What killed my gourami?

I had a blue dwarf gourami for a few days and it died. The tank is cycled, and the water is fine. It is possible that the temperature was too low. That's the only thing I can think of. There are two male guppies in there, plus a snail, and that's all. It's a 20 gallon tank.

 

Ahhh, sorry to hear this. what was the temp in your tank? did you just bring the gourami home from the LFS? did you QT the Gourami before adding it to the 20 gl?

 

No QT, but I had my water tested and the guppies are fine so I'm pretty sure it wasn't the water. the death occurred within a week of purchase. I'm not sure what the exact temperature was. It was still warm outside but the water could have been in the low 70s. It's been a few months so I don't recall exactly. I have a thermometer for this tank now so I can be certain if I try it again.

Also, I read that a dwarf gourami needs a minimum tank size of 24". Is that so?

 

Dwarf Gourami aren't worth buying these days due to a disease that is rife.

 

My DG was fine when I got him, and now he's in my big tank. I'd say that he was sick from the store, or it was chronic stress. I think the temp doesn't matter much unless it was under 70.

 

I belive and ill ask my lil DG this, that they do like warmer temps but I doubt that's what killed him off. Sounds like a dieases. Blues and flames seem to pop up dead more often then their neon counter parts, there's therory behind as to why but itd take us OT. When purchasing DG try looking for a tank with NO signs of dead or damaged fish in it, the DG should be active and swimming. I belive it is worth buying dwarfs as they are amazing lil fishs to have but imo a breeder is the best place to get one.

 

Ok, iif I get another I will try to find a breeder. This one came from Petco

 

I think that when a seemingly healthy fish dies within days of being transferred to a new tank that often it is pH shock. A couple of the LFSs that I buy fish from have a pH in their tanks that is a full point lower than mine. I have to drip acclimate them. Do you know if there was a big pH difference when you added your gourami?

 

When you go to purchase fish at any pet store it is always good to know how long they have had the fish in the store and what the water parameters are that they are being kept in. I don’t ever purchase fish that the store just got in because they are already stressed from shipping. Some stores will do in house quarantining before they put them out for sale and some just dump the new fish into a tank and say here you go. If they have had the fish for a week or so and haven’t had a high rate of loss then they should be OK to purchase but never put them straight into a main tank.

I personally quarantine all new fish for at least a week if not two before they are moved to a main tank. This helps me insure that they are healthy and I don’t run the risk of contaminating an entire tank of fish with some kind of disease.

Also you said you had your water tested, what are the test results? Personally I would recommend getting your own liquid test kit so that you can track the testing yourself. Fine in some people’s book is not necessarily fine in yours. It also makes it easier and quicker for you to determine if your tank is starting to develop a problem.

Now for Gourami they do prefer their water temperature in the upper 70s but as long as it doesn’t get too low it shouldn’t be the cause of them to die. As others have stated Gourami can be quite difficult to get going due to diseases and inbreeding which have them in a weakened health to start with they can live for quite some time.

Slowly acclimating any new fish to their new environment will help lower the amount of stress they are going to have with all the changes in water, temperature, netting, and transport. Floating the bag in the tank only adjusts the water temperature so I personally recommend using the drip method of acclimation to let them adjust to all your waters parameters not just the temperature. It has taken me up to two hours to acclimate a new fish to my quarantine tank because of the water they came from was so different than what I have. The more sensitive the fish the longer it takes to properly acclimate them to your tank.

 

I would like to add that having your temp up will help prevent certain dieases and illnesses. Atleast for certain species like gourami. the lower temp may not kill them but I can lower their immune system.

 

No QT, but I had my water tested and the guppies are fine so I'm pretty sure it wasn't the water. the death occurred within a week of purchase. I'm not sure what the exact temperature was. It was still warm outside but the water could have been in the low 70s. It's been a few months so I don't recall exactly. I have a thermometer for this tank now so I can be certain if I try it again.

Also, I read that a dwarf gourami needs a minimum tank size of 24". Is that so?

important to understand why to QT, you don't only QT for fear the parameters are different, more so, it is because some fish in your tank may be carrying a disease that they are already immune to. the disease will not effect the fish in the main tank. BUT, with no QT for new fish, they are already stressed from shipping, stressed fish mean their immune system is open to disease and their system is in a weakened stage and cannot fight the disease off. giving them a ( at least 2 weeks, I prefer 4) period of QTby themselves in an empty tank will allow them to relax and build their immune system up before going into the main tank. I would say your DG died of a disease, and if you get another, I would recommend a QT or it will probably face the same.
Also, I would recommend a high temp as others have, good luck.

 

important to understand why to QT, you don't only QT for fear the parameters are different, more so, it is because some fish in your tank may be carrying a disease that they are already immune to. the disease will not effect the fish in the main tank. BUT, with no QT for new fish, they are already stressed from shipping, stressed fish mean their immune system is open to disease and their system is in a weakened stage and cannot fight the disease off. giving them a ( at least 2 weeks, I prefer 4) period of QTby themselves in an empty tank will allow them to relax and build their immune system up before going into the main tank. I would say your DG died of a disease, and if you get another, I would recommend a QT or it will probably face the same.
Also, I would recommend a high temp as others have, good luck.

