I’ve had my pearl for almost a year in a 25 gallon that’s been running for over a year. He’s lives with 3 ottos, 4 embers, 2 cherry barbs and 1 small ember sized fish that is unidentified. His tank mates have been with him for almost his entire time with me (except for the ottos which I introduced on Sunday) without any problems.
Water parameters are 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, ph 7-7.5 temp ~78
He’s been fine this whole time until about a week ago. He’s slower and just floats there or hides. Stares off into the distance like he’s having an existential crisis. He takes a lot longer to eat. He used to dominate the food.
Today he started hanging out toward the bottom of the tank. All the other fish are totally fine. I have pressurized co2 running but there’s also an air stone and he isn’t gasping at all. He will occasionally swim up and take a sip of air but not more than normal for a gourami.
It had been about 2 weeks since I did a water change. I had midterms and didn’t get around to it, but I tested the water to make sure it was okay and the results were 0,0.
I did a water change today, probably 20%. I’m hoping he just needed some fresh water.
There’s quite a bit of algae, it started getting a little crazy a couple days ago and I removed a bit of it during my water change. There’s still a bit of loose algae everywhere and i may do another 20% change tmrw but he tends to get stressed when I do so Ill have to see.
No signs of illness, his fins and scales are as usual, and he’s very pearly.
The only things I can think of are 1) floating plants - I have floating plants but they aren’t growing very well for some reason (water spangles) but there is a bonsai tree he uses for shade or 2) I need to feed him better food. I tried to buy omega color pellets the other day but they ran out. I’ve been feeding them crappy flakes and lettuce switching off every few days.
![Thanks :thanks: :thanks:](https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/images/smilies/Thanx.gif)
Water parameters are 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, ph 7-7.5 temp ~78
He’s been fine this whole time until about a week ago. He’s slower and just floats there or hides. Stares off into the distance like he’s having an existential crisis. He takes a lot longer to eat. He used to dominate the food.
Today he started hanging out toward the bottom of the tank. All the other fish are totally fine. I have pressurized co2 running but there’s also an air stone and he isn’t gasping at all. He will occasionally swim up and take a sip of air but not more than normal for a gourami.
It had been about 2 weeks since I did a water change. I had midterms and didn’t get around to it, but I tested the water to make sure it was okay and the results were 0,0.
I did a water change today, probably 20%. I’m hoping he just needed some fresh water.
There’s quite a bit of algae, it started getting a little crazy a couple days ago and I removed a bit of it during my water change. There’s still a bit of loose algae everywhere and i may do another 20% change tmrw but he tends to get stressed when I do so Ill have to see.
No signs of illness, his fins and scales are as usual, and he’s very pearly.
The only things I can think of are 1) floating plants - I have floating plants but they aren’t growing very well for some reason (water spangles) but there is a bonsai tree he uses for shade or 2) I need to feed him better food. I tried to buy omega color pellets the other day but they ran out. I’ve been feeding them crappy flakes and lettuce switching off every few days.
![Thanks :thanks: :thanks:](https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/images/smilies/Thanx.gif)