My Red Flame Gourami, has turned dark almost black

[joshcat]

I have a red flame gourami that was a sole survivor of a 29 gallon tank, other than a pleco. He cohabitated with 4 small angelfish and 5 other gourami's prior to the tank getting some type of illness, that wiped out the remainder of the fish. For about three months I did not repopulate the tank. In this three month time period he thrived was bright and beautiful. A few days ago I decided to repopulate this particular tank. I introduced a female flame, 2 gold gourami's, 2 small gold severums, within a day he started to turn darker and darker, and now he is almost black. He seems to stay in the back upper left hand corner of the tank and is very aggresive to the other fish. I have had fish for many years and have never seen anything like this. I can't figure out if he is ill or if he is stressed or upset. The other fish in the tank seem to be doing great and show no signs of stress or illness. Can anyone help me figure out if this is some type of illness or if it's him becomming upset because of the introduction of new fish. I do have 2 other larger tanks a 55 and 56 gallon but I don't believe he would do well in either one having discus and the other having agressive ciclids. Cathy

 

[mike47517]

The only thing i can think of is that he is showing his dominance. Or maybe he wants to breed and thats how he shows it. These are just guesses i've never had a gourami lose its color do to tank mates before.

 

[joshcat]

Thank You!

I want to thank you for your reply. I hoping that others could possibly know the reason for this to no avail. It seems as though you may be right, he seems to be hanging in there.

His change in behavior and color has not been a characteristic that I have experienced in this fish, in the many months that I have owned him. The thought of a possible illness, was one that I wanted to intervene before it was a day late and a dollar short.

The other fish seem to be doing fine still, and although his color and behavior have changed he too is still thriving and eating.

Thank you so much for your thoughts on this matter.
Cathy

 

[mike47517]

Your welcome. Just trying to help.

 

[joshcat]

Gourami taking a turn for the worse...

As I feared this appears to be more than a stressed fish or territorial thing. He is now refusing to eat and very lethargic. My gut instinct told me that there was something wrong. I wish I knew how to treat?!

Guess I'll take a drive to the LFS to see if they have any thoughts on this.

All the other fish in the tank still appear fine with no visible signs of sickness.

 

[black hills tj]

You could try feeding him some blanched peas...maybe its just a digestion issue.

 

[joshcat]

Thanks Mike,

I'll try that... It certainly can't hurt the situation. I'm stumped!

 

[bs6749]

Pictures? Most likely an external parasite or gill flukes brought on from the stress of new tankmates. Possibly something that was present at the time of the demise of the other fish in the tank but he was healthy and the disease didn't take hold. With the stress of the new tankmates the fish was stressed and the opportunistic disease took over. Formalin at a dose of 1mL/10g will take care of the external parasites. You can dose "Quick Cure" if you want though it may stain the silicone in your aquarium blue (that's the malachite green). Pics would help solve this problem though I'm fairly certain it's a parasite.

 

[Bribo]

My daughters fish started to go dark and almost black, they included gouramis and guppies, some died. There was a build up of ammonia 4.0ppm, I believe it got to.
Have since read elsewhere that blackening is a sign of ammonia poisoning.