Dead Gouramis

[wtstelle]

My 8 year old son has a 55 gallon freshwater tank (two weeks old) with community fish. 2 male mollies, 2 male guppies, 1 striped peacock eel, 1 boseman's rainbowfish, 1 new guinea rainbowfish, 1 threadfin rainbowfish, 1 red fin shark and 7 zebra dannio's. Two rock formations, two live plants and four artificial plants. We keep the tank at 78 degrees. We also had 4 dwarf gourami's, but they all died within a week of getting them from Petsmart. We are feeding twice a day - flakes in the morning and a mix of different frozen or freeze dried worms and shrimp in the evening. Two questions:

1) Is that feeding schedule ok?

2) Any ideas why the Gourami's would die (other than getting bad fish from Petsmart) - my son really likes them.

 

[brittanykluss]

Im assuming your tank isnt cycled? Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? or did you just leave the water out over night and add fish??


Do you have a water testing kit?

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

im so sorry to hear about the fish xx
can we have an idea of what they looked like when they died? were they torn up, spotted with red, missing eyes etc or were they pristine except for the dead part? sorry x
thats alot of stocking, and the new guinea/ bosemani doesnt sound gourami compatible. how big are they?
were the gourami chased, did they breathe at the surface alot, did they get barred from the food by other fish?

the feeding schedule is alright, but maybe it would be preferable to feed once every 2 days? it saves money, keeps the fish less bloated and the tank cleaner. please reply with details, thanks

 

[Roundtree]

Gourami are very water sensitive check your water. How high is the pH?

 

[sillygirl423]

I know you've got a lot of questions being asked, I just have one though:
Is the tank cycled?

 

[wtstelle]

I probably did not cycle the aquarium correctly. We treated the water and let it sit for 5 days and then had water tests done by two different pet stores to ensure ammonia, nitrate and pH were within reason.

 

[LyndaB]

You're correct, you did not cycle the tank correctly. Do you have a test kit of your own? I highly recommend the API master kit (liquid). It costs about $22 and will ensure hundreds of accurate tests. Do not get strips. They're worthless.

You'll need to read this: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html

How often are you doing water changes?

Oh, and I think you're feeding way too much. I feed every 2-3 days. The opinions will vary on this but you don't want to overfeed an uncycled tank.

 

[wtstelle]

The Rainbowfish were just added yesterday and all but one of the Gourami died within a few days of entering the tank (5 days ago) and the last one died overnight. The last one did breathe at the surface a lot. All of the other fish are doing fine so far.

 

[sillygirl423]

You're gonna get some great advice here and may I suggest reading the following:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html

The fish stores that checked your water said nothing about your nitrates?

 

[wtstelle]

Thanks. I will pick up the test kit today and get to work ASAP. About the feeding schedule. Is every two days ok? We used to do once daily in our 10 gallon tank, but listened to someone who recommended twice daily with different types of food at different times.

 

[sillygirl423]

Someone else may come along and tell you different, but I think you should return as many fish as you can.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

its harsh but i agree. if it isnt cycled then they wont be able to survive, or their immune systems will be damaged anyway.
why not ask the lfs to hold them on a "holiday" and not sell them while the tank cycles?

 

[epiphysis]

Exactly the same happened with my dwarf gourami. The morning it was fine but in the afternoon it went off to the big tank in the sky. Afterwards I found out that the way they breed them cause a lot of inbreeding and this makes dg's very sensitive. Maybe look at some other gouramis, like pearl, honey or moon gourami.

But first get the tank cycled. It looks like you have too many fish even for a fish-in cycle.

 

[sillygirl423]

I have heard the same about dwarf gouramis being sensitive/picky about their own water.

 

[siva]

My 8 year old son has a 55 gallon freshwater tank (two weeks old) with community fish. 2 male mollies, 2 male guppies, 1 striped peacock eel, 1 boseman's rainbowfish, 1 new guinea rainbowfish, 1 threadfin rainbowfish, 1 red fin shark and 7 zebra dannio's. Two rock formations, two live plants and four artificial plants. We keep the tank at 78 degrees. We also had 4 dwarf gourami's, but they all died within a week of getting them from Petsmart. We are feeding twice a day - flakes in the morning and a mix of different frozen or freeze dried worms and shrimp in the evening. Two questions:

1) Is that feeding schedule ok?

2) Any ideas why the Gourami's would die (other than getting bad fish from Petsmart) - my son really likes them.

1. I would feed once a day and avoid freeze dried foods. If you must feed them, soak them in some tank water until they are completely softened. Gouramis also need veggies in their diet. Mine eat live plants in the tank, as well as blanched zucchini and shelled peas weekly. You can also look in the frozen foods for "emerald entree" which is a mix of worms, shrimp, and veggies that gouramis love.

2. If all of them died, and you didn't see them fighting at all, and you've tested your tank parameters and theres no nitrite or ammonia and no more than 20ppm nitrates, then it was most likely bad stock. Dwarf gouramis are a bit more senstive and do need to be acclimated slowly and kept in very clean water. You can drip acclimate or do the method of removing bag water and adding tank water slowly every 10 mins or so.

Also, more than one dwarf gourami per tank often doesn't work. One will often become dominant and end up the last man standing, so to speak.

 

[siva]

Someone else may come along and tell you different, but I think you should return as many fish as you can.

If you have that many fish in an uncycled tank, things are going to get really ugly. I'd have to say it's going to get bad enough that you'll have to do daily water changes for a long time to prevent fish loss. Please read the following: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! and
The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling. Returning the fish and doing a fishless cycle is probably the best idea in this scenario so you don't just keep losing money in the way of dead fish.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

The rainbow fish all need schools of at least 5 if their own kind each.

 

[wtstelle]

I got a water kit and my ph is too high as well as my ammonia levels. The fish store won't keep them indefinitely and my son can't bear to part with them so I am planning daily water changes of 25% of the tank for the ammonia and am also adding gravel from another aquarium to help jump start the biological filter. I also need to find a good ph reducer - what does everyone recommend? Also, do the ammonia neutralizers/detoxifiers really work?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I got a water kit and my ph is too high as well as my ammonia levels. The fish store won't keep them indefinitely and my son can't bear to part with them so I am planning daily water changes of 25% of the tank for the ammonia and am also adding gravel from another aquarium to help jump start the biological filter. I also need to find a good ph reducer - what does everyone recommend? Also, do the ammonia neutralizers/detoxifiers really work?

What is your pH? Unless it's at the extreme end of the scale don't mess with it. It can do more harm than good. Fish can usually adapt to the pH in your tank.

 

[wtstelle]

My pH is 8.2 which seems high from everything I have read.