Dwarf Neon Gourami Issue - Sylvia Help

[Jozlyn]

Hmmm, that was an interesting article, which I will forward to my LFS as the owner has asked me for more information. I did a lot of searching a week or so ago and couldn't find anything that was written in English! Everything I found was written in "Science", which didn't mean a lot to me.

I wont be getting any more when this guy passes away, I'm sure I'll find something else that I like just as much.

He's still hanging in there, eating and swimming well, chasing the guppies occasionaly, but the tumour has probably doubled in size now.

It is also interesting that the article says
"A follow-up study, which has just been published by Richard Whittington and Jeffrey Go in the journal Aquaculture, has shown that the Dwarf gourami iridovirus can be spread from infected fish through the water"
I'm guessing that that means a full tank breakdown and disinfection to ensure that if I did get another healthy Dwarf Gourami that it didn't get the virus that's now in the water. There was nothing in the article tho about how long the virus can live without a host though.

*sighs* Why is it that the more you find out the more questions there are!

 

[nmonks]

Don't bank on cleaning the tank helping. For one thing, viruses are notoriously unpredictable in terms of surviving without a host. Also, cleaning doesn't really disinfect everything, which is why hospitals have to autoclave stuff that can potentially carry microbes and not just clean it. Even if you had a clean tank, the chances are the water in your tropical fish shop, their nets, their wholesalers's tanks etc. would have the virus so how would you stop it getting back in if you bought another dwarf gourami.

The simple answer is opt for something else immune (or at least resistant) to the virus. Colisa labiosa and Colisa fasciata are similar but far, far hardier than Colisa lala and not difficult to obtain.

Cheers, Neale

I'm guessing that that means a full tank breakdown and disinfection to ensure that if I did get another healthy Dwarf Gourami that it didn't get the virus that's now in the water. There was nothing in the article tho about how long the virus can live without a host though.

 

[SouthernCross]

I wont be getting any more when this guy passes away, I'm sure I'll find something else that I like just as much.

Hey Jozlyn. Don't know whether you saw my other thread or not - but I officially gave up on dwarfs and got myself a new pearl gourami instead. He's beautiful, I love him . So I recommend them if you're looking for an alternative! Unless of course your little dwarf surprises us all and pulls through for you, which I'm still hoping he does

 

[sylvia]

Can I just add that, while disinfection may not get rid of the virus, oftentimes the most obvious symptoms you associate with such diseases are actually down to secondary infections - and these are bacterial. Bacteria are killed by disinfecting. having said that, be prepaired to very, very thoroughly rinse the tank and do a fishless cycle if you do decide to dismantle it and start again from scratch.

 

[Jozlyn]

Yeah, Southern Cross I love my Gourami, but my LFS only has the Dwarfs, which means I'd have to order anything else, which then means it would be expensive! And given that we've had a fairly large financial issue recently, I can't afford to get another anyway. At the moment I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him that maybe he'll come through it. I'm guessing he wont tho and I'm sort of nervous about the idea of getting another even if it/they are a different species, that somehow I'll be unlucky and that the virus will cross over and kill them too.

Probably silly but I've gotten so attached to my fish that I hate the thought of doing anything that may hurt them in anyway.

I had one die during the night last night, I knew he was on the way out when I was watching him last night and I'm devestated, he was my first fish. I also have a Neon that's looking a bit dodgy too, I'm guessing it hasn't got long to live either. My husband thinks I'm nuts for getting upset, to him they're "just fish, buy another one" but once you start getting into them and researching them etc. they stop being "just fish".

Anyways that's life I guess

 

[SouthernCross]

Sorry to hear about your losses It's awful when you lose any pet (even fish, despite the attitudes of some people you mentioned!) you're attached to. I completely agree about when you become invested in them doing research, etc they become very important to you. Until I got my tropicals this year, before I'd kept some goldfish since I was little - but knowing what I know now about fish with all the research I had to do to learn how to keep tropicals (which never ends!), I've learnt so much and realised how many things I did wrong by my goldfish all those years (in terms of what they were living in, how often I cleaned them, etc) and I used to have a 'they're only fish' attitude towards them . I've since given the goldfish I still had away to a better home since I realised the home I'd been keeping them in was inappropriate. Hopefully they're happier. And I've learnt to be a much better fish-keeper . Went a bit off track, but yeah my point is agreeing with you - we become so invested in this fish learning how to care for them they become so important - its upsetting to lose them when you try so hard to do the best things for them.

