Gourami acting strangely

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
I have a ten gallon tank with 2 red dwarf gouramis and one small algae eater. Levels of nitrate, nitrite, water hardness and alkalinity are all normal. Ammonia is the same as it has been for months, just slightly above the lowest level our test strips can detect. Ph is around 6.4. The gourami seems to have difficulty swimming. It is moving slowly, and bumping into things. It seems to move from the bottom of the tank, up to the surface, gets air, and then slowly sinks back down. Is there anything I can do? I already performed a 40%water change.

Thanks,
Ben

ANSWER: Hi Ben,
I wonder if the test kits are accurate. Sometimes strips don't give a very accurate reading or will 'look' like there is ammonia when its just hard to compare the color of the test strip pad to the color chart. Liquid test kits are much more accurate. There really shouldn't be any ammonia. If you are using a water conditioner that neutralizes ammonia it could be giving a false reading on your test kit so check for that. Most will say so on the label.

About the gourami, he does sound stressed. Its good you did a water change, I would have advised that definitely. Unfortunately there's not much I can for you to do since he doesn't seem to have other symptoms to lead me to believe he needs some sort of treatment.
But keep a close eye on him and make sure he is still eating, has good color, and his waste is normal and not stringy or white which would indicate internal parasites which is way too common in Dwarf gouramis. If he has no obvious signs or symptoms of disease then all you can do is wait it out.

If he is having difficulty in swimming it could be swim bladder disorder which is most commonly caused by when a fish eats too much at one time or isn't getting enough fiber and blockages put pressure on the swim bladder which controls a fishes equilibrium causing all sorts of swimming problems. The best remedy is to fast the fish for a day or so then feed some shelled green peas as the sole food or a few days.

I hope this helps!
Karen~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Karen:

I would like to thank you for the fast response. However, by the time I returned home, the Gourami was no longer alive. Whatever was bothering him happenned very quickly,he only showed signs of being stressed for a matter of a couple hours.

Now that I have only one gourami and a small algae eater in the tank, will the gourami get lonely? If so, what other types of fish will get along with him?

Thanks again for your time

Answer
Hi Ben, (You're welcome!)

I'm sorry to hear about the gourami. Maybe something internal was wrong that couldn't have been helped.

The gourami would be alright and thrive on his own because dwarf gouramis tend to enjoy holding a territory of their own. But you can keep many types of fish with him. Some of these fish are but not limited to-
*White clouds
*Neons
*all smaller tetras
*Rasboras
*Danios
*Corydoras catfish


Best of luck as always!
Karen~