moonlight gourami

[aleana]

hi,
i'm new to these forums, and so far reading through i havent found anything that can help me. what could be the problem with my moonlight gourami?

up until about a week ago he was fine, but then one morning he was all bloated as you can see above. he was also very red around the bases of his fins. i did a 25% water change and left him in the tank to see if it had any result. nothing changed tho - he was still active, eating fine, not swimming sideways etc.

having read through these forums i thought it might just be that he was constipated. so i took him out of the main tank and put him into a hospital tank. i cut down the amount of food and tried him on green peas - but he wouldnt eat them. other than being lonely (i think he's been fine in the hospital tank - still active, not swimming funny, definately not 'pineconey' etc.

however, in the last day he hasn't eaten anything. i check the parameters every morning and afternoon and everything is fine - ph, nitrates, ammonias etc. ive tried a dose of melafix for the past two days and that seems to have gotten rid of the red around the fins, but he is still very bloated.

does anyone have a suggestion about what i could try next? (its my brothers tank (he's overseas) and i really dont want to loose his favourite fish.....

heres the tank details
MAIN TANK: i think its a 200 litre (i know its not much bigger than that tho)
water changes every week and a half to 2 weeks (25% at a minimum)
fluval 204 filter
no chemicals or treatments
tank mates = 1 gold/ 1 blue gourami
2 silver sharks
3 clown loaches
2 bronze corey
2 dalmation mollies
1 brittlenose catfish
2 yellow tetras (dont know the exact type)
no new tank mates added.

HOSPITAL TANK: approx 23 litres
parameters and water checked/changed every morning and night
silentflo 2000 filter
only moonlight gourami

 

[tttnjfttt]

This does sound alot like constipation, especially because he is not pineconing. A second possiblity is a tumor, but I don't think that is the case here because of how fast this sprung up, and how symetric it is looking.

Here is a good article on constipation. It is talking specifically about bettas, but Gouramis are from the same genus as bettas (translation, they are very similar fish). http/www.petfish.net/constipation.htm

What are you feeding your fish, and how much? This is important because diet is often the cause of constipation.

 

[aleana]

tttnjfttt,
thanks for the link- its really helped am going to try the pea trick one more time. do u have any suggestions as to how long is too long to 'starve' a gourami?

the fish are getting just your typical tropical flake blend, with a serve of frozen blood worm every week or so. is that too often?
i never do more food than the whole tank of them can finish in 5mins at the maximum

 

[aleana]

help again plz?....
my gourami has now gotten so stressed out - i think from being in the smaller tank and by himself (he's approx 15cms long and the hospital tank is only 40cms long) - that ive had to put him back in my big tank.
he's a lot calmer in the bigger tank, but he is also making frequent trips to the surface to get air and blow bubbles through his gils. he also seems to gasping because of this. is this normal? what could be wrong?

 

[black angel]

It looks like a female moonlight. I would have said eggs, if you had said it happened over a few days/weeks but not overnight. All i can think of is constipation or dropsy.
you can get dropsy without pineconing

 

[tttnjfttt]

This could be wrong info, so keep that in mind. From what I know about gouramis, they are labrynth breathers. This means that they will also breathe air as well as through their gills.

Keep trying to get him to eat peas. I've also heard of daphnia (sp?) working. You can also try an epsom salt bath, and the directions for that are in the link that i originally posted