Dwarf Gouramis

[TESS]

I brought 2 dwarf gouramis about 3 months ago 1 male 1 female (only sold as a pair) The male builds his nest and blows his bubbles into it aswell, the female is (was) very active and always looked happy with my platies. The male and female gouramis have spawned and fertilized onece or twice. My female looked fine yesterday but today she is dead!, why??. My male (otto)is now looking sorry for himself and not happy that his female (aimie) has died. I have tested the water and its fine the tempreture is fine and they live in a 180 litre tank.
Does anyone know why aimie is dead?, and do i need to buy otto another female tommorow?.
I am very upset she was my favorite and she had so much character.

 

[sylvia]

Can you be alittle more specific with the water parameters? Was she showing any symptoms of disease? Was she eating well the day before? Was she lethargic, looked bloated, any pineconing of scales, white and stringy poo, laying on the bottom, gasping at the surface, loss of color etc? Also what are the other fish in the tank and just how much cover do they have - are there floating plants, hiding places etc? Where did she and the male spend most time? If the male had been guarding a bubblenest, there is a chance he could have attacked her. However, the tank is at least 40 gallons by my calculations so this seems an unlikely cause of death (plus dwarfs aren't that aggressive under usual circumstances). I expect she was ill. How long have you had her BTW?

 

[oldskool]

Sorry to hear about your fish - mines the other way around - my male looks like he will die any second - he looks fine but won,t swim. He has been "ill" ever since I got him - everything is fine with my tank but he just isnt happy - my female is the spritlyest fish in the tank.

R.I.P : Aimie

 

[TESS]

Sorry its taken me so long to reply (ive been busy at work)
Bad news........my male (otto) died the next day . All of a sudden he started to loose his balance in the water, gasping at the surface and he even got sucked in to the filter, he was so weak. I moved him to the hospital tank where his condition got worse and worse, it was horrible waching him die, i done all i could to help him.
R.I.P OTTO
In reply to the other questions
My readings the day before aimie died were:
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
ph 7.9
nitrate 20- 30
I have a well planted tank with a air pump, a cave and a tube.
My other fish are platys and chineese alge eaters (not aggresive)
Tempreture 79-80.4
Did add white spot treatment as there was only a small amount on my other fish and not the gouramis, also added salt to reduce stress and disease, i did this 1 week before they died.
Gouramis looked healthy and eating up to friday the 13th for aimie when she died and then otto shortly after.
They are both buried in my garden .
Does anyone know if you can buy euthenasia for fish? (i probably spelt that wrong)
because after waching otto die in pain i would rather put the fish to sleep quickly, vets add it to a bucket of water.

 

[TESS]

I forgot to say i had them for about 3 months and the fish shop where i got them from seems to have a problem to as they didnt look happy when i brought them but they come alive when they got home and they both loved their home. I recently went back to the shop and noticed the gouramis all looked ill with ripped fins and looking sad, could it be the breeding as my fish must have been from the same supplier?, maybe something internal?.

 

[sylvia]

You can euthanise fish using clove oil.

The fish may have been carrying something from the LFS but realy dwarfs are prone to infections so it would have been quite easy for them to catch it in the tank as well if they were even slightly stressed at some point. If you want to replace them, go for a different colisa species - honeys (colisa chuna/sota), banded (colisa fasciata) and thick-lipped (colisa labiosa) are all good options. The first gets to about 1.5", fasciata gets to 4" and labiosa to 3.5".

Now note please, chinese algae eaters are never peaceful. I don't know what size yours are but as they approach 5", they will begin to be a real nuissance. They don't like others of their own kind, they stop eating algae and start sucking on other fish, later they suck out eyes and then they get to 10" at which point they'll be eating smaller fish. I would strongly advise you to get rid of yours. I know they are attractive fish but they are the wrong fish to keep with anything alive . If you want one, keep it alone in a 20 gallon. Peaceful community fish, flat-bodied fish (like gouramies) or slow-moving fish are most at risk. They aren't good tankmates for any fish though IMO.

 

[TESS]

where do you get this clove oil from? please.
I think we have had this conversation abour my CAE and i think we understood that they were sold to me as CAE but i dont think they are but is still call them that if you see what i mean .Ive had them for about 7 months they are only about 3inchs they dont see to be getting any bigger and i think the are in love ) .
I dont think i will have gouramis for a long time now, i have now brought 5 rosy barbs, 1 male is so randy i think his going to explode, he goes bright red and all his stripes disappear, pretty fish .

 

[sylvia]

You can usualy get clove oil from your local pharmacie. Do you have pictures of the 'CAE'? If it is only 2-3" and isn't growing, it might be an oto?

 

[TESS]

I will try to get a picture of CAE but they are shy and only realy come out at night.
Btw i have brought ruby barbs not cherry barbs my mistake .