Dwarf gourami

Question
I have a blue dwarf gourami in with a couple of tetras and another specie of dwarf gourami.  This blue one I have noticed recently trying hard to come to the top of the fish tank - gulp a few times then just sink to the bottom of the tank. He hides in amoungst the plants but seems to use them to keep himself upright almost.  I did have some problems with my ph and ammonia levels but they are all perfect but I thought it may have been stressed but I would think he would be ok by now with good levels in my water condition.  I've done a bit of reading on the internet and thought it may be an internal bacterial thing or oxygen starvation??? What do you think??

Answer
Hi Michelle,
Sorry to hear about your gourami. It might be stress due to disease or poor water quality, or it may be swim bladder disorder. If he has buoyancy problems and has trouble swimming this may certainly be the reason, you can read more about it here-

http://flippersandfins.net/SwimbladderDisease.htm

This article will help you in knowing how to treat the swim bladder disorder if this turns out to be the case.

Also some things to check for is if he is being bullied by other fish like the other gourami, this may cause him to sit near the bottom to avoid being in the territory of the other fish.

Best of luck and I hope this helps!
Karen~