# lethargic gourami



## medlii (May 13, 2010)

I have a honey sunset gourami that has been lethargic recently. I got him about 3 weeks ago. At first, he was very curious and interested in his surroundings- swimming around the tank, investigating when I put anything in the tank or cleaned it, swimming all around, etc. Recently, he has become very lethargic and either sits right at the top of the tank near the filter intake or rests on the bottom (he is still upright) at the other end of the tank. Earlier today, I thought he was dead because he stayed in the same place for about 4 hours, but he swam around a little bit. Right now, he is in my quarantine tank. Details below:

Fish symptoms

Gourami is lethargic, spending most of time at top of tank or at the bottom of the tank, resting upright on the gravel. Sometimes swims around the tank a little bit as he normally would (maybe once every 3-4 hours)
Stringy, white feces
No appetite (he used to eat normally, but now eats nothing)
Not gasping for air with gills or with mouth
Gills appear normal

Tank setup:

Tank has been running for about 2 months, was cycled before any fish were introduced
46 gallon tank
live plants (frill and wisteria)
Fluval canister filter

Fish

(all other tankmates appear fine and do not interact with gourami)
6 bloodfin tetras
6 black neon tetras
1 gibbiceps pleco
1 honey sunset gourami
Fed flakes twice per day, freeze dried bloodworms twice per week

Water parameters

All water parameters (nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, chlorine, etc) are within spec according to wet test kit
I do 10-20% water changes every other day
Only other thing is that it has been warm lately and sometimes the tank temperature has gotten up to 84*F

Please help me diagnose his condition. Thank you for your assistance!


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

How long did the tank cycle before putting fish in the tank? What are the actual readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The only acceptable reading for ammonia and nitrite is 0, nitrate no more than 30 at the high end. Why are you doing so many water changes. If the tank is cycled you should only need to do them once a week of 20 to 30%. The warmer temps won't bother him that much if the temp is rising gradually.

For the chlorine, if your using de-chlorinator you shouldn't have to worry about that.


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## medlii (May 13, 2010)

The tank cycled for about 3-4 weeks before any fish were added. Before fish were added, I tested for the ammonia spike followed by the nitrate spike, which did occur. 

Current water parameters:
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0

The pleco poops everywhere (and he is nearly 6 inches long), so I do small, frequent water changes to clean up his mess

My thought is intestinal parasite since the gourami has white stringy poop


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