My Gourami isn't doing well!

[Bertman35769]

I bought this one from one of the chain stores as allot of us do when we are not near a good reputable fish store. I first added him to my 55G with tetras, angelfish, cory cats, and a blue gourami. The rest of the fish are established and grown. Luckily I was watching because the whole dang aquarium chased this poor guy. I had to get him out of there so I put him in my 10G planted with some guppies. The guppies are dong fine and water parameters are great but this poor gourami is on the edge of death. He will try to eat a little but he misses the food he is aiming for. Any ideas on how to move forward?

 

Thanks

[Nina]

Do you know what the water parameters of the store were compared to your tank?  I've sometimes found they a wildly different and it makes the transition extra difficult unless I adjust them.  Hopefully the bullying was the issue and he'll recover soon.  Is he swimming right or is he missing food because of his vertical position? 

I've created hospital tanks out of an empty plastic container if you want to move him and have an extra air stone / air pump. I just change the water really frequently.

[quikv6]

A bit of salt (if planted...if not...a bit more), and minimal to no light. Try to make a stress free environment, and keep clean, clean water that is well aerated

[Bertman35769]

Ah ok. I do remember reading about that. I will do that right now and report back. Any idea how long to do this? 

Thanks quikv6

[quikv6]

It depends. Monitor for improvement. (No more fin clamping, good appetite, etc).  Then, you can slowly ween off the salt at waterchanges. Remember, salt doesn't evaporate, so keep that in mind during water changes. If you have 1 tablespoon in a 10 gallon tank, and waterchange out 5 gallons, then add 1/2 tablespoon if you plan to maintain the same level of salt.

[Bertman35769]

I have him in a quarantine tank (bucket) with the salt solution but I'm afraid it is too late as he was barely alive this morning but lying on the bottom of the bucket. I will chalk this up to "lessens learned". Thanks quikv6 for the help.

[quikv6]

I'm very sorry to hear that. Sometimes illness can spread very rapidly, and not exhibit much in the way of signs to alert us humans.