Pearl Gourami Curved Spine

[Moobop]

Hi I could really use some help, I’ve had my pearl gourami for about 6 months and a few days ago its spine started to hunch and he is having trouble swimming. He was swimming on its side with its tail down at the top of the tank. He is extremely discoloured and very skinny as he was not eating the past few weeks. Yesterday he started eating again and poop was normal brown. I did some research and it appears to either be swim bladder disease or fish TB? I tried to give the fish an epsom salt bath and add some general medication but it didn’t seem to do much. I don’t know if I should just euthanize it because it really looks like its struggling, any ideas?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If the fish is still eating and doing normal poop, then feed it 3-5 times per day for the next month and see how it goes.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or two for the next month to help keep the water clean from all the food.

----------------------------
If it stopped eating for a couple of weeks then it might have had an internal problem/ infection. This possibly popped the other day and caused the curved back and swim bladder problems.

Feed the fish and give it clean water and see how it goes over the next few days. If it has more difficulty swimming or staying buoyant, then euthanise it. But while the fish can still swim and eat and poop normally, let it live.

This is unlikely to be Tuberculosis (TB).

 

[Moobop]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If the fish is still eating and doing normal poop, then feed it 3-5 times per day for the next month and see how it goes.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or two for the next month to help keep the water clean from all the food.

----------------------------
If it stopped eating for a couple of weeks then it might have had an internal problem/ infection. This possibly popped the other day and caused the curved back and swim bladder problems.

Feed the fish and give it clean water and see how it goes over the next few days. If it has more difficulty swimming or staying buoyant, then euthanise it. But while the fish can still swim and eat and poop normally, let it live.

This is unlikely to be Tuberculosis (TB).

Alright thanks for the reply! I’ll monitor it and see how it goes