inactive three spot gourami

[rnj1979]

My female three spot gourami has been bloated on and off for a month or two. She'll get real fat, stay that way for a while and then be skinny again. When she's bloated, she does not appear to have any balance problems. Over the weekend she started acting funny. She lays on the bottom of the tank in the back corner and will sit there or she'll be in the plants. My male seems to chase her if he sees her go up to the top.. Occasionally, she'll come up to the surface for air and go right back down. She looks weak and is now swimming funny. I have not seen her eat in a long time. She's over two years old but I'm not sure of her exact age.

Any opinions on what is wrong and what can be done???

[siymdapolio]

What are the temps of the tank
Paremeters like ammonia, nitrite and nitrates andhave you conditioned the water as well??

ANy other tank buddies either?

[rnj1979]

What are the temps of the tank
Paremeters like ammonia, nitrite and nitrates andhave you conditioned the water as well??

ANy other tank buddies either?
Here are my numbers...

pH- 6.0
Amonia- .25
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0

I have a male three spot, 2 paradise gouramis, 1 kisser, 4 neons and a pleco plus the 1 female three spot who is sickly.

[rnj1979]

Here are my numbers...

pH- 6.0
Amonia- .25
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0

I have a male three spot, 2 paradise gouramis, 1 kisser, 4 neons and a pleco plus the 1 female three spot who is sickly.
I forgot to the temp... it's about 78 degrees and I always put in stress coat when adding/changing water.

[rnj1979]

She also seems to be breathing a lot faster than the other fish in my tank...

[MandyL]

Have you cycled this tank? How long has it been up and running? In a cycled tank there should be 0 ammonia, and some reading of nitrate.

[rnj1979]

Have you cycled this tank? How long has it been up and running? In a cycled tank there should be 0 ammonia, and some reading of nitrate.
My tank has been running for over a year but, my husband did a complete cleaning in January, which started the whole process over again. I thought the numbers were suppose to be "0" across the the board? We haven't lost anybody the whole time except for a neon or two... I'll do a partial water change and see if I can get the amonia down but I don't know how to fix the nitrates.

[rnj1979]

My tank has been running for over a year but, my husband did a complete cleaning in January, which started the whole process over again. I thought the numbers were suppose to be "0" across the the board? We haven't lost anybody the whole time except for a neon or two... I'll do a partial water change and see if I can get the amonia down but I don't know how to fix the nitrates.
I also have a few live plants in my tank. How much of a factor are they when it comes to my test readings?

[siymdapolio]

Well this could definetely be the problem. Gouramis are all pretty much sensitive and need a very stable environment and since you have ammonia... this is makinng him unhappy. To kick start the cycling process you can go buy some plants at the lfs and maybe ask for some established substrate. This will help cycle much fsater.

Your saying that ammonia is .25 ppm right? This is not very much but still some. Try to just keep it very stable and if he seems to be doing really bad hopefully your lfs can hold it for you till you get your tank established.

Hope this helps

[rnj1979]

Well this could definetely be the problem. Gouramis are all pretty much sensitive and need a very stable environment and since you have ammonia... this is makinng him unhappy. To kick start the cycling process you can go buy some plants at the lfs and maybe ask for some established substrate. This will help cycle much fsater.

Your saying that ammonia is .25 ppm right? This is not very much but still some. Try to just keep it very stable and if he seems to be doing really bad hopefully your lfs can hold it for you till you get your tank established.

Hope this helps
I still don't understand... my tank has already been through the amonia and nitrite spike and they are much better compared to what they started out at. As far as I know, my tank has cycled. I have three live plants inside and they are doing well.

thought my fishy might have Swim Bladder Disease but I don't know much anout it or what to look for or how to treat it.

[rnj1979]

I goofed on my test readings. I did not do the nitrate test correctly. Here are the numbers again...

pH- 6.0
amonia- .25 ppm
nitrite- 0 ppm
nitrate- 10 ppm

[siymdapolio]

I goofed on my test readings. I did not do the nitrate test correctly. Here are the numbers again...

pH- 6.0
amonia- .25 ppm
nitrite- 0 ppm
nitrate- 10 ppm
Ahhh i see! Sorry about the late reply was super busy today!
Well i have some advice

They love new partial water changes, I know this is good for them since some are so sensitive.

And tank temp seems fine... Like many say and I Stable conditions are far better then drasticly fluctuating ones.

Ph is great too

It is uncommon for gouramis to have Swim Bladder but what to look for is if your fish tries to swim downwards and floats back up and cant keep down. Also as if its lying dead on its side partially These are signs of swim bladder disease.
With treatment i would advice you to go to the lfs and ask them about it Only if you are certain if the fish has swim bladder disease
Can you get a picture of it??

[Lady Hobbs]

Nitrates are fine for fish from 20 - 0 .......better if even less. Ammonia and nitrites should always be 0.

Rotting food or dead fish in the tank can spike that ammonia.

[rnj1979]

Ahhh i see! Sorry about the late reply was super busy today!
Well i have some advice

They love new partial water changes, I know this is good for them since some are so sensitive.

And tank temp seems fine... Like many say and I Stable conditions are far better then drasticly fluctuating ones.

Ph is great too

It is uncommon for gouramis to have Swim Bladder but what to look for is if your fish tries to swim downwards and floats back up and cant keep down. Also as if its lying dead on its side partially These are signs of swim bladder disease.
With treatment i would advice you to go to the lfs and ask them about it Only if you are certain if the fish has swim bladder disease
Can you get a picture of it??
She passed during the night. I am so heartbroken... She got sick so fast and I was hoping to help her before now. I don't like to see any of my animals suffer. I hope she didn't.

Everyone else appears to be fine and happy. Do I need to find another female or two for my male so he won't pester the other tank mates?

Thanks guys for your help!

[Ryuu]

sorry to hear your loss, and yes I would get more id do a ratio of 2;1 And your ammonia should be 0 so I would do about a 25% water change

[siymdapolio]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Agree with bolivion

sorry to hear about your loss it will be ok and you wil llearn form the experience! Hope it all goes well!

[butcherman]

hi there i also had a three spotted gourami. it got lathargic just lay in the corner but didn`t breath heavily. it swam up to the top and slowly floated down again. after about 30 hours or so it started loosing its balance ant eventually died.i still have no answers to what happened. i was thinking swim bladder or something. i also read that some gouramies imported from singapore, have a virus called iridovirus which has similar symtoms. dose anyone have any thoughts on this?