lilsoccakid

i have a 20 gallon tank with the fish shown on my sig. its cycled and has no ammonia and nitrites and very low nitrate (10-15ppm) i came home to find him laying on his side at the bottom, like he cant ballance and is breathing heavy. what can i do to help him!?

bhcaaron

Is the temperature or pH out of whacK?

lilsoccakid

nope they are both normal

bhcaaron

How long ago did you purchase the fish? Are any other fish in that LFS having similar problems?

lilsoccakid

ive had him for about 2 months and have had no similar problems

bhcaaron

have you done anything different recently? has he shown signs of distress? how have his eating habits been? how's he doing now? any physical signs of illness?

lilsoccakid

nothing different latley, no signs of distress, eating good, and now hes actully swimming around a lot, but he looks a little unbalanced. its wierd that 5 minutes ago he was laying on the bottom gasping for air and now hes swimming, he sure did scare me!

P.S- for people who know i have a male and a female, now im sure they have paired off, not only because of the bubble nest, but the whole time he was gasping in his cave at the bottom, his girl friend was swimming next to him trying to help him swim (usually she stays away from him)

bhcaaron

I'm sorry. I have no clue. You'll have to wait till an expert answers now. Try asking ChiefWaterChanger

COBettaCouple

could be a swim bladder problem.. which fish is it?

lilsoccakid

its my male dwarf gourami, but its odd cause after laying upside down on the bottom gasping for air, a couple minutes later he was still tipping a litle, but he was swimming around, and today he looks fine. the top of his head looks a little brown, idk if hes always had that or it just started but ive never noticed

Isabella

That's weird. But I hope he's all right! Definitely keep a close eye on him. If he's sick, I'd also guess it's some problem with the bladder. In any case, keep your water very clean if you ever suspect any of your fish is sick. I'd recommend lowering nitrate below 10 PPM when fish are sick. Increasing the temperature to around 82F would be good as well.

In my 10 gallon tank, when I still had Neon Tetras in it, my water was always excellent - nitrate was never more than 5 ppm. The tank was very mature (running for about 1.5 years since the last cycle). And yet, one of my Neons got a horrible case of Dropsy out of nowhere. It died all swollen, looking literally like some puffer fish. My point is: sometimes you'll get sick fish even in the healthiest of tanks.

bhcaaron

Well THAT makes me feel better!

But, alas, tis the irony of life!

COBettaCouple

what kind of diet has he had? perhaps he had constipation that caused swim bladder problems temporarily when the constipation cleared? long shot maybe, but it's a possibility.

bhcaaron

That was disgustingly funny lol

COBettaCouple

not particulary. constipation is a fish-killer.

bhcaaron

Not that . I meant the pairing of the two phrases