please help asap!!! gourami is lying on bottom

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Loren

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Oct 8, 2003
Messages
50
Location
Saskatchewan, Canada
Geez, it doesn't rain, it pours...

In my 10 gal (it's cursed, I swear), my dwarf gourami is lying on the bottom gasping. I noticed he didn't eat at the pm feeding yesterday, or this am feeding. And he's been hanging around the surface where the HOB filter pours in. I had just done my weekly water change on Monday, but I tested and NH3, NO2 and NO3 were just fine. I did a 25% water change anyway, and in the middle of it, he decides to lay down on the bottom. He came up after I added new water, but he's down there again. I think he's on the way out, but this is so fast! I have no idea what this is or how it happened. Any help would be so appreciated.

Other occupants...1 black neon tetra, 2 otos, 1 clown pleco are all fine. There's also a snail in there, and he looks kind of pale and lazy, but that could just be the mood he's in. My limpet infestation is just fine too :x.
 
Urk.

Coupla thoughts. Just to clarify, when you say the nitrogen levels are fine, what exactly are they? Do the nitrites and ammonia read zero? Are the nitrates below 40 ppm?

I sorta suspect some sort of O2 problem with the gourami, especially since he sorta recovered with fresh water, but then went down again and is gasping now. Can you get a look at his gills? Are they red or swollen, or are there any marks on em? Are any of the other fish breathing heavier then normal? I wonder if increasing aeration might help.

It could also be a result of infection; he may have picked up what the betta has and is just showing different signs.
 
He's dead. Didn't take long. He did a very sad loop-de-loop and smashed around the tank a bit (hard to watch), then settled to the bottom and expired. He was so weak the water flowing in from the filter tossed him like a leaf.

NH3 was <.5ppm, and NO2/NO3 didn't even register. Everyone else in that tank looks just fine. Might have been an O2 problem, but everyone else is okay, and if levels were low for one fish wouldn't they harm the others, too? How do you get low levels anyway? I have surface agitation, and although I know air stones aren't touted, I see that water from the filter pushes the bubbles from the airstone into the depths of the tank. And to clarify, the gourami didn't 'recover' when I added new water, but rather just floated up from lying on the bottom. Also, the betta was never near that tank.

Before I flushed him, I had a good look, and you know, I couldn't see anything wrong. Nada. And this onset was so sudden...just two nights ago he was spitting at me when I fed him, trying to knock the food out of my fingers. And last night he wouldn't eat. Up until today his behaviour was normal.

I wonder if he's been eating the limpets that are in my tank, and they had some kind of internal parasite that he picked up? Or maybe he had too many? He's the only one who munched on them. I'm going to deal with them this week.

He's gone, but I'd still be interested in opinions/theories. Thanks so much for the help.
 
Interesting that your nitrates were zero. How long has this tank been set up? I'd expect to see zero ammonia and nitrite and a higher level of nitrate. As for oxygen level...gouramis aren't normally as sensitive to low O2 levels because they are anabantoids and have an auxiliary breathing apparatus (labyrinth organ) that allows them to use atmosperic air.
 
This tank is over two years old. I use the Nutrafin test kits. My test results have been quite consistant, and I the only significant nitrate fluctuations are when I add new fish, and the last time was back in late November when I got my otos.
The first two years with this tank were a successful fluke...I had no real idea what I was doing. I was inconsistant with water changes and had no idea about proper nutrition (and when I joined this site, I thought Allyvimar was "aka the cycling guru" because she had a really cool bike...I'm not kidding :rofl: So, I've been learning alot in the last couple months, and I'm now pretty anal about my water changes and tests. And then this happens. Sometimes it seems the more I learn the less I know...how's that?? I'm searching the net now looking for info on swim bladders...just a hunch.
 
How old was the Gourami? Sometimes fish just get old and their time comes :( Sorry to hear about your fish not making it.
 
Thank you Ally. Something there made me wonder....when I did my water change today, I took out the driftwood that my plant is attached to so I could thin it out, and it really smelled odd. I'm gonna check it again(sniff for rotten eggs), but I wondered about the hydrogen sulfide she mentions in that article. Mind you, my clown pleco rarely leaves the wood, and he's fine. Something to look into. Thanks again.
 
Loren....

It is possible that there was a build-up of anaerobically decomposing food in the substrate underneath the driftwood that you removed. Stirring up that substrate absolutely could have released the by-products of anaerobic decomposition (especially hydrogen sulfide) into your water. It is odd, though, that only the gourami would be affected by it. Very strange!!
 
Possible. I hadn't moved the wood to vacuum in a couple cleanings. No food, but the pleco hangs out there, and maybe waste built up. However, the gourami was acutely ill before the cleaning...hanging out at the surface by the filter and breathing quite heavily. The pleco, on the other hand, is thriving...so are the other fish. Is it possible to have anaerobic debris and still have the tests check out okay?
 
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