Gourami looking bad. Guppies acting up.

[Cinnebuns]

PH: 8.0
Ammonia:  0
Nitrite:  0
Nitrate:  20

One of my red honey gouramis (thick-lipped) hasn't looked good all day. He has been laying on the substrate all day and usually at an angle like in the pic. He has gotten darker and is looking brown and also appears to have a red mark on the top. I have also noticed a couple of guppies flashing and one swimming strangely. I see no white dots. Last weekend I did have very high nitrates and lost some fish. Could it maybe be a delayed reaction from that?  Should I maybe treat for external parasites?

[ScottieB]

Yeah, sorry. That guy is not looking good. 
How high were the nitrates last weekend? and presumably you did a big water change?  Making sudden, drastic changes can wreak havoc. Probably too late for him.

Have you introduced any new fish or made any other big changes lately? How big is the tank? Are the filter and heater working properly? I’m shooting for some obvious answers but most of the time issues like this come down to water quality. Then in the effort to correct things in a hurry we usually make drastic changes that stress fish even more then the original problem.  
 

 

[Cinnebuns]

On 8/13/2022 at 8:55 PM, ScottieB said:

Yeah, sorry. That guy is not looking good. 
How high were the nitrates last weekend? and presumably you did a big water change?  Making sudden, drastic changes can wreak havoc. Probably too late for him.

Have you introduced any new fish or made any other big changes lately? How big is the tank? Are the filter and heater working properly? I’m shooting for some obvious answers but most of the time issues like this come down to water quality. Then in the effort to correct things in a hurry we usually make drastic changes that stress fish even more then the original problem.  
 

 

I did many 30% water changes not a big one. 4 to be exact throughout the past week. Never more than 1 a day.  Tbh, I'm not entirely sure how high they actually got. Once it goes red (40+) it's really hard for me to tell. The only reason I knew it was high is because it kept staying red after repeated water changes. 

I did get otos from petsmart right before I noticed the high nitrates. 

One thing I remembered after posting is that yesterday I cleaned the top inside of the tank with 50/50 vinegar/water. I was told this would be safe but it is a new thing I did. 

Filter and heater was checked and working fine.