Sick Male Dwarf Gourami

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samt1

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
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170
Location
Cambridgeshire
Hi guys, my male Gourami has been showing signs of not being well Friday just generally being less active etc but yesterday he was sitting on the bottom all day, then up top corner basically leaning up against the filter, then thi morning pretty much laying on his side, he is still breathing but certainly not well. His stomach had puffed out a yesterday but must admit this morning it didn't look as bad but that could of been the lighting or angle.
Not holding out much hope for when I get home this evening, poor thing, he's such a lovely looking fish but I guess like everything someone is bound to get sick at some point.
I think it's an isolated occurance as the rest of the fish are great and also have a baby molly who is doing very well.

I've read a few things of what it could be but not really sure, his scales haven't puffed out so don't think it's Dropsy, lets hope he goes quicky and as painless as possible :( Not really sure if there is anything I can do?
 
I have had several pass this way. I can't get any answers about what it is. I saw a translucent thread hanging from its nether region and thought parasite. Treated with something for them but it still died. The symptoms are the same every time. They always separate themselves from other fish. Then lay on their side on the bottom of the tank.
 
What are your water parameters? Does he have any discoloration on him?
 
What are your water parameters? Does he have any discoloration on him?

My water has always been pretty good, I did a test a few days ago and saw a slight rise in amonia 0.25 - 0.5 max, Nitrite 0 and Nitrate 0. I did a 40% water change as it was due a decent change, added a poly filter so pretty happy the water is ok. All the other fish are fine and as mentioned I have a baby Molly that is doing great.
He looks absolutely normal, no colour change, no obvious spots or anything like that, I think he has just fallen ill, I haven't no real knowledge to back that up but can just assume :(
 
Water checks out ok. The only aspect is slightly elevated ph.7.4. Not sure if this is stressing them, but I moved him to another tank without any fish and ph is 7 there. He is getting worse. Was lingering at top of tank, now he is breathing on the bottom laying on his side. Can't see anything wrong with him. Not real sure if his color is off a bit. Hard to tell.
 
My water has always been pretty good, I did a test a few days ago and saw a slight rise in amonia 0.25 - 0.5 max, Nitrite 0 and Nitrate 0. I did a 40% water change as it was due a decent change, added a poly filter so pretty happy the water is ok. All the other fish are fine and as mentioned I have a baby Molly that is doing great.
He looks absolutely normal, no colour change, no obvious spots or anything like that, I think he has just fallen ill, I haven't no real knowledge to back that up but can just assume :(

if you have a reading of .25-.50 ammonia your water isn't o.k. the reading for ammonia should always be at 0. anything above that has an adverse effect on your fish. you should do water changes everyday or 2x a day until that number goes to 0. do you test with api liquid tests? those are the most reliable. have you cleaned youe gravel lately? i would do a thorough cleaning. also are all your fish and snails etc. accounted for? do you have any dying plants in the tank? something is causing the ammonia to rise. you really need to find out what it is before you start to lose fish.
 
i just noticed that you have no nitrates. is your tank cycled? how long has it been set up? you should show some nitrate reading in a cycled tank. how many gallons is your tank and how many fish do you have now?
 
36 gallons. Nitrates are present but within range. No unaccounted for fish and no plants. Have sand and not gravel. Have 13 fish in the tank. Nothing over 3 inches. I use the liquid tests. Ammonia levels are reading .25. Tried to use ammo lock but not really doing anything to lower. Tank is 5 weeks in. Did a water change 2 days ago, about 20%.
 
of your tank is only five weeks in i would say that you are going through a mini cycle. if you have 13 fish in the tank you are stressing the cycle. that is a big bio load to add to a "young" tank. when you add fish to a newly cycled tank you should do so a few fish at a time. test the water and if it's staying within the proper parameters than add a few more. my advice would be to get some seachem water conditioner. it's called prime. you might notice that a lot of people on this site use this conditioner. i would do 40% water changes everyday with the prime added to the water. prime has the ability to detoxifyl ammonia so if you change your water everyday the ammonia should have little effect on your fish. you may have to do this for quite sometime unless you are willing to re-home some of your fish stock. you just added the fish too quickly and the beneficial bacteria couldn't keep up with the bio load. it's possible to get through this without losing fish if you are willing to do the water changes. good luck. :)
 
if you have a reading of .25-.50 ammonia your water isn't o.k. the reading for ammonia should always be at 0. anything above that has an adverse effect on your fish. you should do water changes everyday or 2x a day until that number goes to 0. do you test with api liquid tests? those are the most reliable. have you cleaned youe gravel lately? i would do a thorough cleaning. also are all your fish and snails etc. accounted for? do you have any dying plants in the tank? something is causing the ammonia to rise. you really need to find out what it is before you start to lose fish.

