[Cole]

Hello, everyone.

I am new to the fishkeeping hobby. I currently have a 29 gallon tank with 5 Zebra Danios, 3 Julii Cory catfish, and 2 Flame Dwarf Gouramis. I was feeding them yesterday and I noticed that one of the Gouramis was laying at the bottom of the tank in the corner. She wasn't moving her fins and I thought she was dead, but I tapped the glass and she appeared to snap out of it and start swimming around.

Today I turned on the tank light and found her floating near the top on her side. She was clearly having some trouble. Right now shes back on the bottom just laying on her side but she's still breathing.

I tested the water parameters and there was a slight amount of ammonia and nitrates, but they were reading in the safe zones. The water temp is currently 78 degrees F. I can't find any physical signs of illness like white spots or anything, but she's clearly not well.

What should I do here? Should I do a water change? Is there a medication i might try giving her. Like I said, I'm new to this hobby and I don't really know what to do here.

Thank you for your help.

 

[sprmankalel]

I would first separate her either in a breeder net or in her own tank. Does she look swollen? Are there any open sores? What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate reading? Is she eating?

 

[tankman12]

Do you have a female and a male?
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[Cole]

I believe I have both a male and a female, but I'm not 100% certain. At least one of them is male because he recently made a bubble nest. The females don't make bubble nests, correct? I'm using a cheap test kit from walmart to test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Nitrite levels are at zero, I was getting a slight ammonia and nitrate reading, but the test kit said they were in the safe range. I did a 25% water change just to be safe. She ate a little bit yesterday, but today she wants nothing to do with food. The other gourami also keeps nipping at her for some reason.


EDIT: Sorry, I just had a quick look at the test kit and it's the Nitrates that are reading zero, not the nitrites.

 

[tankman12]

Well if there is a male and a female in a 29, that is not great. The male will harass the female all the time. If you have them together, you should have 1m 2/3f.
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[Cole]

Well if there is a male and a female in a 29, that is not great. The male will harass the female all the time. If you have them together, you should have 1m 2/3f.
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Oh, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks. I'll have to get me another female then. I just hope this one survives.

 

[tankman12]

Is the tank planted? If not could you post a pic of the tank? Ya the more females the safer.
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[Cole]

Yes, it's a planted tank although some of the plants are admittedly a little unhealthy. Unfortunately I sold my camera a few days ago and I don't have anything to take a picture of the tank with.

 

[tankman12]

Okay just get some more females. If you can separate her do it. Then when you get more females take out the male, change some stuff around and then put them in all at once. If she is still having issues, than something internally might be going on. Does the male chase her every time he sees her? If so than that is why she is sort of staying out of the way and lying in the corner. So the male will not see her. But i dont even now if she is a she.
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[sprmankalel]

If she's getting nipped at it's not good. You need to separate her. Chances are she won't survive but might come around after separation.

How exactly do you know that one is a male and one is a female?
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[sprmankalel]

There's a huge color difference in the 2 Dwarf gourami - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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[Cole]

It could be a male then. It's not as brightly colored as the other gourami, but there's not a big difference in color. I don't think it's a harassment problem. The other fish rarely ever bothered it until it became sick. Right now it's just laying on its side at the bottom gasping for oxygen.

I don't notice any bloating or lesions or anything like that. I don't really know what to do. Is there some generic medication I could try?

I don't have any way to separate it. I've been planning on setting up a little 10 gallon quarantine tank, but I don't have the money right now. It's hiding in a small cave right now and the other fish don't seem to be bothering it. The other gourami seems to have left it alone.

 

[Cole]

Having a look at some of the pictures on Google I think it's definitely a male. Sorry, guys. Like I said I'm totally new to this.

 

[tankman12]

O well the same thing could be going on. Just not a breeding thing.
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[Cole]

Could it possibly be swim bladder disease? Once and while it'll try to swim around but it just swims in circles scraping the bottom. It's like it can't get any buoyancy.

 

[sprmankalel]

I know that they're supposed to be hardy fish but I've noticed that the dwarfs are a little more sensitive and becoming increasingly so. Especially considering a fish's life before it gets to your tank. They live a life of stress before coming home. It's possible that you may not be able to save it. I'm not an expert on diseases as I've never had to deal with them. Seeing that there's not outward signs of infection I can't say. Hope it works out for you. I hate losing fish babies. Even new ones. Read up on drip acclimation. This is the method I use and have found I have less deaths do to stress. Been doing it for years.
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[Cole]

Yeah I heard they were pretty hardy too. Since this is my first tank I tried to select "beginner friendly" fish to make the learning process a little smoother for me. Thanks for the help everyone. I'll keep an eye on the poor thing and hopefully it'll snap out of it.

 

[tankman12]

They are not hardy anymore, cuz of all the interbreeding for those colors.
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[dancelady]

Ways to separate the fish and treat

If you don't have the funds to support a small aquarium tank, two things you can do. One is go to a thrift/secondhand store and get a small tank, bowl, or pot for $1.00 and sometimes there are other items like a filter or heater included (if a fish bowl). Like one would get for a Siamese Betta or a single fish. Second, look and see if you have at hand any large vase, bowl, or other container like a tote (for storing stuff) that you can use as a QT (quarantine tank). The tote will work fine, and it doesn't have to have anything other than a place to put it temporarily. Because it will only have one fish in it, you can do without a heater right now because it is summer. This is important to do because the fish would be able to be in cleaner water, with less ammonia from the other fish. And you can treat it with Jungle LifeGuard, which is a general type of medication for fish with unknown problems. This might cost a couple of dollars for the smallest size. Even without this, being in clean water, with no stress, and a place to hide (use a plant pot turned on its side, for example) and rest might help the fish. Good luck, if you have any friends with fish, ask them about any medications they have that might help you (look for the description in here on ways to diagnose). Or ask your fish store if they have a medication that you might get to help your fish out. Change the portion of water frequently since you won't have a filter, but keep an eye on your fish and see if anything helps -- sometimes just being alone might give it a chance to recover.

 

[Cole]

Just an update on this.

Fish is still sick. At this point I'm almost 100% certain it is swim bladder disorder. I haven't separated him like some of you suggested because I'm out of dechlorinator and I'm stone broke. I tried to feed him some peas in case it's a constipation issue but he just won't eat them. I put them right in front of his mouth and he doesn't even try to eat them.

I would have thought he'd have died from starvation by now but I think he's eating some of the dissolved pellet food I use to feed my corys. I really need to separate him so that he can be alone and hopefully eat some of the peas I give him.