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I have had 3 honey's for about 3 wks now and yesterday I noticed their mouth, head and down the back has gone black. It almost looks like soot, or dirt. They seem to be eating and acting normal otherwise. Water temp is same as usual, I don't have a testing kit so not sure about levels but the tank is a little over 2 months old and I've been adding fish slowly. Initially I put in 4 bloodfin tetras then a few weeks later, 3 painted tetra, then 3 wks later the gouramis. Any thoughts?

The best thing to do is quickly take good water sample to your LFS and get the full water peramiters test. Also take one of the Gourami with you. Then get back to us with all the results.

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i have read that when honey gouramis are frightened, a black to brownish bar usually located on the bottom half of the fish will sometimes appear, which is probably what you are seeing now. try to find out why they are so frightened. Have the 3 gouramis been fighting? Gouramis are often territorial towards each other when kept in too small of a tank. How large is your tank?

My tank is 20 gal -not use long or high - it measures 24 inches in length, 15 inches high, 12 inches deep. I keep the water temp at 78. I live a couple hours away from my IFS so a little too far to take one in but I take in some water for testing. I don't think they're frightened and I haven't seen them fighting at all. My painted tetras are kind of aggressive, but only with each other. I haven't been leaving the light on much since I got the gouramis cause I was having lots of algea and my IFS suggested not having the light on so long since I don't have any real plants and see if that cuts down on the algea, which is has. I do notice my gouramis feeding on the bottom alot and trying to feed on my plants. I also noticed in the last few days 2 of my bloodfin tetras fins are barely red anymore. Comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated since I'm still very new at this but really love it.

Sorry meant to say not sure if its a long or high 20 gal tank.

well, i did a search on the black bands and it turns out that male honey gouramis get a black band when they are ready to spawn, so what you are seeing is normal and all of your gouramis are males. but watch them closely- they may get a bit territorial during this time.

So my original source (a fishkeeping magazine) may be wrong, although it is also possible that honey gouramis receive their band when frightened as well, but that i do not know for sure

BTW, if the bloodfins are starting to lose their red, the parameters might not be to their liking. do a 40-50% water change and see if the they get any better.