My Dwarf Gourami Has A Red Sore/tumour Like Growth - Help!

[Bec from Australia]

Hi!

I have had a fishtank up and running for 3 weeks - so please excuse my complete lack of knowledge about keeping fish. Anyway, I have had my Dwarf Gourami for 2 weeks and over the last couple of days he has developed a red sore/tumour like growth underneath his right eye (I don't really know the sex). It appears to be whitish around the edges and red in the middle. I think there is also a sore developing under his top fin (don't know correct term).

Please let me know if you have any advice or know what might be going on.

I don't know whether I am interpreting his behaviour correctly, but he seems to really enjoy being talked to. Any time he sees me come toward the tank, he races to the front of the tank and acts like a dog wagging it's tail! He is in a 30 Litre tank with 2 female guppies & 1 male guppies - and he has the control of the tank. He has even started chasing the guppies away from the front of the tank when I am talking to him. - If I am completely misinterpretting his behaviour, please let me know!!

Thanks, Bec

 

[sylvia]

Wellcome to the forum!!!

First of all, have you cycled this tank? If you don't know what that is, you haven't done it and you need to read through the links in my signature.

Then i suggest you return all your fish to your local fish store and start a fishless cycle. You can try to complete the cycle with the fish you have in there - but you need to do a water change every other day with de-chlorinated tap water to keep deadly ammonia and ntirite levels low. Keep in mind that, with having a sick gourami and all, it's very unlikely that any of your fish will survive if you decide to keep them.

Your tank, being 30 litres, is only about 8 gallons - so quite a small tank that is fully stocked with the 3 guppies and gourami you have in there already (so don't add anything else even if you do decide to not return the fish).

Your gourami is developing ulcers which result from an internal bacterial infection. The treatment for this would be an antibiotic (basically any med that says it's 'anti-internal bacteria'). However, with the tank probably still cycling, you won't be able to save the fish.

The reason the ulcers appeared to begin with is stress - mainly due to high ammonia/nitrite levels (ie: poor water quality) or maybe due to being in a small tank, or because of temperature fluctuations or simply due to the change in environment (since the fish has had to be moved from the supplier to the LFS to your tank - quite a traumatic ordeal for a little fish!). Dwarf gouramies are, however, already very weak immune system-wise so don't feel too bad about the situation.

As for the behaviour - the fish is unlikely to actualy be 'hearing' you speak. They can feel vibrations resulting from sound but this tends to be from louder sounds (which are not good for fish BTW - stressful again) or sounds that are quite low. However, there is a reason the gourami's coming forward - and that's because it has learned to associate you with food. When it sees you approach, it thinks food is coming and rushes forward. Actualy, that the fish still has his appetite is a good thing as it means its disease has not progressed too far. BUT, unless the tank is cycled, you can still try treating of course (and I would if I were you - just in case), the chances of recovery are slim.

BTW, the fish chasing your guppies around is not a good thing. It's an indication that he feels the guppies are intruding on his territory - and that can get messy if he decides he realy doesn't like them. It also places stress on both the gourami and the guppies - making them more susceptible to disease as well.

Now this could all seem overwhelming so basicaly, here is what I think you should do:
First, do a big water change. Make shure you are using a water conditioner/de-chlorinator to remove any chlorine from your tap water.
Decide whether you'll be keeping the fish or not. I know it may be difficult to let go - particularly of the sick gourami - but if your tank's not cycled, it'll stand a better chance at the LFS (and, if it's still there later when your tank's ready, you can always go and get it back).
Let me know whether the tank's cycled. If it is, great - you don't need to return the fish either . Buy yourself a test kit if you don't already - post your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. Temperature and pH are also useful to know.
read the links in my signature about cycling if you need to!
You should also buy yourself an anti-internal bacteria med. I don't know what's available in Australia unfortunately though - but it should say on the bottle anyway. Start treating but keep in mind that you'll need to do very regular (ie: every other day) water changes to keep water quality up to standard (if your tank's not cycled).
The last thing I think is crucial is to buy some more plants/ornaments to help provide your guppies with more hiding places and make your gourami feel more secure in his territory.

So, yeah, that's it. once you're through all these little hurdles, you'll love keeping fish (honestly ). Always feel free to ask about anything you're unsure of and good luck!

 

[Bec from Australia]

Hi Sylvia,

Thanks so much for your comprehensive advice, we really appreciate it!! Even though we have only had the fish a couple of weeks, we have got to know a bit about them and have got a bit attached. I hope we will be able to save them. In Australia I think fish shops normally give a 24hour guarantee on the fish, but after that they deem any illnesses or dead fish as the customer's problem.

