Gorami Gasping At Surface

[Jen]

I have 2 gourami in my tank, and they are both at the surface all the time. My tank stats are great:
nitrites - 0
ammonia - 0
nitrates - 20
phosphates - 2
ph 6.5
kh 5°
co2 - 35 (I have a fully planted tank)

Does anyone know what the problem might be?

 

[sylvia]

What species?

Many gouramies will naturaly remain near the surface and like to form territories there. As they breathe air, it's not unusual for them to gulp air regularly - though they shouldn't appear to be 'gasping'. If you have mature males, you may be mistaking bubblenesting behaviour for gasping but it's unlikely that this is the case as it should be quite obvious when clumps of bubbles start appearing at the water's surface

If it turns out your fish realy are 'gasping', this is a sign that something in the water isn't right or the gouramies are sick. With most species I'd lean towards the former. If you are using a paper-based (paper strips) test kit, it may be showing incorrect readings - they don't remain accurate for long - and it might be a good idea to obtain a liquid-based kit now and test your water again. Other than this, try doing a water change and see if the situation improves. perhaps you've added a medication or similar chemical that is irritating them or try adding some carbon to the tank (temporarily as your plants won't like it long-term) just to see whether that improves the situation and so as to remove any unwanted chemicals.

In case your gouramies are dwarfs, it could also be illness. I'm mentioning dwarfs specificaly because they are the most prone to disease and more likely to display this type of 'gasping' behaviour when ill than other species. That doesn't mean a different species is deffinately not ill though. I have to ask the usual questions here - how's the fish' appetite? Are they bloated at all? What color is their poo? Any sign of ulcers, red streaks, spots, injuries, blemishes of any type? Any lethargic or unusual behaviour besides the 'gasping'?

How long have you had the fish? What else is in the tank? How big are the gouramies at the moment ? How big is your tank? The 'gasping' may also be attributed to severe stress.

 

[Jen]

Wow. Now that's a responce!

They are dwarfs. I have had 2 of the four from that 'litter' die already... one was super bloated just before she died. The two I have in there now are normal in size, and it seems to be the male I have concerned about. I will monitor him to see if hes making a nest. I did notice when I put them in the tank, he was trying to mate with one of the girls.

As for other fish, I have 3 small angels - quarter sized. Some rosey barbs, black neon tetras, and a whack of platties.

My test kits are liquid, and they are still accurate.

I don't notice anything odd about them... no spots or areas that look poor. I will look more carefully at them.

 

[Jen]

Well, the little guy died while I was at work. So there must have been something wrong. I deffinately won't be getting anymore of those cute little guys.

 

[sylvia]

Since they are dwarfs and you'd already lost two and one was bloated before death, the problem is/was almost deffinately an internal bacterial infection. This species is particularly prone to it. Keep a very close eye on your remaining dwarf. At the first sign of trouble, it would be a good idea to isolate her into a cycled (transfer mature filter media and gravel from the main tank) hospital tank and treat with a strong broad-spectrum antibiotic. You can also dose the main tank but there are 3 very good reasons to use a hospital tank:
1) Antibiotics often play havoc with your biological filtration - messing up your main tank's water quality and stressing the rest of the fish unecessarily.
2) Even with treatment, the dwarf would be unlikely to recover. While the fish is alive, the disease is difficult to spread. Once dead, however, any fish that nibbles on the body is likely to become infected. If the fish is seperated in a hospital tank, this isn't an issue.
3) Again, the fish is unlikely to recover even if properly medicated. By keeping it in a seperate hospital tank, it becomes much easier and stress-free to euthanise the fish with clove oil if it's at the point where you know it can't recover.

I appreciate why you won't be getting more and I agree that that's for the best. Just so you are aware, however, there are some equaly beautiful and small species of gourami that would make better replacements - honeys (colisa chuna/sota) and thick-lipped gouramies (colisa labiosa) come to mind. They grow to 1.5" and 3.5" respectively. Both are peaceful and work well in peaceful community tanks kept as trios (1 male, 2 or more females).

However, considering the fact that you have angels, gouramies are actualy best avoided over-all as they compete with angels for the same territory. Small gouramies like your dwarfs and the ones mentioned above are likely to be bullied by adult angels or spawning angels. There are larger gouramies and some slightly mroe aggressive species that are better suited to an angel tank. If you are interested, let me know, I'll tell you more about those options.

Anyway, I have to point out something - you said you have 3 young angels. That's fine for the time-being (though I think you didn't mention tank size - that's realy important for both the angels and the gouramies and for seeing whether mixing the two is a good idea or asking for trouble) but when those angels grow up, if two pair off, the third is going to be bullied - possibly to death. Maybe you have other plans for the three and will be returning any extra fish anyway but I thought I'd mention this just in case Just keep a close eye on them basicaly.

 

[Jen]

Thanks for the advice there. I went for these specific gouramis because blue is my favourite colour, and they stick out from everything else... nothing is blue in my tank. But obviously I'm not going to keep buying fish for a cosmetic reason if they are only going to die on me. That's not fair to the fish.

As for the angels, I only got 3 as I have had problems in the past with these, and I wanted to give it a go again. If these three do ok, then I will get 3 more. As they pair off, (or if) I will find other homes. My tank is 90 gallons... so I have more than enough space.