Spinning Around

[ellena]

I have a male honey gourami in a hospital tank since Tuesday when he suddenly started swimming erratically in spirals. He's calmer at the moment, but not right and I haven't been able to feed him. He took a bloodworm last night but dropped it. I took a little video, he pecks at the plant like he does for algae in the main tank.
I'm in the UK so antibiotics aren't available. Googling didn't produce a very promising forecast
I'll post the video link in a minute. For some reason I can't paste anything into the forums when on the PC?

https/www.flickr.com/photos/22351913@N07/16323714220/

 

[Akasha72]

firstly I'll say I know very very little about Gourami's but I do know the dwarf veriety suffer with something called 'dwarf gourami disease' and it is incurable. I don't know much about the symptoms other than they get sick suddenly and die. As far as I know the honey gourami isn't affected by this disease but perhaps a gourami expert can confirm that.
 
As for the spinning ... normally that would indicate to me that there's something going on internally. It could be a parasite or it could be the swim bladder - as I'm unable to see your video I can't say which.
 
You say he won't eat so that rules out feeding him food soaked in epsom salt (something I've used for internal problems as it tends to help) or even some peas. I would be looking at this stage to treat him with an internal parasite medication As you are in the U.K I'll recommend Waterlife and I'd use Octozin. It is for hole in the head but I was once told by my lfs - "if we can't identify the problem we add Octozin and it always works". I used it when I had hexamita and they were right - it worked.
There are other medications on the market but personally I always look to buy Waterlife first if I can get it. Another brand I like is TAP fish doctor but they are difficult to get in my area.
 
Not sure how much help I've been but I hope you can cure him - let us know how he goes

 

[BiggTexx]

What are your current water parameters?  Has anything been performed in the last few days, such as large water changes or the addition of medications?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

There are several things that can cause the whirling. Some can be dealt with while others cannot.
 
-Ammonia can cause it and the solution for that is simple. Test to rule out the ammonia.
-Parasites and worms can cause this. These also can be treated with appropriate meds.
-Internal bacterial infections can cause it either because they infect the swim bladder or else cause swelling which affects it. Appropriate antibiotics would help here.
-Mycobacterium, aka fish granulosa or fish TB (a bad name choice and not really appropriate), can also cause it. There a number of different species of this bacteria and some are mild and others are virulent and deadly. Manyare not treatable and kill fast. If this is the cause, all other fish in the tank would be at risk. A few species can be passed from fish to people. However, this is very rare. You can read about this disease here http/fisheries.tamu.edu/files/2013/09/SRAC-Publication-No.-4706-Mycobacterial-Infections-of-Fish.pdf
 
When we cannot actually see the cause of a disease and it does not exhibit specific symptoms which clearly identify a disease, it takes microscopic examination and lab equipment to diagnose things properly. We can see ich, we can see fungus, we can see many external parasite. However, we cannot see microscopic sided organisms in or outside of a fish.

 

[Munroco]

Swim bladder disease IMO

 

[TwoTankAmin]

There is no such thing as swim bladder disease. It is a term used to describe all diseases/parasites/problems etc. which might affect the swim bladder directly or indirectly.
 
In what I wrote above I omitted constipation as a potential cause. The way to know that is the issue is to know if the fish is pooping or not. But usually this does not result in whirling or spinning it tends to manifest as an inability to swim properly. i.e to stay upright or to regulate buoyancy.
 
Please go here and read this piece on the subject by Neal Monks. Neale Monks has been keeping aquaria for more than 20 years but has always been particularly interested in oddball and brackish-water fish. Neale studied zoology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, after which time he worked as a marine biologist before earning his Ph.D. in paleontology at the Natural History Museum in London. He now writes for most of the major fishkeeping magazines and writes the monthly Fish Health exclusive for FishChannel.com
http/www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/disease-prevention/swim-bladder-disease.aspx

Identification
What we call 'swim bladder disease' is more a syndrome than a specific disease. In other words, any disease, injury or situation that causes a fish to swim abnormally is likely to be described as swim bladder disease. Given that swim bladder disease isn't one thing, the appropriate treatment will be difficult to determine without identifying the root causes of the problem................
 
Treatment
As indicated above, there's no one 'swim bladder disease' against which a single medication can be recommended. Bacterial infections will need to be treated one way, worm infections another, and physical injuries a third.

 

[star4]

I had 3 blue gourami all go down with similar within 48 hours of each other (knew I shouldnt of bought them from a particular shop). I cured all 3 (and still alive and swimming today) by having them in a hospital tank with very low water level, only just covering them (when they are in normal position), I didnt bother with a filter but did partial water changes ever couple of hours (yes through the night also) and the next day they were looking better, gradually I increased the water level each water change. Dont feed it until it is swimming normally again, leave in the hospital tank once it is swimming normally for a couple of days, check it is feeding and passing faeces ok before returning to the main tank. Also keep the tank dark to minimise stress.

 

[ellena]

Back to report that the octozin seems to have done the trick. He's still not 100%, slightly wobbly still, but much improved and back in the main tank, and getting his share at feeding time

 

[Akasha72]

octozin is amazing stuff. I keep some in stock now just in case. Glad he's on the mend but now you've got him eating see if you can get him to eat some peas which are good for any blockages in their guts and you can also soak some food in an epsom salt mixture which also helps their stomachs. Here's how I do it...
 
 
I add half a litre of tap water to a jug and then add a tablespoon of epsom salt. Mix it in well as it takes a while to dissolve. I add some food to my net and then dunk the food a few times in the salt water then I just dump the food in the tank. Epsom salt is used for constipation in us humans ... it has the same effect on fish