Kissing Gourami constipation problem?

[Joey2619]

Heys guys and gals, my first post here. I have a Kissing Gourami, about 3 inches body length. I havent seen any fecal movement, and yesterday, after coming home from the LFS with two more angels, I noticed after he was shooting flake-ish stuff from his mouth. I feed all my fish the TetraMin flake food. Any ideas? I also noticed I havent seen my big Angel pooping either. Any ideas?

 

[Zagz]

Welcome to AA! First let me ask you how long your tank has been set up and if you have tested for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates? If your tank is newly set up you may have fish suffering from ammonia poisioning. How long have you had the gourami? One thing you can do is feed peas, boil, peel and mush into bite size pieces. That should help them if they are indeed constipated. Posting your water parameters will help us to help you make a proper choice in treatment if necessary. It might just be that you haven't seen them poop yet and that is just the luck of the draw.

 

[Joey2619]

Ive had this tank set up for the last I'd say 6 months problem free. Had the Gourami for about 5 of those months. Angel I had about...Id say 4 months. The tanks been very stable, its a 30gallon. I think I only have Ammonia, Hardness, and pH though.

Ok I just tested the pH, its 7.0, I should lower that a bit definitely. It should be around 6.8. Ammonia test reports 0ppm.

I just put a little acid buffer in, Ill post the new PH in 15 minutes.

 

[Joey2619]

Just as a side note, I just got up and one of the new neons I bought 3 days ago is hanging near the top constantly poking his head out out of the water pretty fast. He wasnt doing this last night.

 

[Joey2619]

Alright well I just did another test, and it still read 7.0 which is weird, plus I was using the same vile I just washed out 10 minutes ago, so test results are probably off, Im going to have to leave now and Ill do a test when I get home in about 7 hours. I hope that neons lives.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Hiya, Joey. Welcome to AA.

First off, no need to adjust your pH. You want it stable, and 7.0 is not necisarily too high, but almost perfect. Fish are very adaptable. What hurts them most is a flucuating pH.

That said, I would feed the peas. It's an amazing cure for constipation.

As for the neon, if it is new, its hard to tell. Could be stress from the move. A previous illness. Fish like to hang at the top a lot when there is a lot of ammonia in the tank, but seeing as this isn't the case for you, I'm not sure. How did you acclimate them when you added them?

Best of luck.

 

[Joey2619]

Well as for the acclimation, I let the bag sit in the aquarium for about a half an hour, just about enough time to set the temp right. The only way the pH would have fluctuated was during a pwc. Ammonia test again read zero. So whats left I mean last night the neon was swimming fine in his school of 5, no problems there, and when I woke up this morning he was doing that.

Tank List as Follows:

3 Angels (One Koi, one Black Veil, and Pearl)
1 Kissing Gourami
5 Neon Tetras
1 Lepoard Dannio (Has a black cottony object on his head, need to ask a question about that)
2 Pictus Catfish (I know my tank is too small for them)

A suitable pH I figured was 6.8.

 

[Joey2619]

Alright well hes back to swimming with his buddies, thats all good.

 

[Joey2619]

Actually should I even bother fasting them, or just crack out the peas, deshell them, then crush them up and put them in ?

 

[Zagz]

Try the peas first and I do recommend getting a test kit that tests nitrites and nitrates as well. AP has a FW master kit that is inexpensive and has the above noted tests.

 

[Joey2619]

I cant get them to eat the peas.

 

[Zagz]

Did you boil them first so the were easier to mush? Make sure the bits are small enough for them to eat. They may not take to them right away. Don't feed anything else and they will eat them when they are hungry.

 

[Devilishturtles]

And on a side note, when your angels get larger, don't be surprised if one of your neons becomes food. Angels and neons are notorious for not getting along together. Specifically, the neon becoming angel food.

 

[Joey2619]

How big do the neons usually get?

 

[Joey2619]

By the way, the fish are looking hungry, they just arent eating the peas.

 

[Zagz]

They will eat the peas, you may have to remove the old peas and put in fresh. If you want to try feeding them regular flake you can but if they aren't pooping I wouldn't recommend it. The neons won't get big enough to not be eaten by the angels, I know this from experience unfortunately.

 

[Joey2619]

Humm...well all my fish are still here. My two new angels nip at the peas pretty often, and Ive seen one of the new one with a white strand hanging out, so Im just waiting for something from the gourami and the big angel. The Big angel looks like it has a little nub sticking out where i guess its anus would be.


EDIT: Looking at the other new angel, I hes pooing too, so its just the angel and the gourami. I cant tell if the 4 neons plus the one that just got stuck in the filter, nor the dannio is pooing either.

Oh yeah, while Im asking questions, I might as well add this. My gourami lost the top half of his rudder fin mass, and some of his right fin mass too...? Whats this look like?

And is there anything else I can do for them besides give them peas to help their possible constipation ?

 

[Joey2619]

I havent fed these fish in about 3 days, I need to know what I should do.

 

[Zagz]

Are the others eating the peas yet? Try some other veggie to entice them, cucumber or zucchini.

Oh yeah, while Im asking questions, I might as well add this. My gourami lost the top half of his rudder fin mass, and some of his right fin mass too...? Whats this look like?

I am not sure exactly what you are asking here. If you are asking if he can heal then I would say with good water conditions yes he could heal. Proividing it isn't fin rot. Did he get caught in the filter?

 

[Joey2619]

Not that I know of, hes a pretty big guy, I dont think hed get caught in the filter. Should I just treat teh whole tank? He looks like hes the only one that has it. And should I start feeding my fish flake food again, or continue to fast them, its their 3rd day.