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Hi there.

Gold gourami flashing. Clamped dorsal fin. Lethargic. No idea of his age as he was rescued when some kid dumped him in a cold water tank at my work.

250L tank housing gourami, 6 rummynose tetras, 4 black widow tetras, 3 Pakistani loaches and two baby bristlenose.

Water parameters as follows:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 20ppm
KH 50ppm
GH 125 ppm
pH 6.8
Temp 27oC
Internal Aqua One 103F filter.

Any idea what the problem could be? Is the pH too low? I think GH might be borderline for gourami a too maybe? TIA.

How long has the gourami been in your tank?

My best bet would that it is just experiencing a lot of stress from the dump in the cold water, the transport home and acclimating back to something that is closer to what would be ideal.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Sorry, I didn't explain well. He's been in my tank 5+ years. Only recently started doing this.

Flashing is sometimes a symptom of an oncoming ick infection. Check your gourami and make sure it doesn't have the tell-tale spots.

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Yep, seems like it is ich. Other fish have the spots. So frustrating! Am treating with heat 30oC for 10 days. Have air stone going flat out, but gourami still struggling. Catch 22 really. I don't want to treat with meds as I've lost bristlenose before due to meds. How do they handle salt in conjunction with heat?

Are flukes possible too? He's been like this for a while.

flukes are kind of rare in my experience. Also, turning up the heat does not work on all fish, as they may be more stressed by the heat than the ick, which makes their ick worse. Clown loaches can handle that kind of temp, I don't know about gouramis.

You're right that some fish also have bad reactions to the ick medicine. But you can usually get away with doing a half dose for the recommended treatment. I've had to do this for my clown loaches when they got ick. Leave the filter intact, put half the recommended dose in the tank for the required number of days, and do a 25%-ish water change and change the filter carbon when you're done.

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman