Dwarf gourami - swim bladder problem

Crystal90

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My dwarf gourami has swim bladder problems (probably due to over feeding, my fault). His spine is slightly bent and he's head down when he rests. He's able to swim normally, is still active, looks for food and chases the other fish. For the past 2 days I've been feeding green peas. He hasn't gotten worse. My question is: how long can he go on like this and what else should I do?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Tank Info:
tank size - 40 g, established 21 years ago

ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 20
temperature - 78
water changes - 50% weekly, cleaning done every 2 weeks
chemicals/treatments - only use Prime

tank mates - 12 black neon tetras, 8 cordys, 1 mystery snail, 3 dwarf gouramis
no new additions or changes to tank
 
If the fish is swimming normally then it is unlikely to be a swim bladder issue. The swim bladder helps stabilise fish in the water and lets them swim or hang out in the water at any level without falling over sideways, or floating to the top or sinking to the bottom.

Can you post a pic and short video or the fish?
 
Sorry for the delay, I work weekends. I have a picture and video. I can't upload the video. Can someone tell me what size and ext is permitted. I've compressed it but still is too large. Thanks
gourami.jpg
 
post the video on youtube and put the link on here. the clip only has to show the fish acting funny, 10-20second clips are usually sufficient.
 
Last edited:
OK, here's the video. About the :30 mark you can kind of see the curve in his spine.


Thanks again,
 
Is he overly fat on one side of the body compared to the other, or is he equally fat on both sides of his body?

I noticed his head is partially turned to the left, is that the bent spine you refer to?
Besides the bend he seems to happily swim about feeding. Did you feed the fish some frozen brineshrimp for the video?

Do you normally feed flake food as the main food or do you use a lot of frozen and live fish foods?

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You could watch him when he poops and see if there is any air bubbles in his poop. You don't have to touch his poop or anything like that. Just look and see if it has any small air bubbles in it, he might also fart air bubbles. If he does, then he is probably swallowing air when he feeds.

He is a gourami and they are labyrinth fishes (they have an organ in their head to get oxygen out of the air) and don't normally have issues taking dry food from the surface, but some fish do swallow air when feeding and it can cause them to become unbalanced in the water. If a fish is swallowing air you will see them fart bubbles or have small air bubbles in their poop.
This might explain his head down, tail up sleeping position. It could also be he just likes that position.
Does he always sleep in the same plant?

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on a side note, if you turn your phone on its side when using video mode, the footage will fill the entire screen rather than the middle section only :)
 
I usually feed flake, wafers (for the corys) and frozen food (not at the same time). His favorite spot is the right corner of the tank, so he's usually resting there. It's only recently that he is resting head down and the curve in his spine showed up last week. I'm trying to get a clip looking down at him.

If he is swallowing air, shouldn't this pass eventually?
 
I haven't seen him pass any bubbles, I'll keep watching. I've uploaded a clip looking down where you can see the curve in his spine.

 
I would say he has a tumor in him that is pressing against the spine or internal organs and that is causing the bent spine. There isn't much you can do for him if it is a tumor, other than keep him in a clean tank with plants and look after him until he can't swim properly and stops feeding. Then euthanize him.

About half way thru the clip the blue dwarf gourami gives him a bit of a nip so you will have to watch that. If it gets worse, ie: the blue starts actively going after the one with the bent back, you will need to separate them.

At this stage, I would just look after him until he has trouble swimming or stops feeding, then put him down. If you have a few floating plants in the tank he will feel more secure. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) is the best plant for gouramis. It can float or be planted in the substrate, but floating is best for gouramis.
 
Since he's still active and eating I'll just keep an eye on him. He does also chase the other gourami's on occasion and they will also hang out together too. They were just agitated because I was over the tank and they associate that with feeding time.

I really appreciate the time you took in helping me figure this out. It's sad since I've had him for a while and he's always been healthy.

Thanks so much.
 

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