Please Help! Gourami Having Difficulty Breathing.

[ScarletwifRila]

Please help... My Giant Gourami is having difficulty breathing. She seems to gasping for air, and recently has not eaten much for a few months now. She also seems weak, not moving much starting from yesterday until today. I just tried a water change and added an additional oxygen pebble. Is it due to lack of oxygen? Previously she was doing fine.
My Gourami lives in a tank by herself, and I'm quite certain it's not about the tank size for my case.
If anyone has any advice, solution or know why she's behaving like this, please reply!! Thank you so much, it means a lot to me. I don't want to see her die.

 

[the_lock_man]

Gasping for breath can be symptomatic of high nitrite levels - have you tested for ammonia and nitrite?

 

[ZoddyZod]

gourami can breathe air.....so I doubt a lack of O2 in the water is the reason for this.

 

[fluttermoth]

gourami can breathe air.....so I doubt a lack of O2 in the water is the reason for this.

Agreed.

OP; you do, urgently, need to post details of tank size, decor, temperature, filtration and get your water tested. If you don't have kits of your own, you can get your shop to test it for you, but you must get them to write down the actual numbers to post here. Very often they'll say, "fine" or, "a little high", which is of no use to us.

 

[ZoddyZod]

there's even a handy form to fill in....
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/422952-start-here-with-your-emergency/

 

[ScarletwifRila]

Oops, sorry i'm new to this format > <
Erm honestly, all these years i've been keeping fish, i don't measure the levels and all, so i don't know the numbers not trying to sound arrogant, but my Dad and i rely on our experience to keep our fishes
Sorry but i can't (and don't know how to) give all of you the details...
I think she's not going to make it... Just last night she turned upside down, and that's not a good sign, right?
Thank you for your responses! Greatly appreciated

 

[WILDER]

Poor thing. No it's not sounding to hopeful for her.
Do her gills look like there sticking out,, red inflamed, excess slime on the gills?

 

[ScarletwifRila]

Poor thing. No it's not sounding to hopeful for her.
Do her gills look like there sticking out,, red inflamed, excess slime on the gills?

Thank you for your reply!!
That's what I was thinking too, that the problem is with her gills. No, I don't notice any changes in her gills, they look the same
I'm not sure if this helps, but last time (i think i posted it too), she was coughing out some kind of 'blood'. But that was quite long ago, maybe last year?

 

[WILDER]

Poor thing.
How old is she?
Does she still cough up blood or has that stopped?
Does she look bloated?
Does she look pale, or darker in colour?

 

[ScarletwifRila]

Poor thing.
How old is she?
Does she still cough up blood or has that stopped?
Does she look bloated?
Does she look pale, or darker in colour?

I've had her for two years this year March :'(
She doesn't look bloated, in fact, because she has almost stopped eating, she looks very flat-stomached. In the past when she ate her meals regularly, she'd grow so chubby at her tum and look so cute
Nope, the coughing stopped miraculously by itself a few days after it happened at that time.
She looks a bit pale.
You see, that's the problem. From the outside, my Gourami looks totally fine. If there was some ick or something it would have been easy, but now I don't even know what's wrong with her. > <
I wish there was a fish doctor somewhere lol

 

[WILDER]

You could try an internal bacteria medication. But it could make her breathing worse.
Soak her food in garlic juice to stimulate appetite, and boost her immune system.
 
Just make sure there no signs of her flicking and rubbing.

 

[ScarletwifRila]

You could try an internal bacteria medication. But it could make her breathing worse.
Soak her food in garlic juice to stimulate appetite, and boost her immune system.
 
Just make sure there no signs of her flicking and rubbing.

My Dad poured in some medicine
Never thought of that o__O will try it out!
Nope, but she seems to have lost all sense of direction. she keeps banging against the glass...

 

[the_lock_man]

I wish there was a fish doctor somewhere lol
 

 
There is, she's called WILDER
 
 

 
My Dad poured in some medicine

 

 
Let's hope it's the right medicine. Fish medicines are often basically poisons, at a dose strong enough to kill their targets, but (just) weak enough not to kill the fish. If you use a medicine that is targetted at a different illness, the chances are that the already-weakened fish will not be strong enough to survive the poison.

 

[ScarletwifRila]

I wish there was a fish doctor somewhere lol

 
There is, she's called WILDER
 
 

My Dad poured in some medicine

 
Let's hope it's the right medicine. Fish medicines are often basically poisons, at a dose strong enough to kill their targets, but (just) weak enough not to kill the fish. If you use a medicine that is targetted at a different illness, the chances are that the already-weakened fish will not be strong enough to survive the poison.

Wilder??
Thanks to everyone who has responded. My Gourami died a few hours ago. I'm still getting over her death... We were close :')
I checked her gills and the inside of her mouth, but all looked fine. Her body was in perfect colour and shape. I'm itching to know what really caused her death. Maybe it was just fate.

 

[fluttermoth]

Sorry for your loss 

 
You really ought to measure your tank and get hold of some test kits so you don't have to go through this again with any other of your fish.