I have a 53 gallon tank that's been established now for 1.5 years. Do 20% water changes every 2 to 3 weeks. Not a lot of fish in the tank; 4 angels, 3 platys, 2 guppies, 2 bristle nose plecos, and 3 female pearl gouramis, used to be 4 females. I never see any of my fish get aggressive toward one another but they must at times because my pearls always have fins torn and nipped, yet I don't witness anything. Any way, I've had these gouramis for at least 8 -10 months, bought them all at the same time, but last month I lost one. Looks really beat up and sick looking, now I have another one. Any suggestions what might be going on?
Pearl Gourami in bad shape
- Thread starter hywaydave
- Start date
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the aquarium water?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
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The fish is emaciated and could have intestinal worms and or gill flukes. It might also be starving and not getting enough food due to bullying. However, the tank looks big enough for the fish you have so bullying is unlikely. Starvation is a possibility.
What do you feed the fish and how often do you feed them?
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Feed them a variety of dry, frozen and live foods 3-5 times a day for a month. See if it helps.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean sponge.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or every couple of days while feeding more often. This will keep the water cleaner and reduce other health issues occurring.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Established filters should be cleaned at least once a month.
Deworm the fish. See section 3 of the following link for deworming fish.
www.fishforums.net
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
---------------------
The fish is emaciated and could have intestinal worms and or gill flukes. It might also be starving and not getting enough food due to bullying. However, the tank looks big enough for the fish you have so bullying is unlikely. Starvation is a possibility.
What do you feed the fish and how often do you feed them?
---------------------
Feed them a variety of dry, frozen and live foods 3-5 times a day for a month. See if it helps.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean sponge.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or every couple of days while feeding more often. This will keep the water cleaner and reduce other health issues occurring.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Established filters should be cleaned at least once a month.
Deworm the fish. See section 3 of the following link for deworming fish.
What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.
Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...
www.fishforums.net
I kept pearl gouramis for years, as I used to think tanks needed centrepiece fish. They were perfect, with small mouths and large, colourful bodies.
The catch was the picking at each other. Males, females, it doesn't matter. They live in a state of constant low grade warfare, with bumping and nipping. With a fish that lives like that, you need either one, or a group larger than six. That is a bioload issue. The absolute worst thing to be for a pearl, or an angel, or any fish that has a pecking habit is to be number 3. Rank isn't rigid and in larger groups, they move up and down, but if you fall to 3 in a group of 3, 1 and 2 will not only attack and harass, but they'll keep you from eating properly. Over the weeks and months, the fish wears down, til something gets it.
It's a tank thing. In nature, number 3 would go join another shoal. In a tank, it has to be removed and not put back in unless, if it heals in QT, it can be added back with a small group its own size. I don't keep pearls anymore.
The catch was the picking at each other. Males, females, it doesn't matter. They live in a state of constant low grade warfare, with bumping and nipping. With a fish that lives like that, you need either one, or a group larger than six. That is a bioload issue. The absolute worst thing to be for a pearl, or an angel, or any fish that has a pecking habit is to be number 3. Rank isn't rigid and in larger groups, they move up and down, but if you fall to 3 in a group of 3, 1 and 2 will not only attack and harass, but they'll keep you from eating properly. Over the weeks and months, the fish wears down, til something gets it.
It's a tank thing. In nature, number 3 would go join another shoal. In a tank, it has to be removed and not put back in unless, if it heals in QT, it can be added back with a small group its own size. I don't keep pearls anymore.
Could be the guppies or the angel fin nipping. Pearls are pretty docile, also they seem to be experiencing a bit of inbreeding as I have noticed shorter lifespans and more health issues on the last few years from about 10 years ago.
Definitely step up the water changes - larger changes more often, but do you have a separate hospital/quarantine tank? Because that gourami looks really bad, and I would personally move it so it's not being beaten up or harassed, can eat, and has a chance of recovery. If you leave it in there, I don't think it'll last long I'm afraid.
Ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm, Nitrate is 5ppm, and pH is 8.2What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the aquarium water?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
---------------------
The fish is emaciated and could have intestinal worms and or gill flukes. It might also be starving and not getting enough food due to bullying. However, the tank looks big enough for the fish you have so bullying is unlikely. Starvation is a possibility.
What do you feed the fish and how often do you feed them?
---------------------
Feed them a variety of dry, frozen and live foods 3-5 times a day for a month. See if it helps.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean sponge.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or every couple of days while feeding more often. This will keep the water cleaner and reduce other health issues occurring.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Established filters should be cleaned at least once a month.
