laritheloud

@CalmedByFish I've heard anecdotal success with gouramis by administering an intense round of treatments for gill flukes for dwarf gouramis in quarantine. I don't know if this is actually something that will help your gourami live a longer, happier life, but just something I've picked up along the way. I hope you end up with a healthy little guy. They really are such beautiful fish.

I want a 40 breeder next so badly. 🤪 I went from one 29 gallon tank to a 29 gallon plus a 10 gallon quarantine, which turned into a shrimp and endler tank, so of course I had to get another 10 gallon quarantine, then I got a 55 gallon, then I realized that I wasn't comfortable with a 10 gallon quarantine for larger fish like plecos and cichlids so I got a 20 long for the new 'quarantine' and converted the 10 gallon to a betta tank--- It keeps going.

I have 12 male endlers in a 10 gallon tank and they never hurt each other. They do some chasing and showing off but it's more like they're annoying each other than actually causing anyone any harm.

Definitely begging, every single one of my gouramis do this 😂 i think it's just too cute

I'm going to recommend against dwarf praecox rainbowfish and powder blue dwarf gouramis. The rainbowfish will need more space, and I have 0 doubts you will start to see troublesome agitation and nipping behavior because they want room to swim and be the active little fish they are. Powder blue dwarf gouramis and any other Trichogaster Lalius colorways (except wild caught fish, which are incredibly hard to find) are genetically weak. They're susceptible to all kinds of illness and tend to come in harboring Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus, which is an invariably fatal condition. They're also quite a bit more aggressive than the literature will have you think, and it's absolutely not recommended to have more than one in a tank. Years of selective line-breeding has really messed with this fish, unfortunately, and most aquarists cannot get more than 6 to 12 months out of their dwarf gouramis (without any other gouramis in the tank) even after bombing them with medications in quarantine. Be prepared and know what you're getting into if you choose a dwarf gourami as your fish. Fortunately, you have a lot of other great options that are similar to dwarf gouramis but much healthier. For example, I'd definitely recommend a small group of honey gouramis (trichogaster chuna), ideally one male to two or three females. Another alternative is a sunset thicklip gourami (trichogaster labiosa, totally orange with a clear tail, doesn't matter which sex you buy) -- just one for a 20 gallon -- which is like a more outgoing, slightly bigger, ever-so-slightly more dominating fish than a shyer honey gourami. If you can get a wild coloration thicklip, they're even prettier, in my opinion, but quite hard to source in the USA. If you have the soft, acidic water for it, chocolate gouramis, licorice gouramis, and samurai gouramis are all absolutely stunning and very unusual fish. They do have special needs and need water with a Ph of 6 or less, so if you want something a bit easier, I'd go for something else. For rams, I'd try a Bolivian Ram over a German Blue. Hardier fish and they can handle slightly cooler temps than German Rams. Hope this helps you out! EDIT: I keep a bachelor tank of Endlers and I agree, they're a delight and quite hardy. Fun little swirling masses of bright colors for sure. They will breed like crazy if you get females, though. I kind of wish I did get a breeding trio, and if I were to do my tank over I'd do that! I also have a super soft spot for platies and I'm dreaming of raising a livebearer tank for them.

Yeah as others have said, no more root tabs, stop dosing with Easy Green, and continue with small daily water changes until the nitrates get down to a reasonable level. The root tabs will likely continue to leech some nitrates into the water column for awhile, but it'll stop eventually. Hang in there and focus on getting the cycle back on track!

False alarm, maybe! My little boy was out in the feeding frenzy today and hasn't gone back in hiding at all. 🤷‍♀️ My 20 gallon needs another day or two so I'll continue to observe closely.

Here he is, by the way! Finally out with my wild type female after hiding all day, poor thing. I’ll move him soon ❤️

I was going to use my 20 gallon as the new quarantine tank for my 55 gallon tank! I think moving him to the 20 is definitely the way to go. It's planted up, I'm pretty sure it's cycled enough for him, and it'll leave him a chance to chill out and regain his confidence. He was always the milder fish out of the two males, and my gold male honey is SO dominant that he chases pretty much every other gourami in the tank. The two females take it in stride and go about their business, but this poor boy has gotten more reclusive over time. I saw him try to venture out this evening and he got chased back into hiding by my other male, so I'm reasonably certain that's what's causing his troubles. Tomorrow I'll do a big water change on the 20 and move him over. I was planning on quarantining a young pleco in there for my 55 gallon, but I could always hold it off while I observe this little dude and decide where to keep him long term (even if it's as a quarantine buddy, though I fear the coming and going and the potential spread of infection/meds). I'm glad I have the flexibility to move him around! I don't think moving the dominant male will change things, though. I had my wild type male and small gold female the longest, and the dominant male was a later addition, before I realized my submissive male was actually male. I think I'm better off moving the submissive guy to recoup.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I'll move him to the 20 tomorrow.

