Faye Rod

Well.....we were out all day. When we left this morning our new dwarf gourami still didn't act interested in food. (info in another thread about feeding gouramis). He had a long stringy thing hanging from his belly all day yesterday. Did I read somewhere that could have been that he wasn't getting a variety of food before we got him three days ago? Anyway....we got home and I fed the fish brine shrimp and the gourami was having trouble staying afloat. Next time I looked he was on the bottom of the tank. I had gotten the frill plant that Cape Kate recommended and will try again. I'm thinking this gourami was sick when I brought it home - unless I shouldn't try another one with my 8.2 pH. Any suggestions?

capekate

Hi Faye
Im so sorry to hear that you lost the Gourami. You are right in thinking that it was most likely sick since you brought it home from the LFS. Im not sure if your PH had anything to do with it, since they seem to tolerate all kinds of water chemistry. Your other fish will like the live plant anyway.. and if you decide to get another gourami you are ready for it. I wish you luck...
and again.. so sorry that you lost him.

~ kate

kra-z-fishmumm

So sorry for your loss, it does sound like your gourami might have had a bad case of constipation and then internal parasites.

lisamorie

with most pet stores there is a guarantee, maybe you can check where you bought him and see how long theirs lasts or if they have one at all? usually if a fish dies within a certain amount of time, you can bring them a water sample and if your tank tests fine, they'll replace them.

i'm sorry for your loss. it sucks, even when the fish is new...

voiceless_kat

I am so sorry to hear you lost your gourami. Perhaps it was already ill. My water is high PH and they are doing ok. They are great fish, I hope you are able to give them another try.

Val

sirdarksol

That's too bad about your guorami.

angelfish220

When you get them and they die with in a few days like that, and you acclimated them right and everything its like that they were treated bad in the petstore, it had nothing to do with what happened in your tank.

COBettaCouple

I'm sorry that you lost him. It sounds like a good possibility that he had internal parasites.

Tayful

I'm sorry that you lost him. By the sounds of it he was already sick when you brought him home, and sounded to be pretty constipated! Sorry again and best of luck in the future.

Blub

Faye Rod

Thanks for all of your responses and concern. The QT tank sounds like a good idea Hatchet. I guess you never know what the fish are bringing to the other fish when you add one.

Since others have had good luck with gouramis and high pH I think I will try again - the guppies, platys and barbs all seem to coexist well with a gourami.

Capekate - the plant looks great and is a good addition to the amazon swords and java fern that I have. The elodea doesn't last long with my pleco so a floating plant might work better.

Blub