Flame red dwarf gouramis are dying

[SamanthaB82]

Hey guys, I am not having any luck with my flame red dwarf gouramis. I have had 3 die within the past 3 weeks. Levels in the aquarium are fine, the co-habitants are 2 bumblebee Platys, 2 black Mollies, 1 awesome Betta, 3 Cories, 10 ghost shrimp, 1 dragonfish, 2 Glofish and 6 Neon Tetras. The aquarium is 30 gallons, fully cycled, plenty of amazon swords and java moss. I'm confused because the other fish are fine but these gouramis are not making it. Any suggestions?

 

[Thyra]

Just exactly what are the numbers of your water parameters? "Fine" is not adequate we are finding. How long did you have the gouramis? And did you get them all at one time?

 

[SamanthaB82]

Sorry that it took my so long. Nitrates- 20, Hardiness- Hard, chlorine- 0, Alkalinity- 80, ph 6.8. I put them in all at one time, they were all from the same tank. They did not last a week. I called the pet store and they said they were having problems with the gouramis. I bought in my water sample for them to test and they said my water looks good. I have not put anything else in my tank right now. I changed about 30% of the water tonight, put Nutrafin from Aqua Plus and Easy Balance Plus in. When I first cycled my aqaurium with Prime, my nitrite readings were really high so the owner recommended these and they brought the reading to a safe zone.

 

[Thyra]

You don't mention your ammonia and nitrite readings and those are the really important ones and they need to be Zero - anything higher than zero can be deadly to fish. Anytime you get your water tested ask for the specific numbers. Some fish are far more sensitive to the ammonia and nitrite but it isn't good for any of them. What you really need is a liquid test kit and the important ones are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

 

[OrangeCones]

I put them in all at one time, they were all from the same tank.

Unless its a male/female pair, its normally best to keep dwarf gourami without others of their kind. Getting along with other fish is normally not an problem. If you want to have that fish, I would suggest only ONE in the tank.

When I first cycled my aqaurium with Prime, my nitrite readings were really high so the owner recommended these and they brought the reading to a safe zone.

Not sure what you mean by cycling a tank with Prime. Prime is a dechlorinator and can temporarily bind ammonia and nitrite, but it does not 'cycle' an aquarium. As Thyra said, you need to monitor your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings. Anything over zero for ammonia and nitrite means your beneficial bacteria is not able to keep up with the output of the fish. Frequent water changes are a must until the tank completely cycles.

 

[SamanthaB82]

I'm sorry I meant to say I was using prime but then switched over to the other products. I'll test the nitrite and the ammonia after work. This is the first time I've had the flame gouramis, I have 4 blue gouramis, in a separate aquarium, for 2 years and I've never had a problem with them.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Samantha, like said, you've got to get your water parameters sorted out first- Just to make sure that's not the problem.

You need a decent liquid test kit to measure ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Most of us use the API Master test kit. It's the most readily available.

Also like said, dwarf flame gouramis are nasty little buggers. I've got one in my 10g and his only tank mates are 3 silver hatchets and some inverts. He bullies the hatchets at times, but they know how to avoid him. The hatchets just bob around at the top all day long and gouramis being air gulpers, get annoyed by this. (mine does anyway)

A singe dwarf flame gourami, with schools of tetras, etc, should be fine.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Bettas usually also do not get along well with dwarf gouramis, particularly male bettas. Did they have any marks on them like torn fins? Though even without, it is possible the betta was bullying them and preventing them from getting to the surface to breathe properly.

 

[Thyra]

I could be wrong, but I would more likely think the gourami would be the aggressor rather than the betta. Bettas are not particularly fast and they tend to defend a smaller territory plus their fins would be the more vulnerable ones. I personally, have had no problems.

 

[SamanthaB82]

All of the fish get along well. The betta is always checking things out while the gourami stays by the rock or with my school of neon tetras. There hasn't been any problems at all with the fish fighting. I've got plenty of vegetation and rock caves so there's a lot of hiding places.

