FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Thanks for maintaining an excellent site. The information on this site helped me start a new tank that cycled smoothly and fast. Now I have this tank for over 4 months.

Tanks Info:
Its a 30 gallon freshwater tank. All water parameters are normal and I do 15-20% water changes every 2 weeks and change the filter monthly (new filer, new carbon but same frame). The water is maintained at an even 78 deg F.

Fish Info:
All the fish in the tank are very non-aggresive. I have 5 platy, 5 catfish, 1 cherry barb, 3 brilliant rasboras and a yellow mystery snail. I feed them some flakes, pellets and algae rings once daily. I take care not to overfeed them.

The Problem:

I has 2 dwarf Gouramis in my tank- a blue one and a flame-red. They were doing really well for the last 4 months. One day I returned from work and found the flame-red one lying on its side on the tank-bottom. I thought it was dead and scooped it out. It was alive so I put it in a quarantine tank with the some water from the tank.

The next day the blue one was found dead, lying on its side on the tank-floor. I scooped it out and it was really dead.

Now the first one- the flame-red- has been in the quarantine tank for 2 weeks! Its is still lying on the side on the floor and not swimming around. It does raise its head to eat but hardly moves or leaves the floor. It is not dead and it the tank it moved, it gets up, moves around a little and then lies doen on the floor on its side again. What can be the problem?

Thanks for taking out the time to read this. I, and my Gourami, are hoping to hear from you soon!

-Sagar

If the Gouramies were purchased at the same time and from the same dealer it's very possible both were old fish that were returned to the dealer by someone...

Otherwise, young fish sometimes fail to thrive for reasons unknown. Perhaps their kidneys were defective or they contracted a certain disease that's fatal to that species.

It's time to send the remaining Gouramie to trop heaven and relieve its suffering.

--garyroland.

Last edited by garyroland at 05-Jan-2005 13:24

Thanks for the prompt reply.

No, they were not bought form the same shop or on the same day. Anyway, should I really euthanize the remaining sick Gourami?

Sagar

might be a good idea
a humane way to do it apparently is to put a small amount of water in a ziplock bag with the fish, then add a tablespoon or so of baking soda. this puts them to sleep.

as far as the cause of the sickness... it's hard to say for sure, but i have seen similar cases of this in several dwarf gouramis at the store where i work.

according to an article in aquarium fish magazine, dwarf gouramis are often in poor shape when they arrive at stores because many breeders expose them prematurely to hormones in order to bring out the bright colouration. this, combined with the fact that males are fairly territorial and don't like being kept in close confines with one another creates a lot of physical and emotional (if fish can have emotions ) stress on the fish.

so, it could have just been the particular fish you bought... don't be discouraged! maybe try another one and see how he does!

Fish that are unable to right themselves for a long period of time and cannot properly feed should be humanely put down...

--garyroland.

hi everyone!

does anyone know if the plastic bag/baking soda thing works? i have a kissing gourami that is going through exactly the same thing explained here. he is suffering & i feel so terrible.

Everybody has a different method of euthanizing fish...

A little water in a plastic bag with the fish and placed in the freezer will put the trop to sleep.

Weak fish die quickly by this method.

--garyroland.