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My dwarf honey gourami died. I can't figure out why. It was fine the day before. Happy and swimming around, eating normally, good color Today it was dead. My water parameters are always stable.

PH 7.2
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

The only thing I can think of is that the nitrates are a little high, but they are always that high. I think that my tap water contains nitrates. I do 30% water changes every week with a 40-50% gravel vac. The nitrates are always 40ppm no matter what.

I had the gourami for a few months before it passed. It never showed any signs of distress. There was no gill irritation, ick, fin or mouth rot, nothing visual. There was no abnormal behavior. The only other thing that might have caused something to go wrong is that I added 3 ottos to the tank 2 weeks prior to the death. They appeared to be reasonably healthy, just really skinny. The smallest and skinniest of the ottos died the day after I got them. The other 2 were fine. No other fish have been affected. They all seem perfectly fine.

I loved that little gourami. It was adorable and now I am sad.

I am scared to get another one until I figure out what happened. Any ideas?

If the nitrates in my tank water are causing undue stress, how can I make the levels go down if my tap water contains nitrates?

What would be the odds of the gourami being old when I bought it? It never grew larger during the time that I had it.

Thanks

- Meow -

There are some fish that I have always suspected are e to being "enhanced" by suppliers. Honey gouramis are one of those species that I suspect are tampered with often. Rarely do I see the original color type anymore but ones with strange names like "fire red" or "sunset". I have even seen one called a "blue" honey gourami. Personally any fish that has unusually intense coloration should be avoided. Who knows what hormones or dyes have been used to achieve that affect, and who knows how much stress the modification has caused the fish. In summary I don't buy honey gouramis, I suspect foul play.

That sucks!!!

Sometimes the human race makes me very angry. I really don't agree with the practice of "enhancing" fish. It's stupid and imhumane. I think that retailers should have to label dyed or otherwise tampered with fish. Then at least the public could make their own decision.

What does a natural dwawrf gourami look like? Can someone point me towards a link with pictures?

I really liked the personality of that little fish. I would like to have another one, but not at that price.



- Meow -

That's the one thing with tap water. No matter how I used to treat it before any water changes, I am sure that there must be some element in it that's causing a certain damage.

I have had fishes die of no apparent reason. No traces of ammonia nor of nitrites were found and they were in perfect condition just the day before. I wish we could have a detailed list of what goes into our tap water these days...

Bleeder's Forum
http://silentlucidity.s10.forumsplace.com

This site has a decent picture of a honey gourami in original coloration.
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/551.htm
The picture is a bit dark but it does shows that the fish should be more of a golden honey color and not a flaming red, especially not while in a dealer's tank.

Thanks for the link. My gourami was pretty close to that color. It didn't have any black on it though. The underneath of its jaw/upper belly area was a golden cream color. It was pretty bright orange red along its spine and it faded into a lighter orange down towards the belly. It was very pale and washed out when I bought it at the LFS. I can't decide if it might have been dyed or not. I do know that the owner of my LFS does stock dyed fish. He also isn't very knowledgeable, or maybe he just doesn't care but I have heard him say some really incorrect stuff to customers to make a sale. I don't go there anymore. Maybe I will drive down to the next town and check out their fish shops just to see what I can see.

- Meow -