Bloated, Swollen, Dying Gouramis

[LittleL]

ok so i had 4 honey gouramis but unfortunitly one died last night

the one that died had a very, very swollen belly, so i think (im a newbie to fish keeping so i could be totally wrong) it could be swim bladder?

anyway, i studied my other three gouramis and two of them look very bloated and swollen and there waste is not normal (its very stringy and tiny and white-ish colour... not normal im assuming?) Also they dont look to good. i mean there swimming around and eating, but sometimes they just lay on the bottom of the tank or float near the top of the tank.....

could they be getting swim bladder or something? i dont want them to die....

i have some swimmbladder treatment (no 13) but im not sure if my fish do actually have swim bladder so i dont want to add to the tank if im not sure thats what they have.... also can i can swim bladder tratment to my tank without harming all the other fish or would i NEED to serparate the ones who i think do have swim bladder and then just treat them??

please help..... i dont want anymore fish to die..

(also added in the gourami forum)

 

[steelhealr]

I would isolate the gouramis to a hospital tank and start treating them for dropsy which is common in gouramis. Add aquarium salt..this may help. I'd also started antibiotics and gently raise the tank temp. If you see no improvement, you may want to consider euthanizing them..but...obviously, try to treat and save them first. SH

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

steelhealr, Tropicarna did another thread on this topic but salt was not an option due to the plec in the tank which cannot tolerate it- i think an anti internal bacterial med with some cooked peas would be best for this situation.

 

[pokagon55]

I thought that using anything but epison salt would make things worse. Regular salt is not recommened for use with bloating. Only Epison Salt. This could be a internal parisite also. So I would look into this. It also could be a bacterial infection as stated. I would treat for both.

 

[steelhealr]

I think it is pretty much accepted that scaleless fish can sustain a brief treatment of aquarium salt. I think that longterm treatment is what can be harmful to them. SH