dwarf gourami with ulcer

[houndour]

My tank has been running since March. I did a fishless cycle. And over a period of 5 weeks added 5 cory metae, 3 botia striata, 2 dwarf gouramis, 4 guppies.

1 guppy died the next day - so I presume that he didn't die because of my tank.

1 cory never looked particularly well, but lived about a month before disappearing.

the female dwarf gourami died about 4-6 weeks ago, I think it was ulcers.

since then one of my guppies has developed what I can only think is gas bubble disease. All the research I've done on this says the bubbles never go away. The only thing I thought could be causing it is the filter. Since then the guppy has been fine, but today it looks like the bubbles on his tail/fin have got bigger and he's swimming funny.

My male dwarf gourami has developed an ulcer on his mouth (am treating) but he's now got about 5-6 of them over his body/fin/tail.

I've read ulcers are coomon in dwarf gourami and are cause by poor water quality.

I don't think there's anything wrong with my water...

I had a nitrite spike just after the last treatment (for female gourami) and this is what the spike was contributed to (Nitrite spike was 0.5ppm). But careful monitoring after this everything went back to normal and no probs since.

Water params at the mo are:
nitrite 0ppm
ammonia 0pp
Nitrate 10ppm (I dose to keep at this level for the plants)
phosphates 1-2 (do phosphates have negative effects on fish?)
CO2 18-25ppm (if its a co2 problem I read that they would be gasping for air and they don't).
I do a 50% water change every week and yes I use dechlorinator.

I don't have a hospital tank, but I do have a tank thats cycling, but I think it'd do the 2 fish more harm than good going in here as it's cycling. Besides it's too small at 5 gallons.

Oh, I don't feed live foods. I do feed them frozen foods. but not very often )

Any ideas? on either fish? I wish I could get a pic of the guppy with the bubbles, but it just doesnt show up the bubbles in the photo.

 

[WILDER]

http/www.fbas.co.uk/Ulcers.html

 

[WILDER]

Not the writer of this information below.



Gas Bubble Disease



Symptoms:

Symptoms include blisters that are clearly visible beneath the skin, particularly in the head area, in and around the eyes. Blisters may also form inside the body. Sick fish will make a croaking sound when removed from the water.



Cause:

Oxygen oversaturation: This disease is most frequently seen in heavily planted or Algae-ridden aquariums or ponds. In such a scenario, oxygen production can be so great that it upsets the proper balance of dissolved gases in the water causing very small gas bubbles to form inside of the fish. If these bubbles move to the blood stream they can be fatal.



Remedy:

Perform an immediate water change to restore the proper gas balance. Clean away Algae and reduce the amount of live plants. Use an anti-algae chemical if necessary, such as Algae Destroyer. Reduce lighting to reduce oxygen production by the plants.