My Red Dwarf Gourami Is Sleeping On Its Side

[John_in_Tainan]

Seems very lethargic in the last week or so, seen some white poo coming from him several times. Water changes are frequent in a 38L community tank, several varieties of quite young livebearers {platys, mollies, swordtail, guppies} in the tank along with another Red Dwarf Gourami and a Pearl Gourami. Tonight, while checking on my breeding tank I was looking at the community tank and saw this guy laying flat on his side and struggling to get up, but he did and tried to look busy it seemed..but I can tell he's really tired. Figured it's night time, but he's been with us for more than 2 months and this is the first time I've seen him flat on his side and so worn out looking. I've put him in our second breeder box this time mounted inside the community tank so he can have a time-out .

He's been having bouts of white colored poo coming out lately. I've added some anti-parasite medication to the water {2gm per day for the past 4-5 days}.
He's a very active feeder and thought it was something with that going on with parasites.

I've been introducing them to bloodworms and tubafex worms lately. I treat the tank with the proper dechlorinator solution and ammonia breakdown treater, have my ammonia warning gauge hanging on the glass inside {it's fine in the yellow}..Did a VERY big water change tonight as the water was getting rather brown looking from a week of feeding with bloodworms and tubafex worms. Just wondering what should I do for the little guy..?

He's a real gem of a fish and would hate to lose him..

Any advice would be appreciated!

Regards

John in Tainan, Taiwan

 

[sylvia]

Welcome to the forum first of all

The first thing I have to ask is - is that 38 litres or 38 gallons long? If we're talking letres, it is far, far too small for your fish as it equates to a little over 9 gallons.

Next - how long have you had the tank set up? What are your actual ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings? The color of your metre means absolutely nothing to me. There are many such products on the market and many different test kits. Your ammonia and nitrIte must be at zero for your fish to be safe from poisoning.

If your water is getting brown from feeding, you are giving them far too much food. Reduce the amount significantly and reduce the live foods too if necessary.

Just how many of each of those fish you mentioned do you own?

It isn't normal for a gourami to be on its side regardless of how 'tired' you think it is. This is a definite sign of disease and he is, unfortunately, likely to die. If the problem is parasitic, you just need to continue treating and hope that he still has some slim chance of recovery. However, it would be wise to isolate him into a cycled (read the links in my signature) hospital tank to prevent them from spreading to the other tank inhabitants.

I should add that tubifex have been blamed quite often in the past for harbouring parasites/disease so it may be better to stop feeding those. Bloodworm, blackworm, daphnia, brine shrimp etc are fine though.

Any sign of bloating, pine-coning of scales, white marks, red streaks on body or fins, red/black/white edges to fins or anything else out of the ordinary? How are all the other fish doing?