# Pearl Gourami dying help needed



## OllieNZ (16 Nov 2013)

Hi All,
I added 5 pearl gourami  to my tank on Tuesday and have lost them one by one and now have one left and her tail fin has begun eroding. I noticed the fin erosion yesterday and picked up some melafix which I'm not sure if its working or not as the erosion doesn't seem any worse but she is off her food today. Unfortunately I don't own a spare tank to set up as a qt tank and don't want to add anything stronger to the tank in case I wipe out my shrimp. I've been pretty lucky and not really had many fish issues since I started keeping fish so I'm a bit lost with this one tbh so any help would be appreciated.
The other 4 were male and showed no obvious signs of illness.

Regards

Ollie


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## Ben C (16 Nov 2013)

Hi Ollie, 
Damn, sorry to hear that. I don't have any answers as I've never kept the fish before, but what else is in the tank? Can you shed a little more light on the setup? Someone will be able to offer some advice. I don't have a spare tank at the moment either, otherwise I'd bring one round for you..


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## OllieNZ (16 Nov 2013)

Ben C said:


> Hi Ollie, Damn, sorry to hear that. I don't have any answers as I've never kept the fish before, but what else is in the tank? Can you shed a little more light on the setup? Someone will be able to offer some advice. I don't have a spare tank at the moment either, otherwise I'd bring one round for you..


 
Cheers mate.
120x45x45 Octopuss on the Rocks | UK Aquatic Plant Society They are currently in this tank.
Tank mates are: cherry and amano shrimp, sterbai corys, cardinal tetras and cpds.


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## Michael W (16 Nov 2013)

Hi Ollie,

I do not think the problem to be the fault of yours, rather the gouramis may have been in quite poor conditions prior to the introduction to your tank, the sudden change in environment may have been the trigger to their rapid decline in health. May I suggest you to try out Methylene Blue, I have dipped fish in it for 30mins and placed them back into the aquarium without success in restoring their health. Here is the video which I came across before using this medicine. 

Michael.


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## OllieNZ (16 Nov 2013)

Michael W said:


> Hi Ollie,
> 
> I do not think the problem to be the fault of yours, rather the gouramis may have been in quite poor conditions prior to the introduction to your tank, the sudden change in environment may have been the trigger to their rapid decline in health. May I suggest you to try out Methylene Blue, I have dipped fish in it for 30mins and placed them back into the aquarium without success in restoring their health. Here is the video which I came across before using this medicine.
> 
> Michael.



Thanks.
Ill have to pick some up tomorrow when I get the replacement pearls. Just to confirm did you have sucess with the 30 min method?


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## Michael W (16 Nov 2013)

Yes 30mins although I may or may not have tried 40 mins without knowing . I've successfully saved pencil fish from the start of an ich out break, at least I thought it was as there were lots of white spot, saved a female betta who had a big patch of white/grey on her side with faded colours on the fins. All nice and healthy in my 80L now.


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## Michael W (16 Nov 2013)

Oh my god I just realised I said "without success in restoring their health" in my first post  . Please ignore my inability to proof read hahaha. Of course I had success otherwise I wouldn't be posting it .

Oh Ollie please don't spill it. I accidentally knocked it over on my white carpet back then and the folks weren't happy. Its really hard to clean, the mark is still right there! I need to invest in one of those steam mop things.


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## Samuran (18 Nov 2013)

I'm not sure I'd stock at those levels.... I tried having more than a pair of pearl's once... and ended up with a pair. I found them very agressive as adults...


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## roadmaster (18 Nov 2013)

Samuran said:


> I'm not sure I'd stock at those levels.... I tried having more than a pair of pearl's once... and ended up with a pair. I found them very agressive as adults...


 
+one. Males are aggressive, and rather than one female and three of our males,,it might would be better to have more females than males.
Quarantine tank can be as simple as five gallon bucket,sponge filter,and heater.
Don't know many who still use the "I don't have room for quarantine".
Eventually,, after enough fish are lost, and or they find themselves treating heavily planted tank with what used to be healthy fish,,,they find room for quarantine bucket,or tub.
Might have to perform small daily water changes if sponge filter is not mature,but it beat's hell out of losing fishes,medicating for possibly unknown pathogen's.


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## Michael W (18 Nov 2013)

I know some fish can be aggressive but I don't find pearls to be a problem given enough space and vegetation to break up lines of sight. I have 6 angels in a 50 Gallons which is not planted and I find they keep to themselves until they want to breed, even then they don't cause much trouble. I find that fish that are similar to Angels tend to like to be in groups, they in my opinion are very socialistic, I have kept this group for 5 years next Feb. I'm not suggesting that I'm right, its just an observation every fish is different and how they are first introduced plays a very big part in keeping them behaved. Best way to do this is introduce them when they are very young.

Anyways, hows the Gourami doing Ollie?


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## OllieNZ (19 Nov 2013)

Hi All,
Unfortunately lost them all, last one Saturday night. Went to lfs on Sunday and they found they had quarantined their remaining stock after my call to them on Wednesday and had also lost a couple over that period. Offered me a credit for whatever so I picked up 10 more cardinals and 4 nerites


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## Simon jones (2 Jan 2014)

I've never had any luck with pearl gouramis. I had 2 kept in a heavily planted tank, it did have a high flow rate and so attributed their demise to that.


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