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[bcmanion]

I bought my daughter 2 Dwarf Gourami's ( redflame and blue ). I completely treated the water for chlorine, used cycle and waited 1 week before putting in the new fish. The blue one died after 2 days. I tested the water and nitrates were present. I did a partial water change and added more cycle and the red one is doing great.....any ideas on what killed the blue one ?.....I'm reluctant to add another until I know...seemed pretty sudden for nitrates to kill the blue one so suddenly ?

 

[tyspot1000]

Welcome to AA!

Did you test for nitrites or ammonia? Even if nitrates are present, that doesnt mean that an aquarium is cycled.

Most likely the ammonia or nitrites would of killed the DG. Once you put the cycle in the tank the week before, The bacteria from it slowly died of because of the lack of food (ammonia). When using a bacteria additive in a tank, most of the time it needs to be added when fish are added also.

As far as adding a new DG, I would not be a good idea, Like bettas, Dwarf gouramis are very territorial with their own species and other gouramis.

Tyler

 

[bcmanion]

I've been adding cycle for the past few days since then. I'll bring the water in for testing again....any advice on what to add to the tank ( small 5 gal ) to go with the red gourami ?

 

[tyspot1000]

Hmmm, I guess I was thinking this was a 10 gallon for some reason...

But I would recommend to take the DG out (They need at least 10 gallons of water, preferably a 20 gallon.) and replace it with, A single betta, school of Celestial pearl danios, endlers livebearers, or a few sparkling gouarmis

 

[The_Desacrator]

+1 to tyspot1000

Also, I would reccomend getting an API Freshwater Master Kit so you can do tests yourself. Also, strips(what Petco/Petsmart use) are highly inaccurate.

 

[bcmanion]

thanks for the advice....my daughter's too attached to it now.....first fish that's survived. We started out with 4 goldfish and replaced them all one by one ( 8 total ) then at the advise of the so called "fish expert" at Pet Smart we bought 2 DG fish as they are " bullet proof ". I guess we'll just pick up a test kit and make sure he does as best we can in the 5 gallon tank and maybe pick him up .a friend

 

[beepboop]

You can buy the bacteria that will help the tank cycle faster at your local aquarium shop. Alternatively, you can use purigen and or chemi-pure. Purigen will absorb the biological waste before it can break down. Chemi-pure Elite will take care of ammonia, phosphates, nitrites, and nitrates. I'm setting up a tank right now with a plant filter, so that the plants will absorb all of the ammonia, etc. However, that's more work that I thought it would be, so I don't recommend it unless you're the DIY kind of person.