Well I got myself in the deep end now!!

Ok I had a friend come over tonight and her brothers tropical tank suffered a disaster.
The only info I have to go on is this:

Has not done a water change for a while..tank was cycled. running bout 6 months
10 gal with 5 fish that I know of
I think it may have been overstocked as kissing gouramis (sp?) need 30 gal as they can get to be over 8 inches...that is what I have researched so far tonight on the net

anyway he did a small water change and all the fish died within 24 hours except the kissing gourami


So we get the surving fish in a bag
OMG!
So all I have is 6 gal spare ...at least thats more space then it had in 10 gal with 4 tankmates *shrug*
so I set it up same temp and PH
I tested the water in the bag that the fish came in from their and readings were
PH: 7.2
temp:27C
Nitrite 0
Amonia 0
nitrAte off the chart! the higest reading on my scale is 160 it was way darker then this
also the water color was a funky pinky/yellow

The fish at their house was not moving at all, hardly moving its gills and stopped doing the "kissing" thing

Once placed in new water at my house he is swiming but not alot, but a definate change
However no "kissing" action and his gills very slow moving

I am suspecting its the NitrAte

Any ideas? and if so can I do anything else for this fish besides pristine water?

if I save him I can keep him
so...an excuse to get another 40 gal and do a tropical set up heh
i really hope hes/she lives its a pink kissing gourami and about 2 inches tip of nose to tip of tail...very pretty.
i have never had a tropical fish before.

Any feedback is greatly apreciated...

IT's probably just nitrate burning. Keep the water perfect and add some salt if you have it.

Kissing gouramis only "kiss" one another, and that is really a form of harmless fighting...a more nonaggressive form of the lip-locking that cichlids and bettas do to each other. I wouldn't worry about it not kissing anything.


If it is active and seems happy, you're probably in the clear. Just give it a few days. and with a 2" fish, your 6 gal will be fine for a month or so, just do a lot of water changes.

Thanks you so much mickey85 for your reply!

He was extreamly lethargic that first night...could even pick him up to move from bag to new water and he did not even try to flap!
He sat on the bottom aswell and I was woried as I never saw him go to the surface for air.
I was positive he would be dead by morning, but he wasnt
He was active and started to eat the next day!
Today he wont stop "kissing" the glass and darting around all over the place. Physically he looks fine except for slight red streaks in only one pectorial fin..but that can be expected I guess from all that nitrAte and stress the poor thing.
Looks like he got out that water in time
Quiet a pretty looking fish too

nice to hear, I have two gourami's they are awesome looking fish especially under the right light, My blue on changes from blue to purple to green to red depending on the angle. I read that they are hardy fish.
Anyway glad to see your fish is doing better

wow good job saving a life Cant wait to see pics!