Did my tetras kill my Dwarf Gourami?

[Todd2]

Well my male dwarf gourami is dead today. I scooped him out of the tank while doing a water change. He was missing about 1/2 of one "feeler" and 3/4 of the other one. I didn't notice any visble fungus/parasites on him or anything wrong in the past few days. He has been eating. It seems like a mystery death. The tetras that I have are black skirt tetras, btw. And strangely, today, while doing a wc, they seemed more interested in the syphon tube and would take turns nipping at it. Normally, they stay out of the way.

Water params: (taken after a 50% water change - which I do weekly)
Ammoina - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0-5 ppm
pH - 7.4-7.8 (had a hard time reading the card)

Nothing seems wrong w/ my water chemistry so I was wondering if my tetras were the ones to blame? Thoughts on this..explanations?

 

[imrandome1]

I dont think that they would kill, they might try and eat it when its dead but other than that i dont think so but i dont now anything about black skirt tetra's only neon's, the tetra's might not be threatened anymore so are more willing to go out and try new things like eat the syphon Lol, sorry for your loss btw.

 

[Reechard]

I've got black skirts and they aren't very aggressive towards much of anything. What else is in your tank?

 

[Todd2]

Yeah, I don't think they "attacked" it like piranhas attack prey, but perhaps fin nipping and bullying caused a pre mature death? Thats more what I was asking.

As for the loss, meh, I'm not too bummed. I was going to trade him in at the LFS after I get back from vacation because I'm tearing the tank down and redoing it and wanted to get some other fishies.

EDIT:

Reechard,

It was just the gourami and the 6 tetras in a 20G. Low Bio-load.

 

[imrandome1]

Yeah, I don't think they "attacked" it like piranhas attack prey, but perhaps fin nipping and bullying caused a pre mature death? Thats more what I was asking.

LOL perhaps if you had lots of them and only one gourami the quick fast sapping movement of the tetra's might of killed it?

As for the loss, meh, I'm not too bummed. I was going to trade him in at the LFS after I get back from vacation because I'm tearing the tank down and redoing it and wanted to get some other fishies.

Fair enough then.

 

[MSU Fan]

I have skirt tetras, and while they can get nippy, I seriously doubt they would actually "kill" another fish. However, they will scavenge a dead body if there is one available.

 

[hc8719]

i can imagine the black skirts putting on a happy face as todd walks by the tank, as todd leaves the skirts quickly drop the happy expression, and then give the gourami a sinister look...