Although we had done the water changes, dechlorinated the water and ensured the pH was at the correct level, we had no idea what 'cycling' the tank was. Although the guy at the fish shop was very nice and friendly, he didn;t mention anything about the cycling of the tank or amonia or nitrates in the water. We will get the antibiotics for Teddy (as I have named the Dward Gourami) tomorrow from the pet supply store. I hope the little fella will be ok, as he really is quite a character.

Thanks again for your really great advice, you seem to really know what you are talking about - do you do this professionally or have you done study in this area? We will let you know how we go with the fish,

Bec

 

[sylvia]

Hi again

When I reffered to returning the fish to your fish shop, I didn't mean to suggest you return them expecting your money abck - I meant to return them in order to save their lives. However, I udnerstand that you may be attached to them and hopefuly you can keep them alive without removing them from the tank.

The key right now is to change about 25% of your tank's water every other day. If you want them to survive, you MUST do this. And, of course, you also need to treat your dwarf gourami with the appropriate medication.

In terms of cycling, this is the most important thing you'll ever learn about while keeping fish. The second most important thing, in my opinion, is to never, ever trust your fish shop's workers for information because they rarely give sound advice and you should always, always research things for yourself, taking anything you're told at a shop wih several grains of salt . This forum is probably the best place to start doing this (so I'm glad to see you here and I hope you continue to frequent it).

I'll breifly explain the cycling process just so you udnerstand it and see why it's so important to change the water very frequently up until the cycle is complete.

Basically, fish produce waste. The waste contains ammonia. Ammonia is extremely poisonous to fish and builds up in the water over time. Rotting food/plant leaves also give off ammonia (that's why it's essential you do not over-feed). Luckily, there are some 'good' bacteria which grow in your filter's media (the sponges) and in the substrate (eg: gravel). These convert ammonia to nitrIte. NitrIte is alsod eadly but slightly less so. Thankfuly, there are other good bacteria that then use this ntirIte and produce nitrAte instead. NitrAte, far all intents and purposes, is harmless. However, it should be kept at low levels (that's why, ocne the cycle is complete, you need to do a weekly 25% water change).

During a cycle, you see ammonia concentrations increase, then the good bacteria start colonising your tank and ammonia begins to drop as they convert it to nitrIte - and thus nitrIte begins to increase. Finaly, the other good bacteria change this nitrIte to nitrAte so nitrIte levels drop and nitrAtes go up. To monitor all this, you need to buy a test kit. When ammonia and nitrIte are at 0 and nitrAtes are present, the tank is cycled.

I mentioned before that to keep the more harmless nitrAte levels under control, you need to do a weekly 25% water change (that's once the cycle is complete). You need to aim to keep ntirAte levels under 20ppm (20 parts per million - a test kit will measure this for you) . Also, the reason I keep emphasising the use of DE-CHLORINATED tap water is that the 'good bacteria' we've been talking about will die if put into contact with chlorine. Also, chlorine is an irritant as far as fish are concerned. Because chlorine kills the bacteria, you also need to make shure you never ever wash your filter's media (the sponge) in tap water as that's where most of the bacteria live. If you ever need to clean all the gunk out of it, use a bucket of water removed from the fish tank as this old tank water shouldn't contain any chlorine.

With fish in the tank, this can take several months because you need to ensure that ammonia and ntirIte levels are low to keep the fish alive (hence the regular water changes) and that means you are also effectively limmiting the good bacteria's 'food' so they grow slower. There is nothing you can do about this except finding the fish new homes and doing a fishless cycle.

A fishless cycle can take as little as 2 weeks and simply involves you adding fish food (which gives off ammonia remember as it rots) or pure ammonia (which you can buy for household cleaning) to the tank on a regular basis. You don't need to worry about changing water or anything until the very end. Once ammonia and nitrIte are at 0, nitrAtes can be removed by doing a 90% water change (as they'll be very high at this point) and then you can add all your fish straight after.

Anyway, don't worry about fishless cycling if you don't want to return the fish now but do buy a test kit and do the water changes I've been talking about every other day.

As for whether I do this professionaly, no I've been keeping fish for a good 9 or so years now though so I've accumulated a certain amount of information - some more useful than the rest I also read up on every fish I buy beforehand so I learn quite a bit that way and reading other people's posts on this forum is also surprisingly beneficial. As my main interest is in gouramies, I'd also say that they are the fish I know most about - whereas things like killifish and puffers are quite beyond me

Anyway, good luck with your fish. I'll warn you again that the gourami may well not survive and the guppies will suffer through the cycle - but it's worth trying anyway and, eventualy, things will work out.