I have a sick fishie...

[sunsplash76]

Hello Everyone~ Well, I have a blood gourami that is not doing well. He is jusk kinda hanging around the bottom of the tank breathing kinda fast (Even for a fish). He won't go to the surface at feeding time either. I did a partial water change to see if he'de perk up, but it didn't help. The temp was 84 last I checked, and I'm going to buy PH and ammonia testers as soon as hubby returns from the gym in which he lives . I had this happen to an angel fish in this tank as well? I even took two fish out of the ten gallon and put them in the 55, so they would have more room and less waster for awhile. I keep the water changed and crystal clear, don't over-feed; I'm just perplexed? Why would it be ill? If I can't keep a few lousy gouramis healthy, how the hell am I gonna manage large cichlids in a 55?
,
~Melissa~

[fishfreek]

How did your ammonia test come out?

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

84 degrees sounds awful warm........i would definately cool it a little bit--slowly though---warm water can't hold as much oxygen in the water as cooler water--it ups the fishees metabolism--therefore they need MORE oxygen! but if your gourami needed oxygen he would likely be at the top of the tank instead of the bottom...does he have any visible injuries, discolorations, or anything? anyone bullying him? he sounds stressed ---

[sunsplash76]

Thanks for the replies!
The gourami doesn't have any visible injuries that I can see, and there are only two other small fish in there currently (another blood gourami and a sunburst platy) If he's being bullied it would surprise me. Maybe he has internal problems I can't see? I'm just waiting to see how he does. I put a new peice of deco in the 10 that they can swim and hide in, thought that would be nice. I'm keeping my eye on him for now. Thank you both.
~Melissa~

[Ramrebel]

I had a lazy, breathing prob with my fire parrot

LFS is great to me - took my water to get tested
had a high Nitrite level
instead of selling me stuff
he suggested I do a water change (first one since tank is one month old)
and come back next week to test again
this might help too

Ed