Sick blue dwarf gourami??

[George&Ade]

I have 2 blue dwarf gouramis.
One slightly bigger than the other one and ive had them for about 7 weeks now.
Both of them seemed to be fine.Eating well,exploring the tank,swimming around well etc...
Unfortunatly,ive now noticed the smaller one doesnt seem to be "himself" anymore.(I call it "him"....not sure what sex it is)
He doesnt seem to be feeding anymore,just stays around the top of the tank taking in the occasional bit of air (not gulping)
From time to time,ive noticed a sort of "hair"..hanging from the bottom of this fish.
It seems to get longer,then dissappears.It isnt poo,cuz i noticed some of it as the fish swam away and managed to take it out and have a look at it.
Its a sort of "slimey trail"
He just seems to stay in the same spot all the time and the other one keeps going up to it to see if its ok and offering it comfort..(gonna start crying in a aminute)
None of my other fish seem to be showing any signs of distress like this one.
Be gratefull for any help please.

 

[George&Ade]

heres a picture of the poor fish

 

[gadazobe]

Sounds a bit like internal parasites or worms. Do you have a hospital tank that you can treat him in without having to treat the whole tank?

 

[George&Ade]

Hi Gadazobe
Unfortunatly i dont have a hospital tank
To be honest......that strand hanging down looks like a human hair (but i know it isnt)
Oh well....just have to hope he improves as time goes on.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Since you're without a hospital tank, perhaps you should consider treating the entire tank. You don't want a parasite to spread and wipe out your entire stock

 

[George&Ade]

Yep......maybe your right wuvmybetta.
Could i ask which remedy i might be able to use?
Im in the U.K. and i understand that a product by "interpet" is supposed to be one of the best.
Just found a leaflet from one of their products and it mentions a cure for "higher parasite forms" (e.g Anchor worm....Fish lice.....gill maggots and fish leeches)
The treatment is listed as being number "12" in their range.
Does anyone know if this may be a solution to this problem?

 

[wuvmybetta]

I've never tried interpet but I've heard nothing but good things about it. Gadazobe is from the UK and she'll know more about it. I'll give her a pm and she should be here shortly

 

[George&Ade]

O.K........thanks

 

[wuvmybetta]

Guess we missed her If I were in your shoes, I would use the anti-parasite treatment that they make. I searched around and read about it, supposedly it's a 5 day treatment and safe for entire tank treatments. If the interpet is not readily available,look for anything with sterazin in it.

 

[George&Ade]

O.K.
Ill try that.
Thanks very much for your help

 

[wuvmybetta]

Best of luck to ya, if you can find a cheapo ten gallon to treat in, that would be great!

 

[gadazobe]

Sorry that I missed you. Interpet do a great range of meds and they do have one for internal parasites. Most reputable lfs have a range of their products.

Personally, I'm a great believer in natural medicines and only medicate as a last resort. Whenever I have fishy health problems the first thing I do is a water change and then add a drop of pure tea tree oil for every 5 gallons of water and that normally does the trick.

 

[George&Ade]

I think regular water changes are a must as you suggest.
Could you tell me where i could get some of that "pure tea tree oil" please?

 

[gadazobe]

Any health food shop - I use Holland & Barrats.

 

[George&Ade]

O.K. Gadazobe.
Many thanks for your help.
Ill get some tomorrow.....do regular water changes......and fingers crossed.....everything will work out