Dwarf Gourami

[Loko17]

Ok a few days ago I looked at my Dwarf Gourami and he looks like he's lost the scales on top of his head, I did a water test and the Nitrates Were Really High, so i did a 50 percent water change and its lowered, I go to do another water change and the front portion of his top fin looks like its charred. What the Heck is going on?

 

[sylvia]

Sounds like it could be columnaris/finrot - what's the temperature in your tank? Has it risen recently?

Also, what other fish are in with him - is it the 10 gallon in your sig? If so, that's over-stocked and could deffinately be the source of the problem (not to mention it's why you had high ntirates!).

It's important that you identify the 3 unknown fish ASAP - they could be causing problems as well (eg: by nipping). Can you describe it or post some pictures? Start by describing the color, the body shape (torpedo-shaped, or flat or disc-shaped etc), where it spends most of its time (top of tank, middle or bottom) whether its an active fish, how fast they tend to move and describe their fins as best you can - is there a small fin just before the tail but behind the main 'dorsal' fin?

 

[Loko17]

Yes a few days ago my airconditioner was out and it got to about 81 or 82 degrees as the highest, its fixed now and the tank is at 78 degrees. There is no fin nipping to my knowledge but I guess there could be, ok the ones that arent identified are 2 orange torpedo shaped fish that spend most of there time together and on the bottum, they move pretty fast and have a red underbelly and some green patches on their sides, under the green patches is a tiny bit of a shade lighter then the orange of the rest of their body. The other fish is a silverish fish thats kind of flat, had about 6 kind of long flowing fins but definately not as long as say an angelfishes fins. All of these fish are around 1 and a half inches long and I've had this Dwarf Gourami for a while now and theres been no problems.

 

[sylvia]

Because of what yous aid about the temp., it's very likely to be columnaris (which also causes finrot). This can be treated quite easily using an anti-inrot med. You should also increase the frequency of water changes to keep on top of water quality - your fish may have been fine so far but, as time goes by, they will have grown and be producing mroe waste. Also, lower the temperature, whilst you are treating, very gardualy to 76 deg F. This'll slow the bacterial infection that your dwarf sounds like he has.

With the unidentified fish...
First off, look through these. Do your fish look anything like these? Don't base your decision purely off color - look at the shape as well.
http/www.aquababies.com/images/cherry_barbs.jpg
http/www.aquariumfish.net/images_01/cher...bs_001_w270.jpg
http/www.aquazoo.co.uk/g/fish/fish_checker_barb.jpg
http/www.acquateck.net/images/barbus_oligolepis.jpg
http/www.solodvds.com/images/fish/Rosy_Barb.jpg
http/home.hiwaay.net/~cwcjr/icons/platy.jpg
http/www.finsandthings.co.uk/platy.JPG
Also, look at this - does your unidentified fish have an 'adipose' fin? http/www.uwfishcollection.org/FishKey/adipose.gif
http/www.learningwindow.com/lwcorp/main/...internal_sm.gif
http/web.uvic.ca/~reimlab/nikki/salmon.GIF

As for the 'flat' one.. does it have 'whiskers' (barbels)? http/www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org/images...ras%20julii.JPG - anything even remotely like this cory's 'whiskers'?
Or perhaps mroe like this? http/www.aquascape.co.uk/Colombian_Shark.jpg
BTW, is it flat like the above examples or do you mean flat the other way? - like this for example: http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/...ght-gourami.jpg
Or perhaps like this? http/akvaryum.mavituna.com/%5Cmages%5Cfestivum1.jpg

Do any of your fish have a shape like these?:
http/www.soe-townsville.org/louisacreekw...ainbowfish).jpg (note how it has 2 dorsals) or like this: http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/...rifasciata2.jpg (again, this is a rainbowfish - there are many different species but they all have 2 dorsals)

Or maybe the shape is more like this? http/fnp_killifish.tripod.com/killifish/redkilli8.jpg (ignore the color - this is just one of many multitudes of killifish species - if your fish looks like this I probably won't be able to help with identification but I can point you towards suitable sites you could search through)

Is there any chance you could get a photo of your fish?

 

[fish_fetish65]

the flat/flowing fins fish sound like long-finned rosey barbs

 

[Loko17]

Ok the orange ones are shaped like the first site I think, the fins arent exactly but the shape and tail are right, the second one does have an adipose fin and is flat like the first link, I would be able to get a picture of them but believe it or not my dad decided he ABSOLUTELY had to have the digital at work tomorrow and left with it. Also what medication do you recommend and would it be ok to medicate the whole tank because I dont have a hospital tank right now. Oh and the long flowey finned ones arent those rosey barbs, these fish are silver.

