Worried about my dwarf gourami

[Mr-Furious99]

I have two male dwarf gourami in my 30 gal tank. I've had them for about 2 years and when I got them, they went at each other often. Now, two years later, the instigator is the smaller of the two and no longer as vibrant. For the last week or so I've noticed he just hangs at the top of the tank and kind of sags. The other, more dominant one hangs out near the bottom.

Is my one sick, depressed or otherwise unhealthy? He doesn't look sick to me although his tail fin is a little ragged.

Here's my tank layout. There are some Cory's, 6 Rasbora and some celestial danios as well.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

The gourami in the picture looks like a female dwarf gourami. She does not look very well and is skinny, has sunken eyes and tattered fins. This could be from old age or stress or disease (virus). I am going with stress and old age.

How often do you feed the fish?
What do you feed the fish?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
Can you post a picture of the other gourami?

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Try feeding the fish more often (3-5 times per day). Feed them a variety of dry, frozen (but defrosted) and live food. Raw/ cooked prawn/ shrimp is a good food to condition fish. You can buy it frozen form a fishing store (in the bait section) or from supermarkets. Keep them frozen. When you feed the fish, take one prawn and defrost it, remove the head shell and gut (thin black tube in body) and through these bits away. Use a pr of scissors to cut the remaining prawn tail into small pieces and offer 1 or 2 bits at a time. Let the fish eat until full then stop feeding and remove uneaten food. Put the remaining prawn tail in the fridge and use later that day. Use a new prawn each day so they are fresh.

You can also get marine mix from pet shops. It is prawn, fish and squid that has been blended up and frozen into little blocks. You keep them in the freezer and take one out and feed it the same way as you use prawn.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a couple of weeks.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter media in a bucket of tank water.

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You need a picture on the back of the tank to make the fish feel more secure. And some floating plants like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) would help the gouramis and tetras feel safer. Water Sprite grows on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate if you get too much.

 

[Back in the fold]

Floating plants are a very good idea in Gourami tanks and I definitely second the motion to cover the back of the tank. Dwarf Gouramis are shy and need to feel safely hidden. Really, all fish need that. In the wild they don't sit out in the open exposing themselves to predators. They also use cover to stalk their prey from. I cover the back and sometimes one side.

 

[Mr-Furious99]

The gourami in the picture looks like a female dwarf gourami. She does not look very well and is skinny, has sunken eyes and tattered fins. This could be from old age or stress or disease (virus). I am going with stress and old age.

How often do you feed the fish?
What do you feed the fish?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
Can you post a picture of the other gourami?

--------------------------
Try feeding the fish more often (3-5 times per day). Feed them a variety of dry, frozen (but defrosted) and live food. Raw/ cooked prawn/ shrimp is a good food to condition fish. You can buy it frozen form a fishing store (in the bait section) or from supermarkets. Keep them frozen. When you feed the fish, take one prawn and defrost it, remove the head shell and gut (thin black tube in body) and through these bits away. Use a pr of scissors to cut the remaining prawn tail into small pieces and offer 1 or 2 bits at a time. Let the fish eat until full then stop feeding and remove uneaten food. Put the remaining prawn tail in the fridge and use later that day. Use a new prawn each day so they are fresh.

You can also get marine mix from pet shops. It is prawn, fish and squid that has been blended up and frozen into little blocks. You keep them in the freezer and take one out and feed it the same way as you use prawn.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a couple of weeks.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter media in a bucket of tank water.

--------------------------
You need a picture on the back of the tank to make the fish feel more secure. And some floating plants like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) would help the gouramis and tetras feel safer. Water Sprite grows on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate if you get too much.

Thanks for the wonderful response, I'll do my best to answer everything.
I'm 99% sure it's a male. He used to be quite vibrant and would go after the other gourami until the other got bigger.

I feed them flakes once a day, sometimes I switch it up with blood worms. I also drop in a pellet or two for the Cory's. The larger gourami likes those as well.
I change the water once every one or two weeks and usually a 25-30% change.
I do vacuum areas of the gravel when I do the change, and on the last change I cleaned the filter media in a bucket of tank water.
When I do a water change, I add the recommended amount of API stress coat.

My gourami with the issues didn't eat today.. and he hasn't really moved from the top of the tank.

Here's a pic of the healthy one.

 

[Colin_T]

I would euthanise the sick gourami. Once fish stop eating, it's normally just a matter of time before they die.

 

[Mr-Furious99]

RIP Kanye.

Poor little guy has gone to a better place..

Anyway, thank you all for the responses. I went and picked up a picture for the back of the tank and plan to pick up some water sprite next week.

 

[Naughts]

 

[Colin_T]

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week. This will help reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and reduce the chance of the other fish getting sick from whatever kill the gourami.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Don't get any new fish for a month.

 

[Mr-Furious99]

@Colin_T hey, noticed in another thread you suggested feeding gouramis 3-5 times a day. I've got one gourami now but he's in with a bunch of Rasbora and danios. Do I need to separate the gourami or can the little fish deal with the extra food?

 

[Colin_T]

I recommend feeding any sick fish (gourami or other) 3-5 times a day to try and build them up physically so they have more chance of surviving the ailment. And if the fish have intestinal worms or gill flukes, the extra feedings help the fish produce more blood so they don't die from low blood pressure or anemia.

Normal healthy fish only need to be fed once or twice a day.

If you are preparing fish for breeding, they should be fed 3-5 times a day for at least 2 weeks before the fish are bred. This gives the breeding fish a chance to gain some weight and build up some reserves so they produce healthier young and survive the breeding process better.

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If you feed the fish more often, you also need to do daily water changes and gravel cleans to keep the tank water clean. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.