Is There Any Way To Save Him?

[Cooky_luvs]

I have a gold gourami that I rescued from the pet store. He was sick when I got him so he's been living in the medical 5 gallon tank. (not the best spot for him). I've been treating him with melafix pelafix, fin rot tabs, salt, ich medication, anything I can think of! Not all at the same time of course, he's been sick for over 2 months About 3 weeks ago I thought he was finally getting better, his fins started re-growing and he just looked better. Then as soon as things started to go good other things went wrong, he got ich, which now is gone, but immediately after his new fin growth started falling off in jagged form. (looks like something bit him but that's impossible, he's alone). Can anyone give me advice on what to do. I've been trying so hard to save him but it seems to be a losing battle

Here's his pics, not the best quality but you can see his poor condition.

P.S. If I can save him he's going to live with my friend and her tetras in a 29 gallon.

 

[WILDER]

Well using all them meds on him wouldn't have helped, be sure before you add a med that you no why you are putting it in.
How long has he been off the meds now, you might need a bacterial med for the finrot.

Not the writer of this information.

Fin Rot



Symptoms:

Fish may have deteriorating fins, often with red or white edges. Secondary Fungal infections often occur.



Cause:

Bacterial infection caused by Aeromonas and/or Pseudomonas bacteria often precipitated by poor water quality, low water temperatures, or a combination of both.



Treatment:

You will first want to determine the specific cause of the illness, so check your water’s quality Ammonia, Nitrite, pH, and Nitrate levels as well as the temperature. Be sure to provide optimal water conditions and the correct water temperature for the species of fish you are keeping. Treat with Kanacyn, Tetracycline, Furacyn, Nitrofura-G or Penicillin. Basically, you want an antibiotic specific for Aeromonas and Pseudomonas bacteria. The use of a medicated food is also wise. Treat the fish in isolation (i.e., quarantine tank) if only one fish is sick. If not, the whole tank should be treated. In either case, water conditions must be improved and proper temperature maintained for all fish. Adding salt to the water may be helpful.

The success rate for treating Fin Rot is good providing the illness is caught early and water conditions are kept optimal. Left untreated this infection can be deadly. Early treatment is essential! Once treated, fin tissue lost to this illness will grow back providing the fin rays and/or fin bases have not been damaged.

 

[sylvia]

I agree with the above - things like melafix and pimafix are practicaly useless unless you know exactly what you're using them for and ich meds only treat ich. Salt is also pretty useless unless you know what you're doing.

Because of the obvious fin damage, I would think treating for finrot is the right way to go - but I see no black or white edges to indicate a bacterial infection except for a slightly thicker edge to the tail.

What temperature is the water at?
Which country do you live in (in order to see what meds. are available to you)?

Regardless of how you treat, you cannot expect full recovery over-night. You need to stick to the medication. From what I see in those pictures (no way of seeing behaviour - how is it eating for example?), finrot is the only obvious issue and I'd treat with an anti-bacterial/finrot/fungus med. that'll kill flexibacter (columnaris) and (prefferably) aeromonas. I'd also strongly advise you to do daily water changes (small ones are fine) with de-chlorinated water and you should also lower the temperature in the tank so that it's below 75 deg F. This'll slow the infection's spread.

Without certainty, I can also warn you that the fish may be suffering from itnernal bacterial infections as well. For the time being, there's nothing to imply this is deffinately the case but keep it in mind if any new symptoms appear and treat with a strong antibiotic as soon as they might do so.

 

[Cooky_luvs]

Melafix says it's for external injuries and infections, inlcuding fin rot and body fungus and has worked for a sick betta w/ fin rot before. I tried pimafix when nothing got better (incase it was an internal illness) and that seemed to do the trick. If another medication is better then please let me know. Right now his tank temp is at 75 and he gets daily (sometimes every 2 days when busy) water changes. I've been working hard to get this guy better and as mentioned he started to re-grow his fins but he declined quickly again. When he was on the mend i stopped medications after a week or so and kept up with the water changes but then caught ich. While treating the ich (which is now gone) the fin rot returned. So I tried fin rot tabs (forget the brand), once I ran out of those I tried Pimafix again. Now i'm stuck as nothing is improving.

P.S. As far as appetite it's a voracious as any gourami, no changes there. Also I live in NJ usa so most meds are easily available.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Cooky_luvs

I would start him on Tetracycline or one of the other antibiotics. It's good for bacterial infections. Once you start, be certain to continue for the full course as recommended in the directions. This is very important. If your tank is cycled, you don't need daily water changes, so slow down and just do one every few days while you are giving the medication.

Another possible medicine is Maracyn 1 in combination with Maracyn 2. Antibiotics are absorbed throught the skin, so they will treat all infections whether internal or external.

MelaFix is a very mild antibacterial and will sometimes work, especially if you catch the problem at the very beginning. If it is going to be effective it will usually show results within a day or two. If not, don't waste more time, but do a water change and move on up to a stronger medicine.

Now, since I don't know just what you have done about the ich, let me mention that the life cycle of ich takes a while to complete so that you are totally rid of it. If you have stopped treatment before then, there is a chance it will come back. I would suggest you look into this and try to calculate what to expect with it.

Gouramis are tough fish and don't give up easily, and as long as he is still eating well he has a good chance of pulling through. Best of luck with this.

 

[Cooky_luvs]

I'll try tetracycline, Maracyn was the fin rot tab I tried that didn't work Also i'm pretty sure the ich has passed it's been about almost 2 weeks since the cysts dissapeared, the day they left (or burst) i added more ich medication to kill the bacteria. Thank you for the advice, I'll keep trying, I'm hoping one day I can see this little guy in top condition, I hate what some pet shops do to their fish. I found this guy in a tiny pet store that had a baaad fish section, he was the best looking one in the gourami tank believe it or not.

~Danielle

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Cooky_luvs

Since there are many kinds and strains of bacteria, and since we have no way of knowing just which one has infected the fish, I usually recommend using Maracyn 1 and Maracyn 2 in combination. This way the fish are treated for most of them at the same time.

It's even possible to run into a strain of bacteria that are resistant to certain antibiotics. If this happens, try another one. The important thing is to complete a full course of one before changing to another. This is to lessen the chance of some of the bacteria remaining and mutating into strains that are resistant to the medicine you just used.

 

[Cooky_luvs]

The poor guy didn't make it I started tetracycline about a week ago but he still declined. Towards the end he got baad. It looked like he had dropsy in his tail and he turned white almost 2 days before he died. Poor fish had something bad. Wish I coulda saved him.

~Danielle

 

[WILDER]

Sorry, R.I.P.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Sorry to hear that. He did look very thin in those pics so you were fighting a losing battle. RIP lil fella.
Hugs,
P.