 

[sylvia]

Do you lvie in the UK? If so, a good med. to use is Interpet's treatment number 8 - 'Anti-finrot & fungus'. If that doesn't help and you see no improvement within a week (do lower the tank's temp. as well though), then try King British 'finrot and fungus control'. I've found that the interpet med. is extremely effective when it has an effect and also doesn't have any effect on biological filtration - but sometimes it doesn't work at all and in those instances I find the king british med. works quite well but may cause toruble with your water parameters so keep up with water changes.

With the unidentified fish, it sounds like the 2 orange ones are some kind of barb or danio - I'l see if I can find anything that's more likely to be the right one.

The second is probably a catfish if it's flat and has an adipose fin - but you didn't say whether it has 'whiskers' around its mouth area.

Whenever you can, get some pics - it'll be much easier that way

Do any of these rasboras look like your fish?
http/habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/f...sh/text/203.htm
http/www.thegoldfishbowl.co.uk/images/ar.../A-CYPR-678.jpg

Or maybe something like any of these cyprinids (rasboras, danios, barbs)?
http/www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/B...RasborasArt.htm

These are various barbs:
http/www.israquarium.co.il/Fish/Barbus/BarbusABC.html

As for the other unknown fish, for the time being I can only point you towards this site as there are just far too many possibilities: http/planetcatfish.com/ If you look around and spot anything that's similar to your fish, do let me know

 

[Loko17]

Aha, the orange ones are on the site with various barbs, they're the Puntius sachsii ones, as for the silver one it is absolutely not a catfish, i think its some sort of tetra, it doesnt have whiskers and when I said flat, if you look at it head on its like flat. Also I dont live in the UK but do you know any universal meds that would take care of it cause I live in the US. A site on the orange ones that I've determined are Gold Barbs. Here is a site on them http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_sachsi.php. 1 more fish to go

 

[sylvia]

Right - at elast we've got those down I'll add some pics for the tetra-type fish later but right now I have to go...

I just need to mention that the gold barbs will need to be moved into a larger tanka s they grow since they are rather actve fish and could potentialy become nippy if ristricted. Strictly speaking, they are also schooling fish so should be in a larger group - but leave them as is for the time being.

I don't know aboutt eh meds. but anything that says it treats finrot, columnaris or flexibacter can be used.

 

[Loko17]

Yes, the gold barbs are actually pretty old and have lived in this tank with actually more fish in the past. They are probably upwards of 3 years and have lived in this tank all the while. As for the meds I found a med that will work and I'm going out to pick it up today. Also I've been doing 50% water changes more often now and the nitrates appear to be manageable now, I dont know what happened last time I was doing many water changes and the nitrates were remaining high, Just to let you know the dwarf gourami is doing well and is still eating and appears to not be as stressed now that the nitrates are down, hopefully the medication will clear up his fin rot and he can live happily again, thank you for all of the help, now just to identify this last fish, oh and the gold barbs are probably the most peaceful fish in my aquarium as of now besides the dwarf gourami so I'm not worried about them being nippy. Thank you again.

 

[sylvia]

It's good to hear things are going well

Now for the last fish, I'd just searched and found all sorts of pics but my computer crashed lol - typical isn't it?

Anyway, I found this to compensate: http/www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/tetr2.htm are there any that look like yours?

Because your fish has an adipose fin and is not a catfish, it's almost deffinately a tetra. I have to ask though - is it transparent at all? (ie can you see any of its organs?) And what color are its fins? (eg: transparent or silver etc). Any color round the eyes?

Here are a efw specific ones to look at:
http/www.wphillips.com/fish/silver_hatchetfish.jpg - silver hatchetfish
http/www.interpet.gr/themata/ratses/fish...amond_tetra.jpg - diamond tetra
http/www.fishesnpets.net/gallery/tetra/blackwidow.jpg - black widow/black skirt tetras
http/www.fishesnpets.net/gallery/tetra/blackphatom.jpg - black phantom tetras (my favourite tetra species )
http/www.fishesnpets.net/gallery/tetra/xraytetras1.jpg - pristella/x-ray tetras
http/www.dogbreedinfo.com/images12/FishR...yAnimals035.JPG - red hook

...and if you haven't found your fish already, I'd bet on it being somewhere here:
http/www.fishbase.org/identification/spe...e=102&areacode=

 

[Loko17]

Thats it, the diamond tetra, thats it, mine is bigger but thats it. I knew it was that one by the long flowey fin at the top and the little red spot on the eye and the adipose fin. Then i went to look at my fish to see if the anal fin came all the way back and it does, thats it, thank you very much for helping me with identifying my fish and identifying the disease my dwarf had.