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

[elephantnose3334]

This is urgent and bad news. Today, my gourami died in my 10 gallon tank. It's the survival of the fittest in my fish tank. The ones that starve will die. The faster tetras will live. RIP Sunset January 27-24 September 2023. He wasn't feeling well yesterday after we did a water change with a gravel vac. His gills weren't moving, meaning he was dead. He refused to eat before he died today. What is the cause of death of my dwarf gourami? Did I care for him properly, or did I make a huge mistake? Now I have 12 fish left. I will bury him in the front garden on my house.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Did you cycle your tank?

 

[MuddyWaters]

Maybe Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus. Seems like that's common these days. Too bad, I love dwarf gourami. They're so colorful.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Did you cycle your tank?

Yes

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Yes

For how long?

 

[elephantnose3334]

For how long?

Before and after I got the fish until he died.

 

[Colin_T]

Don't buy anymore dwarf gouramis. They aren't worth touching due to their health issues and inbreeding. If you want another gourami or Betta further down the track, clean the tank out first and disinfect everything, just in case it was something horrible like the Gourami Iridovirus or Fish TB.

Most fish won't starve in an aquarium. Unlike mammals and birds that use most of the food they eat to stay warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water. This means the food they eat is used for growth and movement. This allows fish to go for weeks or even months without food and not die from starvation. If your fish are being fed several times a week, or more often, they won't starve unless they are riddled with intestinal worms and gill flukes.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Don't buy anymore dwarf gouramis. They aren't worth touching due to their health issues and inbreeding. If you want another gourami or Betta further down the track, clean the tank out first and disinfect everything, just in case it was something horrible like the Gourami Iridovirus or Fish TB.

Most fish won't starve in an aquarium. Unlike mammals and birds that use most of the food they eat to stay warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water. This means the food they eat is used for growth and movement. This allows fish to go for weeks or even months without food and not die from starvation. If your fish are being fed several times a week, or more often, they won't starve unless they are riddled with intestinal worms and gill flukes.

All right, I know your advice now. I feed them twice a day. I did the right thing on the care, but I just wanted a bigger fish to prevent aggression in the tank and Sunset was the one to prevent the aggression of the tetras. Guess I'll live with aggressive tetras and cardinal tetras for now on And it's sad to see them being inbred, too...

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Before and after I got the fish until he died.

Then your gourami sadly most likely died due to Iridovirus

 

[elephantnose3334]

Then your gourami sadly most likely died due to Iridovirus

Aww... What's iridovirus?

 

[Essjay]

It's an incurable disease. Many dwarf gouramis from far east fish farms are infected with it at the farms.

The dwarf gourami would not have prevented the aggression of the tetras. Most tetras need a tank bigger than 10 gallons and when fish are kept in small numbers and/or in a tank that's too small, it stresses them and stressed fish often become aggressive.
Dwarf gouramis also need a tank bigger than 10 gallons - Seriously Fish recommends a tank at least 60 cm long - and the stress of being in a too small tank could lead to any illness such as the iridovirus presenting sooner rather than later.

 

[GaryE]

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.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. Many newcomers feel that small tanks will be easier to take care of than large tanks. Actually, the opposite is true. To give yourself the best opportunity to succeed in the water keeping hobby, it would be best to wait until you can afford at least a 30 gallon tank (120 liters). Set up the tank with treated tap water and add just a few hardy fish like Platys and remove and replace half the tank water two times a week for as long as you keep fish in it. This amount of work won't be a problem for just about any schedule. Feed just a little every other day. Add some floating plants like Anacharis, Water Sprite or Hornwort. The fry will need places to hide when they start showing up in a few weeks.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Richee]

Before and after I got the fish until he died.

You cycled the tank before and after you got the fish?

 

[Essjay]

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?