Honey Gourami

[tenke56]

Hello. I am new to the forum but have been keeping fish for ~2 years. I am concerned for one of my gourami's. It appears to be losing its color. It is turning from orange to white. It is mostly white unless I catch it at the right angle, then I see a little bit of orange. I have observed it and it seems to eat regularly and behave normally. It tends to hang near the top part of the tank but it does not constantly stay at the surface. I currently have a 55 gallon tank with 3 Leopard Danio's, 2 Clown Loaches, 2 Honey Gourami's 1 Emerald Cory, 1 Albino Cory, and 1 Pleco. All of the fish seem to be in good health and I do a weekly 10% water change. I have checked my water perameters and everything is normal. I am trying to get a pic of it so ya'll can see. Any help would be apprieciated.

 

[ALEXF]

i was hoping someone would have responded to this before i got home as mine just satrted acting very similarly. and sure enough when i got home mine was a gonner. I hope you have better luck. and if anyone could shed some light on what causes this it would be appreciated.

 

[fergalthefish]

i have 3 honey gouramis which do seem to fade in colour sometimes, i dont know if maybe its a stress thing or camouflage thing??? anyway they return to normal again but somefish do change colours, i have a fish that at night some of his scales go a diff colour to the rest of them. maybe its a mood change?? maybe someone will know for sure.

 

[tenke56]

Thank you both for the replies. Luckily, my fish has not been a goner yet. It has been like this for a few weeks. Once I noticed it, I started taking extra time to observe it and see if there is anything that it does out of the ordinary. Until last night, I figured it was just changing colors. Last night, I was feeding them some peas and I noticed that this one was not eating. I gave it a little flake food and it hardly touched it. I have pictures of him, I just need to get them off of it. Hope someone can help.

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

well colour fading is usally stress or water chemistry unbalanced. Can you give me any test results of your water?

Tom

 

[tenke56]

I will get you them when I get home. It wont be for 8 hours.

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

ok

 

[tenke56]

Ok. Sorry for the delay in the reply but I had to stay late at work. Here are the test results:

PH: 8.0
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 20 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Temp: 82 deg. F

I know that the temp is higher then they like and the PH is high as well but wouldn't this effect both of my gourami's?

 

[rabbut]

Not always. You say he is off his food. Is there any bolating, pineconing or signs of being imaciated? Is the spine Bent? Anything protruding from the anus?

Loss of colour and apitite can be; stress, internal bacteria or parasites. There are a few others as well, but those are most common.

Is there and excess silme on the affected fish? Any unexplained deaths recently? Done anything different?

Your water paramiters look OK, though as you've pointed out pH is high. I'm not overly concered about the temp TBH. At a pH of 8, with careful aclimation, strong specimins will manage, it may just be that the fish looking a little off is simply too weak to deal with the pH.... Is the pH that high in your tap water, or only in the tank?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[tenke56]

I haven't tested my tap water but will do so when I get home and post the results. As far as the fish goes, there is nothing out of the ordinary as far as looks go. He has none of the symptoms that you mentioned. I took a picture and meant to upload it but got side tracked last night so I will do that tonight. Thanks for the help.

 

[tenke56]

I have not done anything different as far as water changes, feeding, etc. I have not had any deaths in my tank at all. I watched him eat last night and he ate some flakes but not a lot. He also has been hanging closer to the top. Probably 1 inch from the surface.

 

[tenke56]

My tap water Ph is 6.8.

 

[rabbut]

Something in the tank or filter is raising your pH. What decor and filter media do you use? With a tap pH of 6.8, I'd expect the tank to be arround 7 at the most

All the best
Rabbut

 

[tenke56]

I have about 4 pounds of african drift wood and eco-complete substrate. I am thinking that my danio's are stressing him out as they never stop swimming.

 

[rabbut]

It's possible but I don't see it as the most likely caurse... What media do you have in your filter, and do you have any rocks what so ever?

All the best
Rabbut