Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami

[MammaKitty]

I bought a Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami 2 weeks ago they told me to only purchase one because they only come in males and more than one will fight, is this true ?? and he also developed a red sore near his head so I was told it was Gourami disease (anyone ever heard of that) told to treat w/Kanamycin did that for 3 days in my 40 gal. The spot has not gotton worse but is now white and kinda fluffy, so I found that treating my 40 gal is a pain in the behind and decided to finally get a hospital tank 2.5 gal he is in there now he just started eating after a week and a 1/2 finally and will only eat brine shrimp.

Do you think he will recover ?
Is he lonely ?
Should I start the meds again ?

I have only had him for 13 days my lfs has a 14 day policy and did say they would take him back and give credit but I feel like I would be giving up on him. What should I do ?

 

[hargi22]

sorry to hear bout your fish, im no expert but i had a pair of dwarfs 1 male on female and they got the white lumps i treated for white spot which iT wasnt found out to late that it was a fungus infection.
so my guess is if it look s like little bits of cottonwool then its more then likly fungus

hope this helps

 

[Phantom Thief]

The red sore sounds like it may have been a wound that it got, which was then infected. Then after that, the fungus set in, thus the white, fluffy thing on it. If it's eating, that is a good sign, you shouldnt treat with an antibiotic, rather treat with a fungicide.

If he is looking better and you are confident you can help him recover, by all means keep him. If he appears to be in terrible shape and looks to be dying, i would advise you to return it.

And yes, more then 1 males will fight, but they will just divide the territory of the tank and then settle in, unlike bettas who will fight to the death.

P.T.

 

[MammaKitty]

Thank you for your replies, Hargi22 and Phantom Thief, Update on PBD Gourami (BIG BLUE) he is still eating and swimming also poping bubbles on top of the water. The sore does not seem worse or better, but I did put him back on the antibiotic last night. I will try that for a few days (4or 5) If he is no better then I will get the fungus stuff. I have been using salt also. Hoping for the best he is a cool fish and do not want to lose him, and I also decided to keep him obviously. I have a funny feeling mabey it is a heater burn(hoping) when he was in the 40 gal he stayed in the left corner of the tank by the heater, don;t know whats up with that either.

 

[Max Action]

I recently, briefly, had 2 powder blue dwarf gouramis. Although they both ate and such, and the other tank residents were/are fine, they both died within a week or two - after each developing a red sore near their butt. No fungus though.

Very pretty and interesting fish, but the guy at the store said they're increasingly inbred and have a lot of health problems.

 

[MammaKitty]

yes I have read alot up on them now and found they can be dificult because of the breeding. They told me at the pet store that they only came in males and I have been trying to find out if this is correct, if not, and if he makes it I would like to get him a girly to play with. But I will not put him with another male, everthing I have read said they will fight with each other. Did you ever fiqure out what the sores were ?

 

[Max Action]

Not for sure. I kind of thought they were wounds from biting at each other (they did get into it from time to time), but then they both died, so now I'm thinking they may have been a symptom of some kind of bacterial problem.

Mine were both males, too.

 

[sylvia]

Dwarf gourami males are the brightly colored ones. Females are dull silver-grey. Because of this, most LFSs choose not to stock females as the males are more in demand. I suppose that strictly speeking there are no powder blue females because only the males have the color but in reality, yes, there are females - it's just that they are rarely sold.