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Pink Kissing Gourami

23 11:55:23

Question

Bubba
My pink kissing gourami has been lying on it's side, but occasionally he swims up to the surface when i feed him, but only if he tries hard.  He will only be at the surface for a little, too.  It started late Friday night.  Someone from a fish store told me to change half the water, it's 40 gallons, but there is not much else i could do.  Please try to find an answer, he is a very special fish and i am not looking forward to losing him any time soon!  The attached picture is of Bubba, my fish, before it started happening.  Also, he could have gotten popeye before this happened and i was getting aquarium salt, but i don't think they had any, could popeye have something to do with it?  Thank you for taking your time to help me, i really appreciate it! Rebecca = )

Answer
Hi Rebecca,
 I think doing water changes is your best move.  In general, you should be changing 25% of his water once a week, every week, to keep him happy and healthy.  Right now, you should up that to maybe twice a week for a couple of weeks.  BTW, it is better to change less water more often rather than a lot of water all at once. That's why I go with the 25% rule.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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