Help. Dwarf Gourami acting strange

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Matt.has.fish

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Hello, Iā€™m a relitively new to my aquarium. Iā€™ve had it for a few months and recently noticed a problem. It is a ten gallon freshwater tank from top fin. I have two platters, some zebra danios, an algae eater and a neon blue dwarf gourami. The gourami I recently added and I noticed it has this weird color and has been acting very strange. He has been staying towards the bottom and going near the heater. When I go to feed all the fish he usually doesnā€™t come up. Iā€™m worried by this behavior and would really appreciate any help to some one who may know whatā€™s happening and how to fix it. Thank you. Hereā€™s a picture.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before it is added to the aquarium?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

What is the temperature of the water?

Have you checked the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH of the water?
If yes, what were the results in numbers?

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Dwarf gouramis carry 2 main diseases, Tuberculosis (TB) and the Iridovirus. Neither can be treated although the Iridovirus can sometimes be controlled by keeping the fish in clean conditions and feeding it a varied diet. Adding plant matter and fish vitamins is also helpful.

The Iridovirus is carried by most gouramis that come from Asia and can remain dormant in the fish until the fish becomes stressed out. When the fish is stressed the virus kicks into action and starts causing damage to the fish's internal organs and you often see sores on the outside of the body. If the sores go red and inflamed, then a bacterial infection has set in and you will need to add some medication to kill the bacteria. Most broad spectrum fish medications can be used to treat the secondary infections. If they don't work you can try anti-biotics but they can cost money and should only be used as a last resort to treat known bacterial infections.

*NB* Anti-biotics will not treat the virus and are only used to treat the secondary bacterial infections if the broad spectrum fish medications don't work.

Improper use of anti-biotics can lead to drug resistant bacteria that can kill fish, birds, animals and people, so only use them if absolutely necessary.

Anti-biotics are best used in a separate tank without a filter. Fill the container with water from the main tank and move the heater and fish into the container. Add an airstone and treat the container. After 24 hours wipe the inside of the container with a clean fish sponge, remove and replace all of the water and retreat the container with more medication. Do this for at least 1 week but no longer than 2 weeks.

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will absorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down, do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean. And clean the filter before treating. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

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If the water temperature is too cold this can lead to the virus becoming active, as can moving fish, putting them in a new tank, introducing new fish, or just old age. Get the temperature up to 26-28C (79-82F) and see if that helps.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for the next 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter materials in a bucket of tank water.

Feed the fish a variety of dry, frozen (but defrosted) and live foods 3-4 times per day. If you can find a fish vitamin supplement that might help. If you can't get a fish vitamin supplement, look for a reptile or bird vitamin supplement and use that instead.
Try to get vitamins in a powder form and keep it in a cool dry place. Check the expiry date before you buy it.

Sprinkle the vitamins over the frozen food once a day for 6 days a week, use no vitamins on the 7th day. Then start adding vitamins again the following day. Basically use vitamins 6 days a week and have 1 day without before repeating the process.

If this is the Iridovirus (and I suspect it is), the virus will always be in the tank and you should avoid getting labyrinth fishes (gouramis and Bettas) for this tank because they will contract it too. Other species of fish can carry this virus too (although they are less susceptible to it than labyrinths), so you should monitor all the fish and try to keep the tank conditions good.

If you want gouramis, try to avoid buying dwarf gouramis (Trichogaster lalius) or any of their colour forms because any fish from Asia could carry this virus. Locally bred stock is usually free of the disease but much harder to find.
 

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