Dwarf Gourami's With Fungus

[Tom499]

Just got back from the local lfs, took water in for a check and the stats came out as follows:

pH: 8
KH: 40
GH: 50
NO2: 0
NO3: 20

The man said that high KH and GH is "normal", which I'm not sure about, the rest to me looked okay.

Basically, I have 3 dwarf gourami and a baby BN plec in a 12 gallon heavily planted tank. Been running for over 8 weeks, fish added after 6 weeks, when the water tests confirmed it was nitrate safe.

The 3 gourami were bought from a different fish store, and are the fish with the fungi growing 1st on their pelvic fins, which have now started to fall off, and now spreading over their eyes.

The fish are swimming okay, eating okay, but I'm sure this will change.

The little BN plec is looking fine with no sign of infection yet, eating well. He was bought from the shop I just had the water tested (and where all tests have been done).

The lfs man said that fungal infection has been brought on by the fish suffering from a primary problem of their mucus layer being broken down. He also said that dwarf gourami's are generally not very strong fish and are prone to such issues.

He only reccommended a water change, no isolation of any fish, or addition of meds.

This leaves me in no man's land. I've been doing water changes every few days since the addition of the fish to help them settle in, though this could be making it worse?

So I'm unsure what to do now.

I'm planning a larger tank for the BN, which I really dont want to die.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Tom

 

[WILDER]

Whats your ammonia reading.

when the water tests confirmed it was nitrate safe.
Think you mean nitrite.


I would add myxazin by waterlife or pimafix.

 

[Tom499]

Yes my bad, nitrite.

He didn't do an ammonia test. I don't have my own test kit because they do it for free.

I will look into it and look for myxazin.

Thankyou =)

 

[WILDER]

Buy some liquid test kits of your own. Not all lfs are to be trusted.
Good luck.

 

[Tom499]

Will there be the chance that the BN could be infected also?

And would I have to re think about ever adding other fish to that tank.

 

[JoolsA2]

I would add an anti-fungus medication witch can be found at most good Lps.

 

[Tom499]

Added medication last night.

It looked to have cleared up abit this morning till i realised I could only count 2 fish, and finally found the 3rd on the bottom under the filter, clearly dead.

THe snails were already munching away, so it was hard to see any symptons, but I think there must have been an underlying illness.

Fingers cross for the other 2 gourami's, the BN still looks fine.

 

[WILDER]

R.I.P.
What med are you using.

 

[Tom499]

Guy in the shop said they didn't stock myxazin because i didn't sell.

He recommended Aquarium Doctor Bacterial finrot treatement

To be fair the other 2 look to have cleared up abit.

Next time I'm sourcing my fish more carefully.

 

[pippoodle]

its quite rare for dwarf gouramis to recover from infections - so be prepared to lose all of them
dwarf gouramis are known to carry infections - if you do get anymore - quarentine them for 6 weeks before adding to the tank (unless the lfs can quarentine them for you) -

definately worth investing in a small quarentine tank

in the future i would recommend getting honey/red robin gouramis - friendlier , hardier and only slightly smaller - do well in mixed groups - honey and red robins are both the same fish just different colour varients

 

[Tom499]

Yeah the lfs man said those are much better species to keep.

A bad time to lose them really, I go back to university on sunday, so it may be just a lonely baby BN pleco in there till Christmas.

I thought of getting some tetras tomorrow, but I cant imagine it would do much good, and I wouldn't be about to deal with problems.

 

[pippoodle]

i would leave the tank with the BN in for now hun - dont add anything else for a few weeks until you know the tank is clear - then at christmas or one weekend in a few weeks (if possible) you could come back and add some more fish to the tank
If you were going to add neons these can get neon tetra disease aswell so i would go for something different maybe some rummynose tetras in a few weeks - these look great in a tank

have a great time at Uni