honey Gourami not looking so good.

[jackiesoba]

Ive had my Honey Gourami for about...say at least six months now ever since he was pretty small. Now he's around 3" and has been pretty healthy from what ive seen. About a month ago i noticed he was in one spot moving back and forth. I thought it was just him freaking out cause he seems to get scared easy, so I thought it was nothing. After a good cleaning of the tank he seemed to swim around more. But after I got back from vacation and i was gone about 3 weeks, I noticed he had gray/black coloring on the bottom of his tail and he was swimming with his tail at an angle down rather than swimming horizontally. The tank got pretty cloudy so I cleaned it good hoping he'd get better. But it just seems like hes getting worse. The grey spots seem to be spreading and his overall color seems to be pale and turning grey. He mainly just sits on the bottom in one spot and occasionally swims to get air and food, and it seems like he has trouble breathing. Ive googled as much as I can and Im not sure what is wrong. The closest might be the dreadful Gourami disease. Can someone shed some light on what could be wrong and what I can do to help???

[ScottishFish]

First off, what size tank is it, how long has it been running, other inhabitants, filtration system?

Sounds like your tank isn't cycled (I say this as you mentioned a cloudiness, read up on cycling). Also 3 weeks away, did someone do weekly water changes for you? If not then the ammonia build up is harming the fish, stressed gouramis develop black markings. Finally when you"cleaned" the tank, what exactly did you do? Please tell me you use dechlorinator when refilling tank.

[jackiesoba]

Its a 10 gallon, Ive had it for maybe a little bit over a year, with a couple groups of tetras, 3 small cory cats, a beta, and a molly. I clean the gravel and do weekly water changes, and yes I use water conditioner. But yea the tank got pretty dirty while I was away, nobody was there to clean it. And all the other fish seem pretty healthy.

You said he sounds stressed, and he is really skiddish, so maybe i should buy something he can hide in more? Theres not really an area he can be completely hidden in.

oh and the filter is a Top Fin power filter 20. I had to cut a bigger hole in the lid of the tank to fit it

[ScottishFish]

Do you have water parameter readings?

Biggest problem here is that your well overstocked, a 10G is big enough for 1 betta, that's it. I wouldn't keep corys in a 10G or tetras. Gouramis and bettas are both related and are labrynth fish. They are highly territorial and unless you have a 70G or bigger 1 per tank is maximum. Your betta is beating up your gourami.

[jackiesoba]

Ok that makes sense. I did notice at first the beta would chase him away for this spot in the tree but that didn't last long so I just thought they were chill with eachother...guess that's not how it works with fish. I was planning on taking the gourami back to the petstore since they told me to when he got a little too big (cause I do feel it is a little crowded since he has gotten bigger) But I don't want to if he's all sick. What can I do to help him get better? Or should I take him back so they can help him?

And no I don't have water parameter readings. And I would love to get a bigger tank but for now I do need to get my mindset to keeping just a 10 gallon:P

[ScottishFish]

I'd advise getting an API liquid tester kit to allow you to get accurate readings.

For a 10G I'd say rehome everything apart from the betta, only tetras I'd advise for a 10G are neons

[jackiesoba]

Okay. I am gonna get the water tested at my local fish store anyhow. But thank you!