...weird? How do I protect the others? It's in the middle of the night where I am and a splash woke me up. Everybody seemed fine earlier today, but a dwarf gourami is dead at the bottom and a swordtail swims around kinda frantically upside down with it's body arched to one side, kinda burrows against the ground and sits there panting. What happened??? I'd noticed the gourami near the bottom a little today and yesterday but I thought it was just hanging out 
It's body seemed a little fat too, around th middle it's buldging more than the other. A swordtail piked on it a little so I scared it off, maybe it was dying? Is there a disease or did a fight or what? This is my first tank and suddenly 2 out of 5 fish are down There's another dwarf gourami, another swordtail, and a betta. There's a little chasing and occasional fighting but I've only seens damage on a swordtail and it was after returning the dominant female from the hospital tank (she got ich right after I added the dwarf gouramis a few months ago.)
I checked the water with with a strip and everything seems fine. I feed them once or twice a day usually. The food's gotten crumbled somehow so it's kinda fine, it came that way. I just took the dead gourami out.
Oh! And the filter cartridge was 3 months old. I used a different brand than the filter to replace it about a week ago but it fits like a glove.
20 gal. I still have the old cartridge in the trash should I put it back? The test kit said nitrate was safe (but I think a little higher than usual for them) nitrite was safe, hardness is very hard, alkalinity was ideal, ph on the high end of neutral. Should I medicate the fish that's swimming weird? I have maracide and maybe some tablets somewhere. Also I just did a big water change a few days ago?
It's body seemed a little fat too, around th middle it's buldging more than the other. A swordtail piked on it a little so I scared it off, maybe it was dying? Is there a disease or did a fight or what? This is my first tank and suddenly 2 out of 5 fish are down There's another dwarf gourami, another swordtail, and a betta. There's a little chasing and occasional fighting but I've only seens damage on a swordtail and it was after returning the dominant female from the hospital tank (she got ich right after I added the dwarf gouramis a few months ago.)I checked the water with with a strip and everything seems fine. I feed them once or twice a day usually. The food's gotten crumbled somehow so it's kinda fine, it came that way. I just took the dead gourami out.
Oh! And the filter cartridge was 3 months old. I used a different brand than the filter to replace it about a week ago but it fits like a glove.
20 gal. I still have the old cartridge in the trash should I put it back? The test kit said nitrate was safe (but I think a little higher than usual for them) nitrite was safe, hardness is very hard, alkalinity was ideal, ph on the high end of neutral. Should I medicate the fish that's swimming weird? I have maracide and maybe some tablets somewhere. Also I just did a big water change a few days ago?