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My dwarf gourami's open and close their mouth constantly. also they are not very active. should i be concerned?

A.Collins

Could be lack of oxygen in the water.

What size tank, what is in it, what filter are you running and what are your

ammonia
nitrIte
nitrAte
ph levels


^_^

I don't know at the moment I'll have to get a kit.also I will take a photo of the tank. My filter is an OTTO internal power filter.Oh and I have 2 bottomfeeders,1 catfish and 2 dwarf gorami's .at the moment i can only give you the ph levels until i get an all-in-1 kit. ph: 7.3. but the kit is 3 years past its expiry date but seems pretty accurate. i will get a new kit ASAP.

A.Collins

The thread in WQ suggests the tank is not cycled and that the fish (gourami or cichlid?) may be suffering from ammonia or nitrite poisoning. This means that as hard as they try, the chemicals have damaged their bodies too much to get enough oxygen. The gasping and gulping can be a sign of that.



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

they are dwarf gourami's. and they seem more active but what should i do. ph has gone down to 7.0 now that i added some ph down.


P.S one of them rubs against my finger

A.Collins

First, forget about the pH I kjnow it goes against a lot of things, but fish do better with a stable pH rather than a perfect one. Trying to keep it down with the powders will be rough on the fish. If you want it lower, there are more natural & permanent ways, but it really isn't necessary. They'll be fine anywhere from 6ish to 8ish, providing it stays the same. Fish have a natural pH, but most tropicals that are bred for tanks are kept at around 7.2-7.4 anyway, so don't worry too much about getting it right. For now, leave it a few days and test again, see where your tank/tap naturally settles at.

The rubbing is interesting. Do you have a desk light or a torch? Have a look and see if there is anything that looks like pollen or little white grains of salt around the fins or face of any of the fish.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

no nothing like that. when i stick my finger in afer a few seconds it comes up and brushes past my finger.

A.Collins