Dwarf gourami died in 10 gallon. Help me... :(

[elephantnose3334]

I missed that. Do you mean you started doing a fishless or plant cycle, then got fish before it was finished and continued doing a fish-in cycle?

I did a fishless cycle for a week and a bit before I got them. Then I did a continued natural cycle with the fish.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Sunset gouramis are not natural fish, but are a man made variety. They are often fed hormone food to increase the red before they are shipped to stores. That can affect their longterm health, but they rarely get that far as there is iridovirus, a fatal virus that mainly affects high bodied gouramis. The farm made variants of T lalia, the wild dwarf gouami need veterinary certification to get into many countries. So the fish farms hire vets, and the disease spreads.

Diseases specific to fish groups are well known in the hobby, and are a consequence of the sheer numbers of fish raised on farm together. Like human diseases, fish diseases like a good crowd. We've seen angel plagues, guppy plagues and irido, among others, spread out through the farms.

12 fish left in a 10 gallon is a wipeout waiting to happen. Other than fry or micro-fish like Bororas spp, there is no fish I would stock that heavily in that small a tank. When we're starting in the hobby, we get greedy and always put too many fish in.

Like I said, I was a beginner. Even micro-fish can get TB or other diseases. I regret having fish in the first place, even micro-fish

Because they have many diseases waiting to wipe them out. 10 gallons is too small for micro-fish and all the other fish.

 

[GaryE]

A week probably means an uncycled tank, but that probably had nothing to do with the death of the gourami. The largest fish usually goes first in an uncycled tank, but every lalia type gourami is a time bomb now. They tend to die in any circumstances.

You need to do some reading and learn how the cycle and stocking work. From your articles, you're a quick learner, and this is a speedbump you need to go over fast. I use a lot of 10 gallon tanks and my usual stocking is 2 two inch fish. I still do 30% water changes every 7 to 10 days.

 

[elephantnose3334]

A week probably means an uncycled tank, but that probably had nothing to do with the death of the gourami. The largest fish usually goes first in an uncycled tank, but every lalia type gourami is a time bomb now. They tend to die in any circumstances.

You need to do some reading and learn how the cycle and stocking work. From your articles, you're a quick learner, and this is a speedbump you need to go over fast. I use a lot of 10 gallon tanks and my usual stocking is 2 two inch fish. I still do 30% water changes every 7 to 10 days.

Hmm, I could do that. Thanks, @GaryE. I know, I followed the advice of Vebas. Unless... Vebas had some bad advice that probably killed my fish.

 

[GaryE]

The fish store business is a weird one. This forum is full of horror stories of bad advice - I always remember one of my ex Grade 11 students working in a chain. He'd been so stoned all year he didn't recognize me and started giving me the worst advice with the greatest confidence. One week before he had gotten out of jail and gotten a job in a pet store without ever having kept an aquarium. Yup, a trustworthy source (they fired him after 2 weeks).

A lot of US and Canadian stores seem to have a business model based on making a quick dollar. They sell you too many fish too quickly and if that drives you out of the hobby in discouragement, so be it. Customers are disposable to them and they run a high turnover model. It's all short term thinking.

 

[elephantnose3334]

The fish store business is a weird one. This forum is full of horror stories of bad advice - I always remember one of my ex Grade 11 students working in a chain. He'd been so stoned all year he didn't recognize me and started giving me the worst advice with the greatest confidence. One week before he had gotten out of jail and gotten a job in a pet store without ever having kept an aquarium. Yup, a trustworthy source (they fired him after 2 weeks).

A lot of US and Canadian stores seem to have a business model based on making a quick dollar. They sell you too many fish too quickly and if that drives you out of the hobby in discouragement, so be it. Customers are disposable to them and they run a high turnover model. It's all short term thinking.

That's a weird story. In Australia it doesn't usually happen, but there will be bad advice at the end.

 

[Colin_T]

Hmm, I could do that. Thanks, @GaryE. I know, I followed the advice of Vebas. Unless... Vebas had some bad advice that probably killed my fish.

It is standard practice in Australia to let people do a fish in cycle unless it's a marine tank or a Rift Lake tank. Then the good shops suggest doing a fishless cycle so the occupants don't die from ammonia poisoning due to the high pH of the water.

Having customers set up the tank and run it for a few days to a week before adding fish is normal. It's not a big issue if the store tells the customer to only add a few fish, feed them a few times a week and do regular water changes to keep the ammonia down. The shop should encourage the customer to buy test kits or bring a sample of tank water in for testing a couple of times a week. The shop should also tell the customer not to add more fish for at least a month so the main part of the cycle is done with the few starter fish.

It's unlikely the advice given to you by Veba's caused the death of your fish and you didn't kill it either. Are the rest of the fish in the tank still alive and eating well? If yes, then it's not the tank.

Dwarf gouramis, guppies, swordtails, platies, mollies, goldfish and most common tetras from Asian fish farms are crap quality and regularly die before their time due to diseases and inbreeding. You got a dwarf gourami and it died after a short time, that is common all around the world. Learn from it and move on. Avoid dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) and all their colour forms unless they are from a local breeder you know, or wild caught.

 

[Richee]

It is standard practice in Australia to let people do a fish in cycle unless it's a marine tank or a Rift Lake tank. Then the good shops suggest doing a fishless cycle so the occupants don't die from ammonia poisoning due to the high pH of the water.

Having customers set up the tank and run it for a few days to a week before adding fish is normal. It's not a big issue if the store tells the customer to only add a few fish, feed them a few times a week and do regular water changes to keep the ammonia down. The shop should encourage the customer to buy test kits or bring a sample of tank water in for testing a couple of times a week. The shop should also tell the customer not to add more fish for at least a month so the main part of the cycle is done with the few starter fish.

