Male And Female Gourami Dead This Morning

[Matty_]

hey, this morning i found 2 of my gouramis dead at the bottom of my tank and i'm not sure why.

The tank is 250 litres and all tests(ph, nitrate, general hardiness, chlorine and carbonate hardness) have came back within acceptable parameters, i just tested for ammonia and it came back as below 0.25.

Anyone have any idea what might of caused the two fish to die? The 2 fish had no marks on them.

 

[Katch]

Sorry for your loss

How long has the tank been set up?

What Gouramis where they?

What test kit do you use? Any reading from ammonia is too much. If the kit changes colour at all there is a problem (some plant ferts will give a slight false reading).

Do you test nitrite?

How is your tank maintanence? Have you done water changes recently? Do you keep the substrate clean?

If none of this is ringing alarm bells it could be a disease that they were carrying already. Keep a close eye on the other fish and keep up regular WCs.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Dwarf Gourami can and do suffer from a disease that has no known cure or source..simply known as 'Dwarf Gourami' disease, which is passed through their genes and DNA. I believe i read somewhere that 6/7 out of every 10 fish suffer with it. I lost my male D.G a couple of weeks ago, but it seems he was simply bullied, and eventually, battered to death by the female.

You say your ammonia is <0.25..i'm presuming it is '0' and always has been '0' ? How long have you had the tank running? Did you 'cycle' your filter/ If so, how?

regards,

Terry.

 

[Matty_]

There was a very slight colour change in the ammonia reading so i added some Interpet ammonia remover and will carry out a partial water change and re check levels. I tested for nitrite and it was fine. I added a bit of nutrafin cycle to the tank just now.

The fish that died were dwarf gouramis, i went to the pet store earlier and the gourami tank had 2 dead ones with one almost eaten! Could both gouramis die in one night after being in the tank for about 2 weeks from disease or is it too much of a coincidence? The rest of the tank seems to be fine apart from an angel bullying another one but that is a different problem.

The tank is a couple of months old and i wasn't aware of cycling before starting the fish community in the tank. I've done partial water changes before and never had any problems with readings etc.

There is one remaining female, will this be ok alone in the tank?

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Ok... anything above complete yellow with your API test kit indicates the presence of ammonia, and with you not carrying out a fishless cycle i would probably say you are at some stage of a 'fish-in' cycle... regular tests and even more regular water changes are what's needed, otherwise the rest of your fish will endure the same fate i'm afraid.

Forget that Nutrafin Cycle product, a complet waste of time, effort and money. Get yourself some 'Prime' de-chlorinater, really good stuff !

NEVER buy fish from a aquatic store that has dead fish in their tanks..if they can't be bothered to keep an eye on them and get them out once they're dead, who knows what their approach is to the ones that are alive.

A 50% water change with warm, de-chlorinated water is probably your next step.
Hope this helps,
Terry.

 

[Katch]

I agree. I don't believe your tank is cycled. It may not have caused the deaths but fish coming in poor condition from a poor supplier are not going to recover and survive in an uncycled tank.

Get a good dechlorinator and get ready for some regular large water changes while we get your tank cycled.

 

[Matty_]

Ok... anything above complete yellow with your API test kit indicates the presence of ammonia, and with you not carrying out a fishless cycle i would probably say you are at some stage of a 'fish-in' cycle... regular tests and even more regular water changes are what's needed, otherwise the rest of your fish will endure the same fate i'm afraid.

Forget that Nutrafin Cycle product, a complet waste of time, effort and money. Get yourself some 'Prime' de-chlorinater, really good stuff !

NEVER buy fish from a aquatic store that has dead fish in their tanks..if they can't be bothered to keep an eye on them and get them out once they're dead, who knows what their approach is to the ones that are alive.

A 50% water change with warm, de-chlorinated water is probably your next step.
Hope this helps,
Terry.

Thanks Terry, i'll look out for the "Prime" make from now on, the gourami tank was fine when i bought the fish but today it was a state.

I'll get on with the 50% water changes and will do it once a week? Sorry to sound stupid but what does the brand new water do for your tank?

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Nah, until your ammonia results prove to be a complete yellow (and therefor a safe '0'ppm) then you may need to do a 50% W.C EVERY DAY i'm afraid!

Think about what it's like to live on a submarine (i know, i used to do it in the Royal Navy)... weeks upon weeks upon weeks of filtered, conditioned air will not kill us, yet as soon as that hatch opens and the fresh air and oxygen hits us is like a 'breath of fresh' for want of a better explanation! Well this is, basically, what happens when we do our water changes. As your filter currently may not house the beneficial bacteria needed, the fish are, theoretically, swimming around in their own waste. Not nice i'd hope you agree.

Terry.

 

[the_lock_man]

Nah, until your ammonia results prove to be a complete yellow (and therefor a safe '0'ppm) then you may need to do a 50% W.C EVERY DAY i'm afraid!

Think about what it's like to live on a submarine (i know, i used to do it in the Royal Navy)... weeks upon weeks upon weeks of filtered, conditioned air will not kill us, yet as soon as that hatch opens and the fresh air and oxygen hits us is like a 'breath of fresh' for want of a better explanation! Well this is, basically, what happens when we do our water changes. As your filter currently may not house the beneficial bacteria needed, the fish are, theoretically, swimming around in their own waste. Not nice i'd hope you agree.

Terry.

Just to take that analogy a bit further, consider living on a submarine, where it's legal to smoke cigarettes. Nowhere for the cigarette smoke to go, and yes, it probably won't kill you straight away. Like Terry says, you open the hatch, and the air is sweet. But you know, with weeks upon weeks of cigarette smoke in your lungs, at some point in the future, the doctor's going to have some BAD news for you.

That's what exposure to ammonia and nitrite is like for your fish.

 

[Matty_]

Yeah i agree, thanks for the advice and that analogy makes alot of sense.

Hope i can get this sorted

I took a picture of a new test for you.

 

[Katch]

That does look like a 0 reading to me. You get the green hues come in when ammonia is present.

Do you have a Nitrite (not nitrate) test kit?

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Yeah i agree, thanks for the advice and that analogy makes alot of sense.

Hope i can get this sorted

I took a picture of a new test for you.

Now THAT is '0 ppm ammonia reading Continue your water changes until your ammonia readings look like this constantly.

Terry.

 

[Matty_]

No i dont have a specific kit but i have a 6 in 1 test strips, i have a feeling you think i should get individual test kits?

If so i'll go out and get seperate nitrite and nitrate kits.

 

[Overload]

No i dont have a specific kit but i have a 6 in 1 test strips, i have a feeling you think i should get individual test kits?

If so i'll go out and get seperate nitrite and nitrate kits.

I would have a look for the API Master Test Kit, it has ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all in one kit

 

[The Taffy Apple]

No i dont have a specific kit but i have a 6 in 1 test strips, i have a feeling you think i should get individual test kits?

If so i'll go out and get seperate nitrite and nitrate kits.

Indeed. The most reliable test kits are API Master test kits (which i'm presuming you already have for your ammonia). I get mine off Ebay, 20-25 quid... last me about 2/3 month when cycling a tank but aaaaaaaaages when not cycling.

Terry.