Deworm the fish. See section 3 of the following link for deworming fish.
What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.
Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...
I have a Fluval 307 canister, I clean the canister sponges every month (in tank water in a bucket), along with replacing the carbon, polishing pad, and phosphate remover pad.
I clean the substrate when I do my water changes, and dechlorinate with prime. I also wipe the front and sides of the glass in the tank, just not the back. I leave that algae on there as a natural background and food for the bristle nose plecos. I don't feel I need to clean the tank more often, I don't have that many fish for a 53 gallon and my water parameters are great.
I only feed the fish in this tank once a day, and she does still eat with the rest, although I do feel like the pearl gouramis aren't as aggressive when it comes to feeding and the other fish do eat the flakes faster. I do frozen brine shrimp once a week and just the gouramis don't seem to be big fans of the brine shrimp.
Are more water changes necessary if my ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are good? Ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm, Nitrate is 5ppm. I don't have a hospital/quarantine tank, I've always thought about it. Only bad thing is that I wouldn't get one established in time to save this guy. I have two 5 gallon tanks (for the kids) but they're well established and in use; one for babies and the other for a pair of guppies, an amano shrimp, and a nerite snail that I've had for over 2 years, and that's pretty impressive for a snail I think.
You would think, I mean even my angels have some ripped fins every now and then (I bought the angels as a group of 4 when they were about the size of a quarter, now their bodies are probably silver dollar size). This tank is in the basement and I'm only down there at night, and they all seem to get along. I never see the gouramis chase each other. As for the angels, they all get along except just when feeding time is over, one angel makes sure the other three stay away from the top of the tank. It does this for about 5-10 minutes and then gets over it. It doesn't bother with any other fish, just the other 3 angels.
I would agree that come feeding time, the gouramis are the least agressive at getting to the food quickly and all the other fish definitely seem to eat more.
male and female guppy keep to themselves. The male is always following her around.
Are more water changes necessary if my ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are good? Ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm, Nitrate is 5ppm. I don't have a hospital/quarantine tank, I've always thought about it. Only bad thing is that I wouldn't get one established in time to save this guy. I have two 5 gallon tanks (for the kids) but they're well established and in use; one for babies and the other for a pair of guppies, an amano shrimp, and a nerite snail that I've had for over 2 years, and that's pretty impressive for a snail I think.
There are other elements to having fresh clean water that we don't measure, including different minerals that get used by plants. But the main thing is that fresh clean water boosts fishes immune systems and gives them the best chance of healing and recovering. It's up to you though if you're not a believer in more frequent water changes.
But something is battering that gourami, and splitting the fins on other fish, I noticed a guppy with tail splits too, and the other gourami and angels are the most likely suspects.
Two years is pretty good for a nerite! Better than I managed. But my nerite was also leaving white eggs all over my tank and decor, so I wasn't heartbroken when my nerites passed away...
Having a spare tank you can whip up in a hurry is definitely useful. Doesn't have to anything fancy, and I just run a spare sponge filter on one of my main tanks that I can steal to use for a temporary QT tank when needed.
I just purchased a 10 gallon tank kit today to set up a hospital tank tonight. I will transfer some water over from the main tank, and grab the used HOB filter cartridge from my 5 gallon tank (main display tank just has a canister) to stick into the new HOB filter that came with this kit. if it don't fit I'll just drop it in the tank. Should I start with any medications or salt? Or just wait and see?
DoubleDutch
Fish Gatherer
IMO this fish has gone over the edge.
She's still eating
Well I set up the quarantine tank. Filled half with fresh water, half with main tank water, put prime and stability in there a long with an old media cartridge and aquarium salt, unfortunately I can't catch the darn fish without tearing up the main tank, which I refuse to do. So I suppose it'll have to heal on its own or die. Good news is I now have a quarantine tank for any new fish I buy, which I don't do often. That's always been a risk I didn't like taking. I haven't put any new fish in that tank for about 5 months when I got the 4 angels and 2 guppies
I'm sorry to hear that - definitely good to have a QT now. I know gourami can move incredibly fast, and my blue gourami is very wary of me and a net. But I picked up a few tips and tricks over the years for catching fish in a heavily planted tank, and also how to gently herd them towards a net without sending them into a panic. If that battered fish is still alive, don't give up hope on catching it. Leave the net in the tank for a few hours so the fish learn to ignore it, wait for your moment, the scoop the fish up when you get the chance.
This video is well worth watching!
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