Sudden Death —Powder Blue Gourami

Just came in to check on my tank and found my powder blue dwarf gourami dead, at a very odd position. He was not floating belly up or at the bottom of the tank, but instead was floating with his mouth at the surface. Zero movement or breathing, I triple checked and he was dead. Basically vertical in position.

I have zero clue as to why he died, ironically I have just gotten home from our local aquatics shop to get them to test our water (we have mostly strips here so I wanted to triple check). Nitrate at 10-15, nitrite at 0, ammonia levels were around 1, and our pH is 7.6. Only thing he said was to cut back our feeding from twice to once a day to lower our nitrate levels. Water temp is 75.

The dwarf gourami was acting fine when we left that morning AND ate as far as I can remember. Colors were fine, even when I found him dead. No paleness. Only thing I was a little worried about was from the front he was a little round. Not the sides. No signs of bloat. He had no predators in the tank, only surrounded by female guppies and some cories. He lived for about a month and a half. A little over that.

Any ideas what might have happened??? Looked up some things and it looks like the dwarf gouramis are prone to sudden death and “dwarf gourami disease”—but he has no bloating, spots, discoloration, or scale rot that comes with the disease. I don’t think it was ammonia poisoning either. I’m very sad as I quite liked this guy, although I got him from PetSmart and would not do so again.

I just did a 1/3 water change after finding him. Had not done anything to the tank except put in some algae killer a week ago, two mL below the recommended dosage. He lived through it just fine and ate + behaved as normal, though I lost a few baby guppies.

 

Dwarf gourami disease/iridovirus doesn’t always show the same symptoms, I personally and several others have had their dwarfs die for seemingly no reason. The two most probable causes for this being dgd or the fish was never going to live that long to begin with unfortunately.

 

Dwarf gourami disease/iridovirus doesn’t always show the same symptoms, I personally and several others have had their dwarfs die for seemingly no reason. The two most probable causes for this being dgd or the fish was never going to live that long to begin with unfortunately.

That really, really sucks. Is there any way to find fish without these diseases?? How do they get them?

 

We had this happen too...a year ago we had 4, lost 2 of them just a month after and lost the other one a couple months ago, so we are down to just 1 ☹️ they’re beautiful but I don’t want anymore because it’s just too sad!

 

That really, really sucks. Is there any way to find fish without these diseases?? How do they get them?

I believe so, it’s just really difficult sadly. You’ll have to find someone that privately breeds them. Meaning every single dwarf that they have has never been in contact anywhere else except where that person breeds them. It happens because of how popular they are, supply doesn’t meet demand which means corners are cut: overbreeding, inbreeding, generally poor conditions while they’re grown for a few months before they’re sold, etc.

 

I'm sorry...what a bummer! Some thing happened to my daughter's tank with the same kind of fish. Only difference was that he was found not at the top but up next to the sponge intake. She had it about the same amount of time and was really bummed. We bought a Flame Gourami for the big tank in the house and he is still doing well. Just really odd how it happens with one and not the other. It's never fun when our pets pass away!