Is It On Its Way Out?

[venom2112]

yesterday i noticed that 1 of my blue dwarfs seemed to be swimming at a angle, all the other fish were having a pop at it as well (even the other gouramies) this is unusual as i only have 1 pain in the butt in the tank ( mollie) this morn had a look and looks as though its swollen around the gills on both sides, a bit listless, any ideas??

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if any fish is poorly it's natural for the other fish to pick on it, this is another reason why hospital tanks are a good idea. if you can isolate the fish then you should

 

[venom2112]

thanks for reply, i didn't know about hospital tanks to be honest until i came on here, gonna have to get one , thanks again

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if you've no hospital tank consider some sort of diy tank divider, you know the plastic condensation trays you can get for just a few pounds, get one of those and poke loads of pin prick holes in it and it can be used to section off some of your tank, very cheap and easy for a short term solution. then you can give your poorly fish a little bit of peace. you'll still have to treat the whole tank for whatever the problem is but at least he won't be getting picked on.

 

[venom2112]

yes, will have to do something, still don't know the prob though!

 

[nmonks]

Sounds a lot like Dwarf Gourami Disease. Have a read of the pinned topic here. This disease is essentially a pandemic now, and I refuse to recommend people keep dwarf gouramis unless they obtain home-bred specimens from a local breeder. Because Dwarf Gourami Disease is essentially impossible to cure, once it appears, the fish eventually dies. It is highly contagious. One form is caused by a virus (so cannot be treated with antibiotics) and the other is bacteria (only treatable with prescription antibiotic drugs). Nothing else works.

When the fish dies, which it will within a few weeks, do not try and keep dwarf gouramis again. Once the aquarium is "infected", you can only clean in by sterilising it, and that will kill the filter bacteria. Your only option is to avoid dwarf gouramis and concentrate on better species of gourami, such as thick-lipped and banded gouramis, which look very similar but are orders of magnitude more robust.

Cheers, Neale

yesterday i noticed that 1 of my blue dwarfs seemed to be swimming at a angle, all the other fish were having a pop at it as well (even the other gouramies) this is unusual as i only have 1 pain in the butt in the tank ( mollie) this morn had a look and looks as though its swollen around the gills on both sides, a bit listless, any ideas??

 

[venom2112]

thanks for the helpfull info m8, unfortunately its to late now as it has died

 

[Maximumbob]

thanks for the helpfull info m8, unfortunately its to late now as it has died

I think we have all been there with dwarf gouramis.. sad but true. I will never buy them from a LFS again

 

[Biulu]

thanks for the helpfull info m8, unfortunately its to late now as it has died

I think we have all been there with dwarf gouramis.. sad but true. I will never buy them from a LFS again

Mine has had an ulcer for almost 3 months now, and is doing fine. I was lucky to discover it at an early stage and have been treating him since in a tank on his own. My other 2 dwarfs are doing fine (from the same store). It was really a matter of stress, with the patient being the lowest in the hierarchy. the other 2 are fine, and I have been having them for 9 months now.

So, I do not completely agree that you should avoid dwarfs. Just make sure you keep them under the right conditions in a stress free environment.