Pink Kissing Gourami

Question
QUESTION: Earlier this week, I got a couple of pink kissing gouramis and put them into my 10 gallon tank with a few tropical fish and bottom feeders. The temperature usually stays between 76-78 degrees. They were doing fine the entire week and weren't even bullying any of the smaller fish. Yesterday, however, I noticed a couple of the goldfish had fin rot so I put in some fungus medication. This morning, the female gourami, Chessie, seemed very lethargic. She was on the bottom in the corner and at times when she got too close to the bubble wall, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from floating up to the top. The male gourami, Riley, has been periodically swimming over to her and floating right next to her or above her. He nips at anyone that gets close to her. I'm really worried about her cause she's already moving at all. Any idea what's wrong with her?

ANSWER: Hi Christine:  did she start to behave like this before or after the medication was added to the tank?   What did you treat with? How much medication did you put in?   Dave

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QUESTION: I put in a tablet of Tank Buddies Fungus Clear at night just before I went to bed. I watched them for about 15 minutes. Everyone seemed fine so I went to bed. I noticed she was acting strangely when I was feeding them in the morning. She ate anything that fell near her but she wouldn't swim up to the top. I watched her for awhile and noticed she barely moved at all. She's still the same now.

ANSWER: I would do a water change of about 40% and stop the medication. You can correct fin rot through diet.  If she perks up without the medication in the tank then we will know if she is having a reaction to the meds... let me know...dave

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QUESTION: She actually died a couple hours ago. So I don't know if it was from the medication or if she just wasn't healthy to begin with. Two of the other fish I got at the same time from the same store just died as well with no signs of being sick. One was in a different tank than the one that was medicated. I'll do a water change just in case though. Thanks for trying.

Answer
I am sorry to hear that... Fish go through a lot of stress just to get to our house... they are netted bagged and driven across town and dumped into an unknown environment where they do not know if there are predators.  Stress is one of the most damaging issues that lead to sickness in the aquarium setting.  A lot of the sudden illness of fish when they are first introduced is directly related to stress... If they are not in good health when you or I buy them then their chance of survival is less then good.  Dave