MysticSkye
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I adopted a beatiful power (or powdered?) dwarf gourami from a family member. My tank is well cycled and I have never had any sort of ammonia or nitrite spikes since it has been cycled. I had 28 neon tetras, 8 panda corys, and 3 snails - mystery, 2 nerites - that have been thriving! Snails shells look awesome and panda corys are patrolling the grounds (super cute), anyway, I got the gourami and he was loving his new tank. Especially since I created a special area with hornwort, almond leaves, duckweed, and red root floaters. He immediately claimed that spot. I was worried since I've heard some gouramis can be aggressive, but this guy is the most chill fish I've ever seen. He even was polite enough using his ventral fins to introduce himself to my snail. He never once nipped or showed any aggression towards any of the fish currently in there. I do, however, think he knows he's the "boss" lol.
He has been in my tank for about 2-3 weeks now and showed no signs of illness. The day before Christmas, I was watching my tank (like I normally do) and all of a sudden he was acting weird and swimming oddly eventually resting at the bottom of the tank. I was like what the heck!? He was just chilling a second ago. I panicked but monitored his breathing and such. About 15-20min. later he swam up to the surface and was back to himself. The next morning I wake up and he's laying on his side with steady calm breathing. I did notice he had a long string of brown poop and though, oh no! He must have some sort of backup and it's a swim bladder issue. I turned off the tank lights and left him and checked in every 10 min. or so. He moved to different spots, breathing was still calm and steady. I've had fish that looked like that in the past that I knew were done for. I was truly expecting to say my goodbyes.
It was my son's birthday party so things got busy and I didn't get to check on him as much and then my mother was said, "He's Swimming!" I was like what? I look and he's back to his normal self chilling in his spot and going around pecking at the plants. I have no idea what happened!? The first thing I did when I saw he wasn't right (his first episode) I tested my waters and they were PERFECT!! I also didn't notice any other fish showing signs of stress or illness. I'll tell you something I DID notice that kind of made me think what might have happened. I had a GREAT amount of red root floaters. He loved sitting under those. I slowly began noticing my red root floaters were gone and figured they must have died and got sucked up through filtration. But as this thought came to mind I remembered that gourami LOOOVED eating those! Then I thought...."THAT'S IT!" He must have been eating the heck out of those and blocked up his system a bit. The tank has been in a fasting mode for 48 hours..only this morning did I do a VERY light feeding. All today his behavior has been normal except I have noticed him pooping more frequently. Not as stringy but still brown "lines" of poop.
If anyone has time to read over my story - lol - I'd love some input on what may have been the reason for this strange episode. All my red root floaters are gone, and I'm scared to buy them again.
He has been in my tank for about 2-3 weeks now and showed no signs of illness. The day before Christmas, I was watching my tank (like I normally do) and all of a sudden he was acting weird and swimming oddly eventually resting at the bottom of the tank. I was like what the heck!? He was just chilling a second ago. I panicked but monitored his breathing and such. About 15-20min. later he swam up to the surface and was back to himself. The next morning I wake up and he's laying on his side with steady calm breathing. I did notice he had a long string of brown poop and though, oh no! He must have some sort of backup and it's a swim bladder issue. I turned off the tank lights and left him and checked in every 10 min. or so. He moved to different spots, breathing was still calm and steady. I've had fish that looked like that in the past that I knew were done for. I was truly expecting to say my goodbyes.
It was my son's birthday party so things got busy and I didn't get to check on him as much and then my mother was said, "He's Swimming!" I was like what? I look and he's back to his normal self chilling in his spot and going around pecking at the plants. I have no idea what happened!? The first thing I did when I saw he wasn't right (his first episode) I tested my waters and they were PERFECT!! I also didn't notice any other fish showing signs of stress or illness. I'll tell you something I DID notice that kind of made me think what might have happened. I had a GREAT amount of red root floaters. He loved sitting under those. I slowly began noticing my red root floaters were gone and figured they must have died and got sucked up through filtration. But as this thought came to mind I remembered that gourami LOOOVED eating those! Then I thought...."THAT'S IT!" He must have been eating the heck out of those and blocked up his system a bit. The tank has been in a fasting mode for 48 hours..only this morning did I do a VERY light feeding. All today his behavior has been normal except I have noticed him pooping more frequently. Not as stringy but still brown "lines" of poop.
If anyone has time to read over my story - lol - I'd love some input on what may have been the reason for this strange episode. All my red root floaters are gone, and I'm scared to buy them again.
