Red Dwarf Gourami Swelling Up

[BPH]

Hi,

Not just his belly, the whole fish. Tends to be floating around at the top of the tank most of the time but will happily swim around the tank in the middle and towards the bottom, so no flotation issues I don't think.

Any ideas are most welcome!

 

[philak]

Have it's scales got a pine cone like appearance (ie sticking out) from the swelling?

If so i'd say it's got a good chance of being dropsy and in my experience once Dwarf Gouramis spend a lot of time swimmimg at the surface, especially when bloated, they are gonners.

TBH as soon as i see Dwarf Gourami in the title these days i pretty much know what to expect when i read the rest. I'm sure there must be some people who have healthy stock of these fish but they do seem to be very prone to illness if you read these pages and, as i said, in my personal experience.

Good luck anyway!

 

[BPH]

Have it's scales got a pine cone like appearance (ie sticking out) from the swelling?

A little perhaps, but not noticeably. I had read up about gouramis and dropsy on here, but thought that just the belly swelled up.

I will wait and see what happens. Is it kinder to kill the fish (not that I could bring myself to do it!!) or just let them die naturally?

Thanks for your advice and comments though.

 

[philak]

It may not be dropsy, but if it is then you'll probably see the swelling worsen over the next few days. Advice i've often seen on here is to try feeding blanched peas in case it's an intestinal blockage causing the swelling , in which case the peas are supposed to help clear it.

As far as i know Dropsy makes the whole body swell though, not just the stomach. When my Gouramis had it ( i assume it was Dropsy) they ended up grossly swollen with normal sized heads perched on the front until the eyes then swelled. At that point i put them out of their obvious misery but yours isn't quite that far gone by the sound of it .

If Wilder sees your post he might be able to reccomend an anti internal bacterial medicine maybe if he agrees that it might be dropsy.

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
What do you feed the fish.
Any red streaking or red pin prick marks on the fish.
What does it look like when the fish goes to the toilet.
Is the fish eyes also bulging out, or look swollen.

Once scales stick out organ failure, last stage of dropsy.
All you can do is epson salt baths to help draw fluids out.
Bacterial med in issolation.