It's unlikely the advice given to you by Veba's caused the death of your fish and you didn't kill it either. Are the rest of the fish in the tank still alive and eating well? If yes, then it's not the tank.

Dwarf gouramis, guppies, swordtails, platies, mollies, goldfish and most common tetras from Asian fish farms are crap quality and regularly die before their time due to diseases and inbreeding. You got a dwarf gourami and it died after a short time, that is common all around the world. Learn from it and move on. Avoid dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) and all their colour forms unless they are from a local breeder you know, or wild caught.

They were doing fish in cycle for many many years before us with no issues . You just have to do it right and be patient

 

[GaryE]

I've never done a fishless cycle, and probably never will. My concern wasn't there, but in the stocking levels for a small tank. The tank can cycle the entire Tour de France and still have too many fish in it. Our local stores here look at the cash and don't give good stocking advice to new aquarists, and that causes a lot of grief.

 

[Colin_T]

I've never done a fishless cycle, and probably never will. My concern wasn't there, but in the stocking levels for a small tank. The tank can cycle the entire Tour de France and still have too many fish in it. Our local stores here look at the cash and don't give good stocking advice to new aquarists, and that causes a lot of grief.

Love it

The 2023 Tour De France winner is
the 18 inch aquarium.

 

[elephantnose3334]

It is standard practice in Australia to let people do a fish in cycle unless it's a marine tank or a Rift Lake tank. Then the good shops suggest doing a fishless cycle so the occupants don't die from ammonia poisoning due to the high pH of the water.

Having customers set up the tank and run it for a few days to a week before adding fish is normal. It's not a big issue if the store tells the customer to only add a few fish, feed them a few times a week and do regular water changes to keep the ammonia down. The shop should encourage the customer to buy test kits or bring a sample of tank water in for testing a couple of times a week. The shop should also tell the customer not to add more fish for at least a month so the main part of the cycle is done with the few starter fish.

It's unlikely the advice given to you by Veba's caused the death of your fish and you didn't kill it either. Are the rest of the fish in the tank still alive and eating well? If yes, then it's not the tank.

Dwarf gouramis, guppies, swordtails, platies, mollies, goldfish and most common tetras from Asian fish farms are crap quality and regularly die before their time due to diseases and inbreeding. You got a dwarf gourami and it died after a short time, that is common all around the world. Learn from it and move on. Avoid dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) and all their colour forms unless they are from a local breeder you know, or wild caught.

Yep, I will learn from it and move on. My dad and mum wouldn't let me have a testing kit or medicines because they think they are remedies that don't work. I learned that most gouramis are ticking time bombs waiting to happen.

 

[Essjay]

Medicines are not what is needed here. What's needed is an understanding of which fish can be kept in a tank as small as 10 gallons, and their needs such as hard water or soft water. Research on reliable websites, not things like GPT which will quote from all sorts of unreliable sites. Look up any species of fish you wish to keep on Seriously Fish before buying. It will save a lot of heartache. For example, Seriously Fish flags up the health issues relating to dwarf gouramis. It also gives the minimum tank sizes needed by each species.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Medicines are not what is needed here. What's needed is an understanding of which fish can be kept in a tank as small as 10 gallons, and their needs such as hard water or soft water. Research on reliable websites, not things like GPT which will quote from all sorts of unreliable sites. Look up any species of fish you wish to keep on Seriously Fish before buying. It will save a lot of heartache. For example, Seriously Fish flags up the health issues relating to dwarf gouramis. It also gives the minimum tank sizes needed by each species.

Oh. Right. I will hopefully do more research in the future. And no, I don't use GPT for research. I used fish websites and care guides for research.

 

[Colin_T]

For everyone jumping on the band wagon and bashing the OP for a 10 gallon tank. Not every country has the same size 10 gallon tanks so you should check to see what the dimensions are before having a go at someone for having a dwarf gourami in a 10g tank.
eg: a standard 2 ft tank here holds 9-10 gallons. It's dimensions are 24 inches long x 10 inches wide x 12 inches high.

I'm unsure what the dimensions of the OP's tank are but we should find that out before saying the tank is too small for x.

 

[GaryE]

The standard 10 gallon tank I get here is 20 inches front, around 10 deep and 12 high. When I was new at this, I thought that was big, and regularly kept way way too many fish in them. As I got older, I overstocked larger tanks. It took me a while to get my head around the need to ease up.

@elephantnose3334 seems young, and I suspect feels that fascination for all the amazing fish we can see in this hobby. I think it's perfectly natural to overstock a tank, but it isn't workable or fair to the fish. When I was in my early teens, every time I made a few bucks painting, cutting grass or dragging golf carts around for drunks, I would head straight to the aquarium store and get more tetras than I had room for. My friends would be out buying drugs and wrecking their health, and I'd be out buying silvertip tetras for my 5 gallon.

Eventually, I met an elderly lfs owner who had been my grandfather's fish seller, and he set me straight as far as stocking goes. It really annoyed me. Most of my fish lived about 6 months, after all. I begrudgingly tried his way and 10 years later, still had a Cory from his store. It's a tough stage in fishkeeping to go through, because we get excited about the choices out there, and really like fish if we bother posting here. You want to see and get to know everything.

I was fortunate because my relatives all seemed to have unused tanks they gave me, and my Dad built a wall rack in my room and patched all the leaks in the old aquariums.

The OP got some standard but not good advice and is overstocked. Lots of water changes and no new additions are the only way forward, if you still live with your parents and don't have Uncles and Aunts hauling dusty, web filled tanks out of their back sheds for you.