GAH! Dead Gourami!

PerenGee

PerenGee

Large Fish
#1
Sep 20, 2008
149
0
0
San Diego
#1
Hey all, bad news on my end. I came back from a long day of work + school to find my Dwarf Gourami "Jackson" (the one in my pic) dead, face down in some plants. I instantly took him out and inspected him and there wasn't any sign of external abuse or parasite. Besides being duller in color and lifeless, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. I should add that lately he hasn't seemed as energetic and I caught him laying on his side on the ground once a few weeks ago. He got up when I leaned in for a closer look and I hadn't seen him do it since so I figured he was OK.

Water tests revealed 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 5 for the nitrates. To be honest, I haven't done a good water change in 3 or 4 weeks (at that time it was a nearly full change). Needless to say I did a half change just now. the rest of the fish seem to be fine.

Honestly, besides not doing regular changes I'm not sure what happened. I've read conflicting pieces of info from different sites about DG life expectancy. Some say 2 months some say 5 years. Does anyone have any clue what might have happened?
 

Lotus

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#3
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#3
Life expectancy should be at least a couple of years, and up to five years. Of course, we humans have a life expectancy of around 78 years, but many of us don't make it that long.

There could be a number of reasons, including internal parasites, some kind of internal birth defect, an unknown disease, etc. It sounds like your water quality is good, so I'd just assume it was "his time."
 

spoonie

spoonie

Small Fish
#4
Feb 2, 2009
13
0
0
#4
How large was your Gourami whe you bought it? I have seen alot of LFS selling full grown Gourami's that look to be already a year old plus.
 

PerenGee

PerenGee

Large Fish
#5
Sep 20, 2008
149
0
0
San Diego
#5
Hmm, he was at least 2 inches when he died, and I haven't seen any significant growth since I bought him. I went back to the store where I bought him from, and I took a better look at their gouramis. They didn't look so good, plus they keep them in an out of the way tank, so it's certainly possible that they stay there for a long time. *sigh* live and learn I guess...
 

PerenGee

PerenGee

Large Fish
#7
Sep 20, 2008
149
0
0
San Diego
#7
jo3olous said:
isnt a 10g small for even a dwarf gourami? couldve died from stress, but your water quality sounds good so o_0 bad luck
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is it? I was always under the impression that 10g was alright for dwarf gouramis. I mean, there are many many hiding places, both behind things and under floating plants, and he was also making nests. He didn't seem stressed, but then again, I'm not too sure what a stressed gourami looks like.
 

jo3olous

jo3olous

Large Fish
#8
Aug 6, 2008
909
1
0
Philadelphia, PA
#8
PerenGee said:
is it? I was always under the impression that 10g was alright for dwarf gouramis. I mean, there are many many hiding places, both behind things and under floating plants, and he was also making nests. He didn't seem stressed, but then again, I'm not too sure what a stressed gourami looks like.
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I was just putting that out there for someone else to respond. 1 Dwarf Gourami seems like it would fit a 10G fine figuring they don't exceed 4 inches and they're not too active. I also do not know what a stressed one looks like. I really think it's just bad luck that your fish passed away
 

F

FisherOfMen73

New Fish
#9
Mar 3, 2009
1
0
0
#9
I feel your pain

I myself (until recently) was the owner of three beautiful gourami - imagine how I felt when I returned from a business trip to discover that my favourite, Jeremy, had passed away. This was not the worst of it. I woke my sleeping partner, Alex, for some much needed moral support, she informed me dismissively that Jeremy was just a fish and had been dead for several days. Why then, I asked, was he still floating in the tank?? She could not answer. Needless to say, I am beginning to doubt my desire to breed with this woman. Am I being too harsh?
 

mistercoffee

mistercoffee

Large Fish
#10
Sep 15, 2008
425
0
0
Chicago, IL
#10
FisherOfMen73 said:
I myself (until recently) was the owner of three beautiful gourami - imagine how I felt when I returned from a business trip to discover that my favourite, Jeremy, had passed away. This was not the worst of it. I woke my sleeping partner, Alex, for some much needed moral support, she informed me dismissively that Jeremy was just a fish and had been dead for several days. Why then, I asked, was he still floating in the tank?? She could not answer. Needless to say, I am beginning to doubt my desire to breed with this woman. Am I being too harsh?
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Is she hot?
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#12
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#12
LOL..Mistercoffee what would your future wife say to that comment..

Any way.. I have found DG's to be especially sensitive to stress, if he was alone in the tank then I cant tell you but I have seen them pick fights and lose with no signs of a fight then die within an hour because the fight or running away takes alot out of them.

For the other guy, sorry read your post but didnt catch your name.
Do a search for DG's on this forum and you will find many of us including myself have lost gouramis by keeping more than one in a tank. The best bet is 1 DG per tank unless you can find a female which is uncommon in most pet stores. 2 males will not get along for very long once they have settled in and start staking territories and the loser usually dies.
 

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