Sick Gourami

[cheekypigs]

I think my male dwarf gourami is sick he keeps zooming round, swimming vertically, swimming in circles rolling around and going upside down I'm now running some water tests to see what they at but I'm scared I got attached to him now

 

[cheekypigs]

nitrite 0.5
ammonia 0.25
nitrate 20

 

[cheekypigs]

he's just lying on the bottom now I think he's dead after I bought him I was told fish from pets at home usually die but I didn't want to believe them... his girlfriend seems fine though and she came from there too. All other fish that came from the LFS are ok, hope its nothing catching.

 

[oneponygirl]

Sorry about your fish. Is your tank brand new? Is it cycling? Just wondering since your ammonia and nitrites are kind of up there for an established tank. It could have been a water quality issue. Can you tell us more about your tank including size and what other fish you have as well.

 

[cheekypigs]

My tank is 126L (33.3g) I had it running 2 weeks before I put some fish in, it now has 2 corys, 1 black widow tetra and a female dwarf gourami then it did have the male dwarf gourami too. Everyone else is fine no signs of any distress or sickness

 

[oneponygirl]

That a lot of fish for an uncycled tank and a lot of fish that are sensitive to water quality. You need to do a water change for sure and daily tests to check for water quality. In a cycled tank ammonia and nitrites should be 0, both are fish killers so you don't want them at all. Have you read any of the pinned articles about cycling? You may want to if you haven't. And keep an eye on the rest of your fish as well as your water stats. While I could be wrong my guess would be that your little male dwarf gourami was the victim of bad water due to the tank cycling.