What’s wrong with my gourami?

Clestage35 · Mar 30, 2020

I’m new to this hobby and I’ve have my balloon pearl gourami for about 2 months now and he was doing perfectly fine. These past 4 days however, he’s been sitting at the bottom of my tank and occasionally going to the top. I only have one gourami and recently I read that they should be with another gourami. Although, I have some guppies and a goldfish in my tank, he doesn’t seem interested in swimming with them. He keeps to himself and even just sits at the bottom not moving for a minute or two. I only have a 10g tank so I didn’t want to get another gourami so I don’t overcrowd them but I want any suggestions you have. What should I do?

Byron · Mar 30, 2020

Welcome to TFF. :hi:

There are a few issues here to sort out. First, what is the tank water temperature? Goldfish are cooler water fish whereas gourami must have warmth. Guppies are warmer water (than the goldfish) as well, but the temperature is somewhat less of an issue for them than it would be for gourami.

Goldfish and tropical species should never be in the same tank, primarily because of the above temperature differences. But there are other issues.

A 10g tank is very small to the fish, and this is likely part of the problem for the gourami, and may become so for the goldfish.

"Balloon" varieities of any tropical fish are fraught with problems. They are purposely deformed to create the "balloon" aspect and this causes serious internal problems for the poor fish, making them even weaker than normal varieties. Please do not acquire any "balloon" fish, this is the only way to stop this inhumane practice.

Aside from separating the fish, and doing water changes, there is not much you can do.

JuiceBox52 · Mar 30, 2020

I agree with @Byron

utahfish · Mar 30, 2020

Goldfish are also dirty fish that produce alot of ammonia which in only a 10 gallon tank will accumulate quickly which is harmful to fish.
Also guppys are hard water fish gouramis soft water so depending on your water parameters one or the other is going to suffer.

Colin_T · Mar 30, 2020

Check the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

See how the fish looks after a couple of water changes.

-------------
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Clestage35 · Apr 1, 2020

Byron said:
Welcome to TFF.

There are a few issues here to sort out. First, what is the tank water temperature? Goldfish are cooler water fish whereas gourami must have warmth. Guppies are warmer water (than the goldfish) as well, but the temperature is somewhat less of an issue for them than it would be for gourami.

Goldfish and tropical species should never be in the same tank, primarily because of the above temperature differences. But there are other issues.

A 10g tank is very small to the fish, and this is likely part of the problem for the gourami, and may become so for the goldfish.

"Balloon" varieities of any tropical fish are fraught with problems. They are purposely deformed to create the "balloon" aspect and this causes serious internal problems for the poor fish, making them even weaker than normal varieties. Please do not acquire any "balloon" fish, this is the only way to stop this inhumane practice.

Aside from separating the fish, and doing water changes, there is not much you can do.

Ok, thank you so much for the feedback it was very helpful. I have my fish in a tank that is around 75°F but I’m thinking I should get another tank after reading your feedback so thank you

Clestage35 · Apr 1, 2020

Colin_T said:
Check the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

See how the fish looks after a couple of water changes.

-------------
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

This was also helpful thank you. I’ll do a water change today My filter is topfin brand and has pf-10 cartridges and I switch them once a month

Colin_T · Apr 1, 2020

Try not to change the filter pads/ cartridges because you get rid of the good filter bacteria and can have ammonia and nitrite problems.

When you clean the filter, just squeeze the filter pad out in a bucket of tank water and re-use the pad. Tip the bucket of dirty tank water on the lawn when you have finished.

You can buy sponges for other brands of filters and use a pair of scissors to cut them to fit your filter. Put the sponge in with your filter pad and after a couple of months, you can remove the pad and leave the sponges in there. Sponges get squeezed out in a bucket of tank water and will last for years.

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What’s wrong with my gourami?

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