LuvaBetta

I bought three dwarf gouramis four days ago from our lfs, where the people really are pretty knowledgeable. Two are fine, but one female (I think) is dying. I found her last night on the bottom, leaning against the side of the tank breathing hard. When I went to catch her, she swam away, but slowly, listing, and wasn't hard to catch.

Taking a stab in the dark I put her in a 2.5g quarantine tank (uncycled), with 80 degree water, heater, a sponge-only filter, no substrate, a silk plant for her to lie on if she wanted, Prime, Fish Protector, Vitachem, and some Triple Sulfa antibacterial meds.

She's no better this morning, just lying sideways on the bottom and breathing hard. I see no signs of fungus, swelling anywhere, her scales and eyes look normal, no redness around the gills. I'm just not sure what to try.

The tank I initially put them into was my cycled 20g, (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates) with 6 neons, 4 corys, 3 rainbowfish, and live plants. Problably a tad overstocked, but the filter is a penguin 330, pretty big for a 20g. I just did a 25% water change yesterday. The temperature is maintained at about 78 degrees F.

FishKing

She may be suffering from temperature shock. Do you let the bag or whatever the fish comes in float at the top so the fish gets situated to the temperature? If you already do this than the temperature may be too high, or you have an oxygen deficiency.

lilsoccakid

id say ur doing all u can right now, somebody else probably has better advice

and just so you know, you should probably only have 1 dwarf gourami in ur 20, unless u got rid of ur other fish

LuvaBetta

I always acclimate slowly, dribbling tank water in the bag with the fish. The temperature may be too high, though, it's around 77-78 degrees F. And I've been relying on my filter so I don't have a bubbler or airstone; oxygen might also be a factor. Hmmm.

You're probably right, I am a bit overstocked. They seem to be quite peaceful fish so far, as temperament goes. I do have a huge filter and vacuum/water change weekly, and every test so far is good.


I lost her anyway. Everybody else in the tank is still fine.
Thanks for the advice!