My gold three spot gourami's tail is missing part of itself. I treated the tank for high ammonia levels and high acid and now all my fish have turned back to their normal beautiful colors but I have noticed my male (the gold) has lost part of his tail. Is this normal? I don't see any discoloration any where on the fin so I haven't noticed any fin rot. He looks very healthy.
There is a strange phrase in here that comes from a misunderstanding of "cycling" that is being passed on to newer fish keepers. "I cycled the tank for X days before adding fish."
Cycling does not start until after the fish are introduced and begin to produce ammonia waste products.
Fishless cycling is done by adding artificial ammonia in a dosing pattern mimicking that of a group of resident fish.
If you do not add fish or begin dosing with ammonia, it does not matter if you have set the tank up for 60 seconds or 60 days. You are still at Day Zero of the cycling process until fish are added.
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Fortunately gold three spot gouramis are air breathers (labyrinth fish) and are resistant to ammonia poisoning. A high level could affect fins, but because they breathe air it would have minimal affect on their gills and labyrinth organs.
Be careful using chemicals like pH Up to alter the acid/alkaline balance of your aquarium water. The artificial chemicals don't last as long as the natural minerals that determined the baseline pH of your water source. Changing pH artificially is like walking down the sidewalk pushing people out of your way. It may work for a while but you will find someone who pushes back.
The high ammonia was the probably the culprit and low pH had nothing to do with it. Trichogaster triopterus the scientific name of your fish is one of the hardiest of aquarium fish. It does not care about pH or water hardness. It is a great fish to have because it eats hydra and flatworms, two annoying pests that although basically harmless are difficult to eradicate. You picked a good fish.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com It was also good that you picked one male and two females. That way the females can run interference for each other if they tire of the male. Two males in the tank would fight over territory and females.
Having more than one male in a tank is the commonest cause of missing chunks of finnage. It will regrow as long as the base of the fin is not damaged. Sometimes a split fin will heal from the top and bottom. This leaves a hole in the fin where the two healing directions meet. Otherwise healing fins usually go without a hitch.
If the tank is overcrowded he may have been attacked by one of the other gouramis, he may also be having a bad reaction to the ammonia detoxifier , usually these are bad for the fish, do you have a water test kit? these are even worse for your fish if you don't have high ammonia levels. Did you cycle the tank? this is also probably part of your problem. Go look at this website...
www.aquahobby.com
do you have any semi aggresive fish that would bite his tail while the levels were high?
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
the tail will heal in time, if it was from ammonia and you fixed it your ok, if its from a fish biting him it might not happen now he is healthy and not sick, but make sure to watch.
