Bloated Gourami

[theghost10]

I have a 20 gallon tank with 5 Emperor Tetras, 5 Harlequin Rasboras, and 4 Pygmy Corys. The tank is well established (a year) and the parameters are 0 nitrate and nitrite, temp about 75 degrees. The pH is about 6.2 I have a Dwarf Gourami who when I woke up this morning appears bloated. I had another Dwarf Gourami that died last month that I found bloated on the bottom of the tank. This gourami appears to be swimming normally and eating normally, but is just bloated. Any idea on what could be causing it or any cures? I'm about to go out of town for a couple of days for work, and don't want to come back to a belly up gourami like I did with the other one.

On a side note. why is it fish seem to always get sick right before you are about to go out of town??

 

[Adam86]

I have a 20 gallon tank with 5 Emperor Tetras, 5 Harlequin Rasboras, and 4 Pygmy Corys. The tank is well established (a year) and the parameters are 0 nitrate and nitrite, temp about 75 degrees. The pH is about 6.2 I have a Dwarf Gourami who when I woke up this morning appears bloated. I had another Dwarf Gourami that died last month that I found bloated on the bottom of the tank. This gourami appears to be swimming normally and eating normally, but is just bloated. Any idea on what could be causing it or any cures? I'm about to go out of town for a couple of days for work, and don't want to come back to a belly up gourami like I did with the other one.

On a side note. why is it fish seem to always get sick right before you are about to go out of town??

I had a Snake Skin Gourami with the same problem. Does the fishes eyes look bigger than normal??? I can tell you that you need to take the fish out of the tank and maybe put him in a hospital tank. The reason being is that the case is probally DROPSY or it could be Fish Tuberculosis. Dropsy is not really catchable by the other fish allthough that Tuberculosis is. I would take the fish out that you have now and put him in somthing that he can die in. I know that sounds horrible but curing these are almost impossible to cure. You can give the fish Epson salt to help with its swelling. I would say to make sure that the fish is not pregnant before you take him out but you said that you had one to die last week so it dont look good. Did your infected fish eat on the fish that died??? I mean it is possible to cure this but I wouldnt get my hopes up because once you notice the fish swelling it is usally to late.

 

[sylvia]

How can a male gourami be pregnant? Besides - they don't get pregnant! They get 'gravid' but, again, only the females do

BTW, dropsy is a symptom - not a disease - however, this probably is what your fish has - an internal bacterial infection. Normaly I'd first suggest feeding some de-shelled green peas (in case it's constipation - and you may as well try this anyway and fast for a day) but, because you've had another death, I'm pretty confident that this is the problem. This is extremely common in dwarf gouramies and difficult to treat. You can attempt to isolate the fish in a hospital tank (as the other fish can catch this) and treat with an antibiotic (or anti-internal bacteria med. as they are often labelled in LFSs). Having said that, if you're going away, an uncycled hospital tank probably won't work and the fish will die. Consider euthanising it (use clove oil - freezing/shocking etc are very inhumane).

Your water parameters are slightly worrying - you shouldn't have 0 nitrAtes - ammonia and nitrIte should be 0 but nitrAtes shouldn't be. Have you made a mistake or is this realy the case? If so, what's your ammonia reading? Ammonia spikes are common triggers of disease such as this in dwarf gouramies.

 

[ausgewanderca]

How can a male gourami be pregnant? Besides - they don't get pregnant! They get 'gravid' but, again, only the females do

BTW, dropsy is a symptom - not a disease - however, this probably is what your fish has - an internal bacterial infection. Normaly I'd first suggest feeding some de-shelled green peas (in case it's constipation - and you may as well try this anyway and fast for a day) but, because you've had another death, I'm pretty confident that this is the problem. This is extremely common in dwarf gouramies and difficult to treat. You can attempt to isolate the fish in a hospital tank (as the other fish can catch this) and treat with an antibiotic (or anti-internal bacteria med. as they are often labelled in LFSs). Having said that, if you're going away, an uncycled hospital tank probably won't work and the fish will die. Consider euthanising it (use clove oil - freezing/shocking etc are very inhumane).

Your water parameters are slightly worrying - you shouldn't have 0 nitrAtes - ammonia and nitrIte should be 0 but nitrAtes shouldn't be. Have you made a mistake or is this realy the case? If so, what's your ammonia reading? Ammonia spikes are common triggers of disease such as this in dwarf gouramies.

I have the same issue as dircribed above what do I have to do

 

[Reesy1989]

Have you got a picture so that we can see to what extent the fish is bloated?