Do you only have one LFS around you? Nearly every one that's fish-focused (not generic petstore) around here keeps a variety of different types of gouramis (pearl, gold, blue, kissing, etc), but sometimes I guess we're just limited by where we live.

Hope things all work out for you

 

[Jozlyn]

Do you only have one LFS around you? Nearly every one that's fish-focused (not generic petstore) around here keeps a variety of different types of gouramis (pearl, gold, blue, kissing, etc), but sometimes I guess we're just limited by where we live.

Hope things all work out for you

No I kind of have 3, the one I go to which is part of a plant nursery, the one I'm not keen on but have to go to get food for my BN Catfish and plants if I want them, which is part of a stockfeed outlet and the 3rd one which is also part of a stockfeed outlet, I've only been to once and will never go back to again after I saw the conditions she kept her fish in, absolutely deplorable.

The problem is I live in the country, to get to a dedicated fish store I have to drive quite close to Melbourne, which is around 400km's from here. Needless to say we don't go to or near Melbourne often but when we do ..................... look out fish shops! I can spend hours and hours looking, and looking and occasionaly buying things , I haven't bought any fish yet as I'm worried about the stress that such a long drive would put on them. Keeping them warm wouldn't be a problem, but it's a long ride for a fish in a bag or a jar.

 

[SouthernCross]

Ahh yeah, I know the stockfeed/bulk pet food warehouse kinda places you're talking about - there's a few around here that aren't so bad, but the only places I go to specialize exclusively in aquarium fish and supplies. Won't touch petshop store fish with a 10 foot pole.

Ahh 400k's outa Melbourne - I can see there'd be a few probs then! But you know what, you might be safe with fish if there was something you were really keen on, provided you ask them to inject lots of O2 in the bag. Last time I bought fish the guy asked me how far I had to go so he could adjust the O2 accordingly. He was telling me that there's a couple who come up from SYDNEY of all places (woulda thought they would have their pick of fish shops there!) nearly every week to buy fish at this particular store (who do have a good rep tho), so he puts lots of air in the bags so the fish will last the couple of hours to Sydney. You know, people send fish by mail, it probably is possible - but yeah I agree you might not wanna risk it with an expensive fish.

Anys, catch ya around

 

[Maximumbob]

a few random thoughts just popped into my head.

Can you not buy air pumps that fit onto a car cigarette lighter. I beleive they make them as emergency type pumps, or inflatable camping bed pumps, but i'm sure they could be tailored to deliver air to fishes.

You could make up a cool box and feed and air line into the bag/box in which to transport them. You could also buy a bunch of elodea or similar (cheap floating) stem plant and put it in the bag. The plant would soak up a lot of the ammonia etc during transport. Maybe its even possible to rig up a DIY filter Similar to this, with charcoal media to help keep the water clean and fishes happy.

Just a few thoughts... I live really close to my LFS so have not tried any of this BTW. Hopefully some more experienced auzzies can help you out.

***edit - just saw this on ebay - might be right up your street pump

 

[Biulu]

What people do here to transport fish (every week around a 7 hour drive) is to put them in large plastic bags with water and air inside coolboxes made out of this insulating white foamy stuff (here we call it unisel, but I do not know the Engish word for it). Then you fill up the coolbox with the same stuff to ensure that nothing can move inside the coolbox.

 

[Jozlyn]

What people do here to transport fish (every week around a 7 hour drive) is to put them in large plastic bags with water and air inside coolboxes made out of this insulating white foamy stuff (here we call it unisel, but I do not know the Engish word for it). Then you fill up the coolbox with the same stuff to ensure that nothing can move inside the coolbox.

Biulu - dunno about the rest of the world, but it sounds like you're talking about what we call polystyrene, maybe.


Maximumbob - the plants are a good idea I have heaps of elodea anyway.

So maybe a big sealed plastic container would be the go, with a mini air pump and the plants, inside a polystyrene box packed with a few hot bags! Sounds like it could work.

Thanks guys, as ever the resourcefulness of us fishkeepers shines through again!

 

[Biulu]

Biulu - dunno about the rest of the world, but it sounds like you're talking about what we call polystyrene, maybe.

[/quote]

Yes, you are right, it should be polystyrene. Unisel is the Mexican Spanish word.

Good luck with the fish transport!