newdanio

i read up on the blue gourami disease and my new fish seems to fit the profile. I bought a male and female early last week,along with an otto cat.
All fish are fine except for him. laying on his side at the bottom of the tank yesterday and didn't eat. he looks like he's hyperventilating?

He doesn't appear to have any other problems than a bloated belly. Can somebody tell me if there's anything else on him that i should be looking for?

Is there anything I can do for him? Is there any risk to the rest of the tank with the female left in it? Will she not do well without the male?

I did a quick check yesterday and the ammonia level is still at 0 and the nitrites are at 0 as well. My test kit doesn't have nitrate test so i don't know what it's at. The tank has been up and running for over a month now. I used cycle to get it going, have now resorted to using the goldfish filter, which helped it to finish off the cycle.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Amanda

If you used Cycle to help cycle your tank, it doesn't work. Cycle contains the wrong type of bacteria than what's needed to eat the ammonia & nitrite.

agabr123

unfortunately, the product cycle is not self sustaining, meaning that, if you want to use it, you have to add it to the tank every single day, otherwise the bacteria will die. if you haven't used it in a while, you're probably in a mini-cycle.

even if this is not the case, i'd do a water change anyways. unfortunately i'm not sure what your fish has, but water changes from my experience are always helpful for a sick fish. if you have a quarantine tank it might be a good idea to put him in there too

newdanio

pinkfloydpuffer told me that earlier that's why i switched out the goldfish filter for the one in my aquarium. Since then the aquarium has finished cycling

Shawnie

im sorry your gourami is sick what test kit are you using? because as others said, with cycle you probably are getting a false reading and the tank isnt cycled...gourami's are sensitive to water conditions and id get some prime or stress coat+ and do an immediate 50% water change to help him out

newdanio

i did a slightly less than 50% water change yesterday. and put in the aqua plus as usual. The female is the same (a gourami) as well and is doing excellent. she seems happy not to be chased at feeding time now.

How do you get a false read from cycle, I'm not understanding this? while the aquarium was in start up and i was using cycle i got my ammonia readings and then i got my nitrite readings. I haven't put the cycle in in the last two water changes, which is about 25% per week( as i'm not quite fast enough with the vacuum yet to do a 5-10% water change.)

will the female who is very healthy, be very unhappy without a male?

al o brien

yeah

agabr123

have you tested your water since then?

a 25% water change per week is recommended, less than that might not be enough. i do 30-50% changes weekly on mine, actually.

honestly, the female probably won't care whether or not there is a male, she might actually be happier without the male, especially if she is the only female. males can get pretty aggressive if there is only one female, there should generally be two or three females per one male.

Shawnie

you get a false reading because the product cycle doesnt have the proper bacteria to sustain a full cycle ...as long as you use it, you will have 0 ammonia 0 nitrites but the second you dont use it, the cycle process crashes...but having a reliable test kit lets you know which process you are in...your gourami is sounding like he has the effects of ammonia poisoning and you need to do daily water changes and stop using the product cycle and continue to do so until the cycle is complete..the API liquid master test kit is best and very seldom gives false readings ...the female will be fine but she could have the effects as well if the tank doesnt get a proper cycle ...goodluck!