Dwarf Gourami - Ill, Has White Area Round Eye, And Not Very Lively?

[philb]

Just noticed of the last few days, my male dwarf gourami, has got a white area round his eye and a tint spec on his side?

Looks like the scales have fallen off? Also he normally races to the top of the tank, and takes foo form your hand, be hes not very energetic at the mo, just cruisn round the top of the tank?

Any ideas?

 

[philb]

Tank is 180L

Other tankmates, neon,cardinal and phantom tetra, guppy, 3 2" clown loaches, gibby plec, golden nugget plec, 2 2" silver sharks and 5 penguin tetra.

Ammonia 0-5ppm, nitrate 5-10 , nitrite 0- 0.25 as should be.

Still swimming round and eating, just not as lively or as much as usual.

There have been no other diseases, and no other fish are affected

Although the female does seem to be chasing him quite aggressively at times, maybe thats why hes hiding in the corner?

 

[sylvia]

I think you probably realise that you are extremely overstocked with the silver sharks, clown loaches and gibbiceps plec but I'll point this out anyway just in case.

Actualy, things like silver dollars can stress dwarf gouramies out and this can lead them to get ill. The female dwarf is unlikely to have picked on him before he was ill - usualy the males chase the females. However, if she is larger, she could also have stressed him out beforehand and be equaly responsible for his illness.

Anyway, your dwarf should be isolated in a hospital (cycled) tank if possible. Otherwise, it sounds like your fish has some sort of bacterial infection. Either way, he needs to be treated with an anti-finrot med. (though I would like to see a pic to make sure - ir may be a secondary infection or just whitespot). Can you describe the white surrounding his eye - is it fluffy at all? What about the spot on his side - does it look anything like a salt grain?

Unfortunately, if he has lost his appetite and is hanging around in a corner, he probably won't make it. Moving him to a cycled hospital tank might increase his chances though.