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One of my Dwarf Gourami's died this weekend, and I can't figure out why, any suggestions would be welcome so that I can try and prevent anything happening to the other tank mates (although they all seem fine).

The body didn't look to have any kind of disease or parasite. In hindsight, he had begun to act a little differently (unfortunately I never picked up on it as it didn't seem to be anything - lesson learnt). He used to eat flakes from the surface and then go to the bottom to 'steal' as much of the sinking tablets as he could. He was also always the first to feed. Towards the end he stopped eating the flakes and went straight to the bottom to eat the tablets. By the Thursday he was sat on the bottom when I opened the lid to feed (he normally swam to the top as soon as I approach the tank) and slowly went to the sinking tablets. He also got chased by the female DG which I had never seen before, normally it was him doing the chasing - I'm assuming she could sense his weakness somehow.

It is a very peaceful tank, other than him the only other fish that has caused any trouble is my BN who will chase any fish too close to her away from food (outside of feeding time she is completely peaceful).

Any ideas?
Tank stocking in 33G:
1 DG (was 2)
1 BN
4 Sterbai Cories
3 Kuhlis
3 Chain Loaches
8 Neons

Parameters
pH - 8
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10

I do 20% water changes (with Gravel Vac) every week and nothing has changed in the tank for a while (I added a piece of driftwood with plants attached about 1 month ago)

Sorry to hear about your death mate, sounds like a puzzling one to me
Hope you get to the bottom of it.

A few things to look at.
First it would be beter to do a 30% water change.
What type of filtration do you have and how often do you completly pull it down and clean it?
Do you have plenty of airation?
What chemicals do you use at the water change eg dechlorinator etc?
Do you add a Bio starter/similar product to keep the good bacteria going at every water change as well?
You mention sinking tablets is it possible he just guts them so fast some got stuck inside him. This could cause constipation.
It could just be age and one of those unexplained things.
If you start having any more sudden deaths take a good water sample to your LFS and get a full test done and ask if any one else is having similar problems.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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Thanks for the reply Keithgh. In answer to your queries:

Not a problem increasing the water change to 30% - just out of interest though, would this help any given my water parameters being OK (or so I think)?

I have an internal filter (a Fluval 3 Plus if that helps) which also provides the aeration (it has a nozzle which sticks above the water level and incorporates air bubbles in to the filter output). I don't know if this is enough aeration (how do you measure it?), other than to say the plants and fish seem quite happy in there. My cories rarely (if ever) go to the surface to gulp air, which I take to be a good sign.

I give the filter sponges a 'squeeze' during every water change to give it a clean. There are 2 sponges in the filter and each one gets replaced every 6 weeks (although I change them on rotation so one gets replaced first and the other gets changed 3 weeks later).

During water change, I use the Interpet Fresh Start tap water conditioner (includes a dechlorinator), the interpet floral boost and a bio starter (it was called Cycle - I can't remember the brand name, I ran out of it this weekend and threw the bottle away).

I don't think he could have got a piece of the tablet stuck in him. If I hadn't watched him peck at the tablet, there would be no way of telling that he'd eaten from it (he would only seem to take tiny granules from each nip).

I also don't think it could be age, I've only had him a few months and I assume that he would come from the LFS as a juvenile (I find the LFS very knowledgeable and trustworthy). Having said that I was in another store this week and the gourami's they had for sale were far smaller than my DG's ever have been so I could be wrong.

I'm afraid that this could be one of those unexplained deaths (unless any of the info above shows a cause that I don't know about). So far, none of the other fish seem to be any different to how they've ever been so hopefully there isn't any kind of disease in there. If I was to have an untrained, speculative guess, it would be overfeeding as he did seem to be the first to feed and would help himself to his food and sinking tablets. However, how could I prevent this? The food needed to go in there for all the fish and I can't make the cories/loaches any faster?

Thanks for the response though.

just out of interest though, would this help any given my water parameters being OK (or so I think)?

Even though its only 10% extra it will help think about that 10% over a long period of time naturally it will build up more impurities in the tank peramiters.

Airation is usually refered to as a airstone placed on the top/or close to the substrate to circulatr the water throughout the tank and to give a greater surface area

I give the filter sponges a 'squeeze' during every water change to give it a clean. There are 2 sponges in the filter and each one gets replaced every 6 weeks (although I change them on rotation so one gets replaced first and the other gets changed 3 weeks later).

That is the correct way to clean a filter sponge. As far as replacement a rotation is also the best way to go. Not knowing that filter why are you replacing the filter sponges so often?

It also looks like you are following the correct procedures using the dechlorinator and the cycling products.

With the feeding spread it all over the tank and watch what happens to see if any food is left uneaten if so reduce the amount of food you use I always only feed once a day that does nt include the extra tidbits as in My Profile.

I hope this helps if not please contact me

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

"Not knowing that filter why are you replacing the filter sponges so often?"

Ooops. I've just re-read the instructions with the filter. The first time I'd read it I thought it had said change every 4 weeks(which I felt was too often and extended), but that referred to polyester or carbon pads. For the foam pads it suggests every 4 months. I will be changing my sponge replacing cycle from now on.

Thanks for the help.