So after working on the 55 gallon tank for a few months, my 29 gallon tank full of honey gouramis, corydoras, and diamond tetras has been doing great! Buuuut in the past week or so, I noticed my wild type male has become more and more reclusive. Today he didn't emerge from hiding to join the feeding frenzy this morning, and just appears to want to hide himself away. I had added an extra female to balance out my males/females in the tank (there's 4 honey gouramis now) and try to draw him out of his shell, but instead, he's hiding himself even more than before. I have checked on him throughout the day and he doesn't look like anything is physically wrong with him. No injury, normal pooping, a little plump in the belly but he's always been that way (and we even thought he was a female for a long time). He tends to hug the bottom of the tank and keep to himself. The other male chases him, but I've never seen injury. I fed the tank daphnia this afternoon because the fish usually go crazy for them, and everyone did -- except for him, who timidly nibbled a few bites and spat a few bites. I know the obvious solution is to remove him and put him in a separate tank for closer monitoring, but... then what? My 20 gallon is about one day from completing a cycle (2ppm Ammonia cleared in less than half a day, Nitrites cleared in 25/26 hours), so I could potentially try and move him tomorrow. Is this possibly illness, or is he just stressed from bullying? Should I treat him with something? Poor little guy. He's always been the shyest of my gouramis! Here's parameters for the 29 gallon just to have them out there: Ph 7.8 Amm 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrates 5 to 10ppm GH around 6 dGH KH around 10 dKH The fourth honey, a female, was added a few weeks ago after a 6 week quarantine through 3 rounds of levamisole and 2 rounds of general cure. Everyone else is active and doing just fine. He's just acting... more reclusive than usual. I've had him for almost 9 months now and this is the first sign of him withdrawing even further.

I just went through a long battle with a wasting disease in pseudomugil rainbowfish. I never did find the cause, and they were treated with antibiotics and multiple antiparasite meds. Are you able to separate the sick fish and put her in another cozy tank? That's what you can do just to observe, feed, and offer clean water while keeping her away from the healthier fish. I understand feeling exhausted after a battle, and I think just making her as comfy as possible and observing her separately might give some peace of mind.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but it does kind of look like peeling scales from superficial damage.

Thank you both, @Colu and @Guppysnail. I think things are starting to look up. My 55 gallon tank looks healthier and stronger than I've felt about it for a long time. The six rainbows that are left are vigorous and healthy. My gouramis are happy and plump. My synodontis petricola are cute little juvenile sharkies that are just about reaching two inches long now. My remaining adult rabbit snail is back to his normal activity level moving around the tank, and I spotted four live juvenile snails doing just fine. My trapdoors and nerites are all totally unbothered. It's a relief to feel like I'm getting past all of this. I'm planning on heading back to the store this weekend to add something to my 20 gallon quarantine tank now reaching a complete cycle, probably a bristlenose or some other fancy pleco. It's looking very lovely; I don't really treat quarantine tanks as traditional quarantines and plant them up so that they're cozy and comfortable for the fish, but I keep the stocking limited to whoever's being quarantined.

All things told that's actually not that stringy. Sometimes 'stringy' poop can look white and cottony, almost; mostly mucus and casings. I would take Colu's advice and continue treating for ich and monitor for other symptoms.

If he stinks of anything more than normal pond water, then yes. Do you have pest snails on him trying to eat him? Does he respond when you push on the trapdoor? If not, then I'm sorry for your loss. 😞 It can happen so fast.

No. Sometimes, @BayFish28, some snails just won't live very long. 😞 I've had mixed luck with snails. They're purported to live a couple of years, but none of my mystery snails have made it past 6 months yet. One time, I think I might have inadvertently poisoned them with a levamisole treatment on the tank, but on other occasions I don't really have an explanation. I currently still have one black mystery snail (going on three months with us now), one young Columbian Giant Ramshorn snail, one adult rabbit snails + 3 baby rabbit snails, tons of nerites, and 3 cappuccino spike snails. My nerites have all thrived and never stopped going. Two of my adult rabbit snails passed away, but they were large when I got them. The best you can do for the little guy is try some more frequent water changes, but there isn't much else to be done. I hope you try again and let us know how it goes. I'm really sorry he's sick, but try not to be hard on yourself. You probably didn't do anything to cause it.

The cotton like discharge typically means some sort of irritation or old age. It can be a sign of a reaction to a chemical or poor water quality, but it could also just mean old age. Whenever I have seen one of my larger snails releasing discharge they are usually pretty close to passing away, sadly. Sometimes I can trace it to a med I used on the tank, but others it was for no discernible reason. You can leave him be so long as he's still alive and just check on him at least once daily.

Shriveled and wrinkly foot is generally not a good sign. Have you seen any discharge? It would look like white cottony mucus with black dots.

I'm so excited for you, and I'm glad my guess was in the right direction! I hope your sweet honey female continues to improve. Bigger tanks are always better, right?? As for substrate, I'm really, really enjoying the Pisces aquarium gravel I have in 2 of my tanks. Midnight Pearl and Silver Pearl are both really small-grain smooth gravel. It's inert, super easy to plant in, and though there won't be sand sifting, it won't hurt any sifting species to dig through it. Also: it hides waste AND it's extremely easy to clean. If you can use a gravel with a grain that size, I am personally enjoying it very much.

https://streamable.com/9vx42i

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As you said, I would go for a plakat or a female betta. The depth might give the heavier fins of the fancier breeds some trouble. I'm actually getting a plakat, too, and he's going to be here next week -- Tuesday, I think. 🙂 Good luck!

I'm so sorry this happened. I suspect the hydrogen peroxide is the culprit and not the warm water. I would add more prime to that second water change since you did another 50%. Aside from moving them to a tank that hasn't been treated with h202, there isn't much else you can do but give them clean water and wait. @KittenFishMom has several good ideas to try aside from waiting. Good luck, and I hope they recover.

I keep lucipinnis in a 55 gallon but not with mbunas. Mine are very young, maybe around 2 inches max and I purchased them at 1 to 1.5 inches. You can always wait and see. If there are problems, maybe reduce the number of catfish in there and see if it improves brood sizes.