if they were purchased from different retailers, it is possible they may have come from the same wholesaler. If wild caught, it may be the environment they are coming out of. There does seem to be an increase of problems with dwarf gouramis on this forum. I wonder about on other forums...hmmm...may just go snooping around and see if I find anything.