Blue dwarf being harassed by other fish

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Raws69

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Hi

i have 1 male and 2 female dwarf gourami and noticed recently that other community fish ( glow tetra, guppy and platys) Seem to have a nibble on the males sides. the male is full bright colours, eats and active so does not appear I’ll or stressed. Any ideas?

tank is not over stocked and water etc been tested and ok.

cheers
 
hi. 100l With 9 guppies, 6 plates and 6 tetras.. what is GH? Everything I’ve read states guppies plates and dwarf gourami are passive community fish?
 
Are the glow tetra glowlight tetras or glofish tetras? As you are in the UK they should be glowlight tetras as glofish tetras are GM fish and GM organisms are not allowed (though that won't stop some shops); glowlight tetras are not usually nippy fish.

GH is hardness. Guppies and platies come from hard water while gouramis and most tetras come from soft water. If you have hard water, the gouramis and tetras won't be happy; if you have soft water, the guppies and platies won't be happy.

Is your water company Essex & Suffolk Water? If it is, enter your address in here https://www.eswater.co.uk/check-your-area/ Down the page you'll see Water quality information and they'll give your hardness as words. Unfortunately it is one of only a couple of water companies that don't give a number. Tell us the words they use.


The other possibility is the start of dwarf gourami disease. Most of the dwarf gouramis bred in fish farms in the far east are infected with this disease and it is incurable I'm afraid. A lot of people who buy these fish find that they get sick and die.
 
hi it’s hard water according to water supplier. But I’ve been using seachem acid buffer and testing with the tetra strips and on there the level appears to between 10 and 15 KH and 8 for GH. Fish are bought locally from similar water conditions. Fingers crossed I’ve Not witnessed the same behaviour today.. if it is the gourami disease how long does it take for the symptoms to show? Assume lost of colour etc. Also do these then need to be isolated from the other fish?
 
Dwarf gouramis disease usually shows as the fish darkening in colour, sores and lesions on the body, losing weight, becoming listless then dying. That's why I mention it a possibility only.

'Hard' in water company terminology means GH between 11.2 and 16.8 dH or 200 to 300 ppm. Your tap water is fine for guppies and platies but a bit too hard for a lot of tetras.

Using chemicals to alter water chemistry is never a good idea. I would stop using it and allow the water to be what comes out of the tap.


It doesn't matter what the shop's water is like, they will only be in there a very short time; not long enough for them to suffer ill effects. Fish have evolved over many thousands of years to function at a particular GH. We cannot change their DNA by keeping them in the 'wrong' hardness for only a few generations.
 

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