 

[SamanthaB82]

None of the fish have marks and their fins look good. I have mollies, platies, tetras, male gourami, male betta, dragonfish, Cory cats and lots of ghost shrimp (2 are pregnant). Apart from the two gouramis that died, everything is going well and I added more java so the shrimp can eat and my gourami has been picking at it. I have the test strips (I know petco was out of the API test kit) so I bought my water up to the store again today and they said the nitrite looks a little high. I bought some Cycle and put the first dose in there, I'll test it again in another hour or so.

 

[Thyra]

My advice for what its worth - stop buying chemicals and do daily water changes until you get things under control. I have no idea what a produce called "cycle" will do for you besides spend your money.

 

[SamanthaB82]

I bought it and put a dose in, I'll test the water tomorrow morning to see if it made a difference before I change the water again. I've been changing 25% each time and the lady flipped out on me saying I was changing too much and stressing out my fish, use Cycle instead. I figured I would continue to use my gravel cleaner and call around to the other pet stores to find the API test kit.

 

[SamanthaB82]

Someone else said add more plants and that will even the numbers out. Do you recommend any floating plants?

 

[FreshyFresh]

Plants can help your water parameters, but they won't make up for lack of water changes.

Samantha, I'm no aquaria expert, but whoever told you 25% water changes will stress fish is completely wrong. You could change 90% of the water and your fish will love you for it.

In regards to the dwarf flame gouramis that are dying, were they in the tank for a long time? Were there any new additions to the tank after the gouramis? It's possible they got some type of parasite/illness introduced to them from a new tank mate, be it fish, invert or plant.

I know I've also read online about a disease specific to dwarf gouramis. That's a possibility too if no other tank mates are effected.

 

[OrangeCones]

I've been changing 25% each time and the lady flipped out on me saying I was changing too much and stressing out my fish, use Cycle instead.

Says the lady that sells Cycle....

As already said, as long as you are declorinating your new water, and matching the temperature so as not to cause a sudden temperature change, there is no harm in doing 90% water changes. If I ever see problems with water parameters, that is the first thing I do. I would take out as much water as I could, just enough so that the fish could still swim upright, then put in new water. Never harm in giving more clean water.

 

[Nave]

I completely agree with stop using cycle I made this same mistakei bought the same stuff to speed up the nitrogen cycle... it didnt work. when you use these chemicals your water your tank and your fish all get used to it, what happens if you run out or if it gets discontinued? think of a meth head all hopped up on speed and then he runs out, what happens next ? a horrible crash or "withdrawal" from the dope. same thing happens to your tank and your fish you can either introduce disease from stress or just flat kill the little guys. when I realized what I was doing to my tank and fish I immediately stopped using all chemicals and started performing more water changes to get these "drugs" out of my water. Your best bet to have adequate water levels is to do water changes and have plenty of filtration with healthy bacteria. The only chemical I use in my water is stress coat to take out the chlorine I use it cause I trust API, Prime also works very well.

 

[SamanthaB82]

I finished the two days of cycle like the directions said and it bought my nitrites to 0 and my nitrates are at 15. Took the dead gouramis to the store and got credit to use another time. Cycle worked great, I changed the water and it didn't help at all. Used Cycle as directed and it did. Fish are happy and healthy.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Well.. I hope it works out in the long run for you, but I wouldn't consider any bottled product a complete success unless your water parameters ammonia, nitrate and nitrate stay at 0,0 and ~20ppm consistently.

If you've got a normal, healthy beneficial bacteria colony in the tank, the cycle should maintain itself to the fish load w/out the need for any additives and you should NEVER see any ammonia or nitrites.

 

[SamanthaB82]

Used Cycle to take it back to the healthy atmosphere. Haven't used it in a week and the levels are fine. No more dead fish, all is well. It's like everything else, some people like it, some people don't. The water changes weren't working, the gouramis came from the pet store which had a lot of people return dead gouramis and I needed something to protect my other fish. Thanks for the advice-