Or the new fish can be carrying a nasty diease that it spreds to the main tank.

 

wouldnt it stress them all over again to get them used to the qt tank only to switch them again?

 

Yes and no. IT NEEDS TO BE DONE. Its more stressful on a healthy fish in the big tank to get sick from something the new fish is carrying then for a new fish to be qurantined. It also gives the new fish a time to settle in to a healthy clean tank(unlike petstores) without the addition of other fish. Besides, the only diffrence between the QT tank and the main tank should be size and decor. The params would be the same as your using the same water source and the temps should be the same.

 

Fish that you purchase at a pet store have been shipped from who knows where to your LFS so that when they get them they are already stressed to the max. They are then dumped into a tank to display them for sale, oh yes some stores will quarantine them for a period of time but not all stores do. I have even seen stores put incompatible fish put into tanks together.

The best thing you can do for your new fish is quarantine them in a tank with pristine water and feed them good quality foods for a few weeks. This lets them calm down and get healthy again before being subjected to the stresses of your main tank. It also gives you time to make sure they are not sick with something that is going to make all your fish sick.

If you take the time to quarantine the fish and properly acclimate them to their new home you will lower the amount of stress on them which will in turn help them to become and stay healthy.

My recommendations on a good quarantine tank would be one that has nothing but a few plants in it to provide a few hiding places, well oxygenated and have a cycled filter. It would not have any substrate gravel which would make it easier to keep it clean.

 

Everytime I have got a gaurmI it died bc they seem to always have dieases

 

wouldnt it stress them all over again to get them used to the qt tank only to switch them again?

a small amount, but not a lot. remember you should QT for at least 2 weeks, this isn't a 1/2 hour period. I QT my fish for at least 3 weeks then I observe them to see how they are acting. if you put a fish in an existing tank that is stressed and a disease exist within the tank, it will most likely die.( the Fish already in the tank are immune to the disease and can live with it.) but if the fish has a period to relax and build its immune system back up it can fight disease off better.

 

I looked this in Practical Fishkeeping Magazine:


"A Dwarf gourami iridovirus has been known about for several years, but it was not previously known that a single species was capable of apparently infecting other species.

A separate study by scientists from the University of Florida in 2003 found that a Dwarf gourami iridovirus caused clinical signs including lethargy and the darkening of body colouration.

The affected fish stopped eating, sometimes had a distended abdomen and, internally, an enlarged spleen, reddened intestine and a clear amber fluid in the body cavity.

Practical Fishkeeping has been aware of health issues in imported Dwarf gouramies for many years, however, recent reports from readers have suggested a rise in mortalities and a decrease in lifespan.

A number of major importers of fish from south east Asia confirmed to this magazine that Dwarf gouramies have been of inferior quality for at least the past ten years, but they had not noticed an unusal rise in mortalities.

Many of these companies had already switched to gouramies from non-Singapore suppliers due to health problems with imported livestock.

Health problems in Dwarf gouramies have historically been blamed on resistant bacterial infections, fish TB and Nocardia-like infections."

 

The fish are overly inbred, same goes for many species in the hobby today. How we take that information and apply it to our practice all depends. I got a DG from a petstore, the owner is a gourami breeder, he imports wild DG and early generations from a friend overseas, The DG I recived is a f2/3(he was unsure as he had both in a tank) Hes the closest thing to wild most of us will find, and he is healthy and strong. I love the DG's and the rep they get from their inbred counter parts isn't fair.

 

Just to clarify, are you saying they are immune to iridovirus?

 

I don't think honey gouramis get the virus

-j

 

No their not immune, they just arnt as sick and don't carry all the that the inbred DG do.

 

Right, thanks for the clarification.

So they don't carry the virus and they are in better condition to resist it. If bred locally they will be adapted to local water conditions which will help immensely too.

Interesting to hear about the Honey Gourami resistance. If true that makes this species a good alternative worth considering.

 

Honeys seem to be much healthier, the biggest issue with DG.s right now is DGID diease, to top off the fact that DG are just prone to issues with poor water quality, imo they are more prone to bacterial infections, thus keeping them requires that you actually clean the tank(lol). Being that fishstores may do this or not(some dont) those fish may already be infected whether their wild or not. BUT Dwarf gourami irdidovirus diease is not contagious to other species, just other dwarf gourami so it shouldnt effect the other tank inhabitants.

Bottom line is that this fish could have suffered a internal bacterial infection or just was over stressed and had a lowered immune system. I don't beilve that it was DGID as that would have been much more nasty looking. And redshark that artical you quoted was neal monks writing right?

 

Sorry, but it is contagious to other species according to the source.

 

Unfortuently, that source isn't the most trust worthy. They only studied fish in austrailian shops and came up that 22% of singapore DG had the DGID. That's a nice conclusion. Further more there are many diffrent strains of Iridovirus, some effect other species, DGID effects DG almost exsclusivley as far as we know. Its thought that a very similar strain may also be effecting live bearers, rare enough that its not a base for any direct conclusions.