I set up a 3 gallon tank in my apartment a couple of months ago. It cycled with the help of some cherry shrimp, and about a month ago I added an albino paradise gourami. Initially he was refusing to eat the flakes I dropped in for him, but I picked up some bloodworms and he's been eating those enthusiastically ever since. He's normally quite active, swimming up and down checking things out and wiggling his way through the plant (there's some java moss in the tank).
The shrimp have died at some point, inexplicably. The little guys were REALLY good at hiding (didn't see them for a couple weeks and thought the gourami might have eaten them, but they then re-appeared, but as of the latest water change (where I took out the scenery for a clean and a look around), no sign of them).
The gourami is now looking a little off. He'll still eat, but doesn't seem as interested, and spends most of his time floating pretty listlessly near the surface, taking the occasional gulp of air (as is usual for him). His colour is looking a little duller than usual, and his fins are tucked close to his body. He'll occasionally swim further down in the tank but still just sort of sits in one spot for the most part. Thought he might be bored so tried showing him a mirror and shuffled his scenery around a bit, but he hasn't shown any improvement.
The tank is 3 gallons, red sea nanofilter, unheated (water in the 22-24C range). I change the water (~40%) every 5-8 days or so. I don't have any chemical test kits so unfortunately no details there, but I know the water is a little hard.
Any ideas as to what could be up with this guy?
My only theory at the moment is that the ammonia/nitrate might be a bit high if the shrimp died recently. Is there anything I could do to help if this is the case? I couldn't find any sign of the shrimp bodies, so hopefully the chemical balance will sort itself out given a little time if that's the problem...
Alazon
The shrimp have died at some point, inexplicably. The little guys were REALLY good at hiding (didn't see them for a couple weeks and thought the gourami might have eaten them, but they then re-appeared, but as of the latest water change (where I took out the scenery for a clean and a look around), no sign of them).
The gourami is now looking a little off. He'll still eat, but doesn't seem as interested, and spends most of his time floating pretty listlessly near the surface, taking the occasional gulp of air (as is usual for him). His colour is looking a little duller than usual, and his fins are tucked close to his body. He'll occasionally swim further down in the tank but still just sort of sits in one spot for the most part. Thought he might be bored so tried showing him a mirror and shuffled his scenery around a bit, but he hasn't shown any improvement.
The tank is 3 gallons, red sea nanofilter, unheated (water in the 22-24C range). I change the water (~40%) every 5-8 days or so. I don't have any chemical test kits so unfortunately no details there, but I know the water is a little hard.
Any ideas as to what could be up with this guy?
My only theory at the moment is that the ammonia/nitrate might be a bit high if the shrimp died recently. Is there anything I could do to help if this is the case? I couldn't find any sign of the shrimp bodies, so hopefully the chemical balance will sort itself out given a little time if that's the problem...
Alazon