Hi mate, thanks for the reply:
I use the API liquid tests.
Everytime I do a water change I use the hoover thing so clean my gravel on a regular basis.
I have noticed a dying plant which has now been removed so I think that may of been the cause for the Amonia rise?
All other fish are present and correct.
I have a polyfilter in the tank as well now to suck out any other unwanted nasties in the water.

The Gourami died yesterday so not to good but I'm hoping it was an isolated incident but will monitor the water closely for the next little while.

Picking up on another reply, my tank has been going for 7 months now but I have only ever seen Nitrates when first starting the tank after about a month (ish) my Nitrate and Nitrite reading have always been 0.
 
I've had one go this way and the best answer I could get after scouring forums and site was dwarf gourami depression, or Dgd.
 
I only found a few people that talked about it but I think it's like an urban myth, you have to have dealt with it to believe its real. Mine literally was fine one day then decided to 'sit' on the bottom and stare at anyone near the tank, wouldn't move just sit there then eventually it just flopped over stayed that way for a while then just died. All other fish are fine and have been to this day. He just got 'depressed' and died no rhyme nor reason.
 
I have a polyfilter in the tank as well now to suck out any other unwanted nasties in the water.

The Gourami died yesterday so not to good but I'm hoping it was an isolated incident but will monitor the water closely for the next little while.

Picking up on another reply, my tank has been going for 7 months now but I have only ever seen Nitrates when first starting the tank after about a month (ish) my Nitrate and Nitrite reading have always been 0.

A few things about your post have me confused. You mentioned the polyfilter. I'm not totally familiar with the term used but is this filter a replacement or and addition? If it's a replacement, then you may experience an ammonia spike as you may have removed a significant source of beneficial bacteria.

The other thing that confuses me is that you don't have any nitrAtes. A cycled tank will take the waste that is turning into ammonia and convert in into nitrItes with one type of bacteria. A second type of bacteria will then convert those nitrItes into nitrAtes. I've always looked upon the presence of nitrAtes as a sign of a properly cycled tank. PWC's are then performed to control the nitrAtes. I have read about some denitrators. Are you using one?

BTW, sorry for your loss:(.
 
A few things about your post have me confused. You mentioned the polyfilter. I'm not totally familiar with the term used but is this filter a replacement or and addition? If it's a replacement, then you may experience an ammonia spike as you may have removed a significant source of beneficial bacteria.

The other thing that confuses me is that you don't have any nitrAtes. A cycled tank will take the waste that is turning into ammonia and convert in into nitrItes with one type of bacteria. A second type of bacteria will then convert those nitrItes into nitrAtes. I've always looked upon the presence of nitrAtes as a sign of a properly cycled tank. PWC's are then performed to control the nitrAtes. I have read about some denitrators. Are you using one?

BTW, sorry for your loss:(.

Hi mate, thanks for your reply.
The Polyfilter is an addition, I went to a fish shop ages ago when I had amonia problems and asked what would be a good way to help get rid of it (of course water changes were being done a lot) the guy said to put this polyfilter in the tank (wedged next to the main filter) and it sucks out any bad stuff in the water.

I have always thought it weird that my NitrAte value's have always been around the 0 mark but I don't use anything when doing a water change, just add tap safe and in it goes.
 
Doing 40% changes daily. Water clouds up but next day is clear again. Ammonia levels slightly lower. Keeping feedings to a minimum for now. Does it matter that it's a canister filter? It's setup correctly. I thought these cycled faster. No other fish are showing the same signs the others did prior to passing. I will keep up the water changes. Btw, I have sand and not gravel, not sure if that matters. I make sure there are no gas bubbles trapped and the sand was cleaned thoroughly prior to adding to the aquarium. Also, I jumped in on an existing thread as it matched my issue. To make things easier could you reference my name so I know the post is responding to my specific challenges? Thanks, I'm new to aquariums and trying to get it right. Although it seems as though I'm doing much wrong.
 
Hey MIke C,
You may want to start your own thread so that people can address your issues directly. Right now your posts may be confusing to those of us that are trying to help samt1.
 
Then I shall. Thought since it was same issue it would be fine. This is my first forum rodeo. Thanks. I'll launch my own. Sorry Sam1.
 
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