Well I have had an eventful past 5 weeks or so with my 40 gal tank. Let me setup a timeline for you so it will be easiest to diagnos what is going on. First off let me tell you I feel absolutely horrible about my fish passing away, and I thank you for your help.

Dec 23: Tank includes the following: 1 adult blue gouarmi, 2 adult high-tail terta, 2 Albino Tiger Barb, and 1 14" Plecostomus, happily all lived together for 2+ years no issues.

Dec 24: I purchase: 2 small silver dollars, 1 smaller red/blue fish from Petco, and 1 small yellow gouarmi, and an upside down catfish.

Dec 30: I return from a trip and the new red fish is dead. The other 2 dollars above have Ick. First time I have ever had this in my tank. I raised the temp 2-3° for 48 straight hours to 84-86 for the next 7 days. Ick seemed to have been cycled off and wish were better.

Jan 2- Silver dollar 1 dead
Jan 4- yellow gouarmi dead
Jan 5- Silver dollar 2 dead (All Dec 24th fish are perished)

Jan 6- 2 New placement dollars purchased, and 2 new gourami. Both dollars died within the next two days.

Jan 9th- completed a full tank clean, easy balance and stress zyme added.
Jan 10- purchase 2 high tailed tetra
Jan 11- 1 high tailed tetra and 1 new gouarmi perished.

I am completely at a loss for what the cause is. I have 10 nitrate (safe), 0 nitrite(safe), 200-200 hardness(hard), 0 chlorine (safe), Ph 8, alkalinity 200, ammonia .5 (safe), temp 75-78°


Is there something right in my face I am missing? Sorry for the long post but I can tell my old gouarmi is not happy with me and is looking ill. Thanks

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Sophie is the cat pictured. She is attempting at maintaining a purrfect fish 40 gallon freshwater fish tank for our families viewing pleasure.

Your initial fish might have perished from drastic changes. I've heard fish in a stable tank usually end up with weaker immune systems, simply because in an established tank there's nothing to fight.

Your new fish might have died from your tank mini-cycling. All the deaths flood the tank with ammonia, the ammonia turns to nitrite, nitrite to nitrate, similar to the initial cycle establishment but with smaller spikes. Add in the fact that the fish might have been diseased, and you've got a whole slew of issues.

If you have a spare tank, I would suggest setting it up and quarantining any new fish you bring home. That's only if you have a spare tank though, I wouldn't advocate going out and buying one just cause I suggested it. Also, I would add fish 1 at a time and watch them like a hawk for a week until you add a new one.

Sorry for your losses.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Ammonia at any level is not safe. Did you acclimate your fish at all? For the Gouramis, are they the dwarf type?

Both the older and the new Goaurmi I have are not dwarfs. Opaline Gourami I believe it the blue one and the yellow was just called yellow

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Sophie is the cat pictured. She is attempting at maintaining a purrfect fish 40 gallon freshwater fish tank for our families viewing pleasure.

hello... im pretty new to this stuff but i RESEARCH like a doctor.. n been through a few problems so heres my 2 cents.

i believe anything you buy from a petstore should at a MAXIMUM be bought in 2's (preferably 1 at a time)... they should be kept in a QT for atleast 10 days to be looked over.. inspected and watched for weird behavious, diseases etc. then and ONLY then will the fish be ready to be put into the DT... acclimate them for about 30 mins.. in a plastic bag.. adding DT water every 10 mins or so... and them scoop them out and watch... if after 2 weeks all are stile alive and transition is fine.. then i would try again with a couple more fish.. but in my experience adding 4 new fish is a disaster.. n hasnt worked for me.. remember one thing... PATIENCE and WATER CHANGES ARE KEY!!!

I actually would advocate going out and buying a tank just for quarantining purposes, if you're financially able and don't have a spare tank already. It doesn't have to be very big (as you should only ever need to quarantine one or two fish at once, 10 gals would probably be fine for the fish you're dealing with), and the potential savings in fish lives and replacement costs over time will likely more than make up for the expenditure.

Make sure the tank is cycled before you purchase anything that will need to be quarantined; once it's cycled you can keep it that way without any fish for a while (not sure how long?) by putting a little bit of fish food in once or twice a week to feed the bacteria. Then whenever you get new fish, drip acclimate them into the quarantine tank, and if after 2-3 weeks (at least that's what I wait) they still seem healthy, drip acclimate them again into the main tank. Some people will say the second drip acclimation isn't necessary, but I figure if you're going to bother with the quarantine, you might as well do everything you can to help your new fish. Drip acclimating is so much nicer on the fish than just floating them, and it's super easy: Drip acclimating fish

A quarantine tank is also a great place to remove sick fish to (if of course you're not quaranting new fish at the time!) so that whatever they have doesn't spread to the others in the aquarium.

exactly! AS IS SAID a "QT" QUARANTINE TANK!!!