Strange?

[Brewster'sLife]

My gourami has not really eaten in a couple of weeks, yesterday and today he seems interested in food again but will not actually come up and eat. Now today he has been hiding under the filter. Have been doing every other day water changes.

 

[Metalhead88]

What are ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings?

How long has the tank been set up? What size tank is it and what other tankmates are in the tank?

 

[Brewster'sLife]

Has been set up for about a year now, only the one pearl because I rescued him from my sisters guppy tank. He killed his mate and was killing the guppies. Nitrate about 10ppm, nitrite 0, ammonia about .25ppm.

 

[FishkeeperLinz]

Has been set up for about a year now, only the one pearl because I rescued him from my sisters guppy tank. He killed his mate and was killing the guppies. Nitrate about 10ppm, nitrite 0, ammonia about .25ppm.

How big is the tank? You shouldn't have any ammonia in a tank that's been up and running for a year, although I see you're combating it with water changes.

 

[Metalhead88]

Maybe uneaten food has created an ammonia spike?

That'll surely add to more of the fish not eating.

 

[CassCats]

How strong is the filter? Wondering if maybe the current is too strong and the gourami is stressed by it too much to eat.


Or he got spoiled on "live foods" (guppies). What foods are you offering right now?

 

[Brewster'sLife]

Top fin tropical fish crumbles and dried bloodworms. His water is pretty quiet and all of that has been the same for the last year.

 

[Retired Viking]

The bloodworm are just tasty treats should not be part of his diet, very little if any nutritional value. The ammonia is of real concern and could cause a fish to stop eating and breathing.

 

[Retired Viking]

You could try adding some Tetra SafeStart plus to help replenish your bacteria. Do you have live plants in the tank?

 

[Brewster'sLife]

I know that the bloodworms are a treat, I tried giving them to him to see if he will eat. There are live plants and added moss balls last week.

 

[Retired Viking]

Do you have any fast growing plants like hornwort, moneywort, anacharis or water sprite? these plants are good at absorbing the ammonia and easy to take care of. They could help with the ammonia issue. Moss ball will help with nitrates. The tetra SafeStart Plus would help restart you bacteria if that is the cause of the ammonia. Did you medicate your fish lately?

 

[Brewster'sLife]

No he has not been medicated lately, I have a couple of plants in there but I honestly don't know what they are.

 

[FishkeeperLinz]

No he has not been medicated lately, I have a couple of plants in there but I honestly don't know what they are.

Could you post a pic of the tank? Maybe someone can identify the plants for you.

 

[Brewster'sLife]

Here’s one, it’s hard to get a good picture of my other plant

 

[Colin_T]

Post a good picture showing the entire tank and a couple of pictures of the fish. Make sure they are in focus and we can see the fish.

From the current picture it looks like you have blue green algae (Cyanobacteria) in the tank and that would suggest excess nutrients in the water and substrate.
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

When was the last time the filter was cleaned?
How do you clean the filter?

How much water do you normally change?

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Wipe the inside of the glass with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media.
Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

Make sure nobody is using sprays, perfumes, deodorants, smoking, painting or doing anything else in the room that produces fumes.

Make sure any buckets you use are not used for anything except the fish tank.