UPDATE: Fish died... 
Hopefully this wasn't contagious, whatever it was. Any words of advice still appreciated.
Hi,
It's my first post here, and unfortunately not a happy one. I have a sick fire (orange) honey gourami.
Tank size: 10 gallon, planted with variety of low light plants, some floating
pH: 7.4
ammonia:0
nitrite:0
nitrate:10
kH:unknown
gH:unknown
tank temp:76
Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Last week I noticed one of my female fire honey gourami had her tail nipped a little, but didn't seem bothered by it. Saturday, she was rocking back and forth a lot of the time, but at other times, she was swimming and eating as usual. Sunday morning, she didn't come out when I turned on the lights. I found her hiding under some java moss, rocking back and forth. She did eventually come out, and I noticed her tail appeared frayed. All day she pretty much stayed in one spot, rocking back and forth. Later in the day I noticed some red streaking on her body (under the scales, not on the surface), toward her tail. I don't have a hospital tank, so I decided to isolate her by putting her in a plastic container that I floated in the main tank. I didn't want her to be picked on by other fish (serpae and male gourami). She spent the night there, and this morning I let her out for a bit, but she can't move her tail anymore, only her side fins. She's not eating, just "standing up" on her tail. I put her back in the makeshift floating hospital to protect her.. Her dorsal and ventral fins are also clamped against her body and the red streak seems to be more like a line now, under the skin, maybe a blood vessel in the tail area?
Volume and Frequency of water changes:
Weekly 20%
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
Declorinator
Tank inhabitants:
1 neon tetra
2 otocynclus
3 fire honey gourami, 1 male and two females, including the patient
3 shrimps
snails
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
Tank is only a month and a half old
Exposure to chemicals:
none
I've been wanting to get the serpae out of the tank for a couple of weeks now. At first it was keeping to itself, but lately it's becoming more aggressive and although I've not seen it do any damage, I suspect he's been nipping at the other fish - the neon tetra, the male gourami and the sick female all have a few nips). Maybe the initial tail nip was the trigger for the disease of my gourami?
The male gourami has also become very territorial (often building bubble nests) and basically keeps the females from swimming around in his zone, which seems like most of the space. Although he doesn't bother them during feeding time and it's not constant, at times the females seem to cower from him on one side of the tank, behind some plants. They seem "nervous" around him. I tried changing the decor, moving things around, but it didn't help.
I wonder if the stress from the male gourami and the serpae was the cause of this? And is there anything I can do at this point?
Any help will be greatly appreciated..
Hopefully this wasn't contagious, whatever it was. Any words of advice still appreciated. Hi,
It's my first post here, and unfortunately not a happy one. I have a sick fire (orange) honey gourami.
Tank size: 10 gallon, planted with variety of low light plants, some floating
pH: 7.4
ammonia:0
nitrite:0
nitrate:10
kH:unknown
gH:unknown
tank temp:76
Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Last week I noticed one of my female fire honey gourami had her tail nipped a little, but didn't seem bothered by it. Saturday, she was rocking back and forth a lot of the time, but at other times, she was swimming and eating as usual. Sunday morning, she didn't come out when I turned on the lights. I found her hiding under some java moss, rocking back and forth. She did eventually come out, and I noticed her tail appeared frayed. All day she pretty much stayed in one spot, rocking back and forth. Later in the day I noticed some red streaking on her body (under the scales, not on the surface), toward her tail. I don't have a hospital tank, so I decided to isolate her by putting her in a plastic container that I floated in the main tank. I didn't want her to be picked on by other fish (serpae and male gourami). She spent the night there, and this morning I let her out for a bit, but she can't move her tail anymore, only her side fins. She's not eating, just "standing up" on her tail. I put her back in the makeshift floating hospital to protect her..
Her dorsal and ventral fins are also clamped against her body and the red streak seems to be more like a line now, under the skin, maybe a blood vessel in the tail area?Volume and Frequency of water changes:
Weekly 20%
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
Declorinator
Tank inhabitants:
1 neon tetra
2 otocynclus
3 fire honey gourami, 1 male and two females, including the patient
3 shrimps
snails
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
Tank is only a month and a half old
Exposure to chemicals:
none
I've been wanting to get the serpae out of the tank for a couple of weeks now. At first it was keeping to itself, but lately it's becoming more aggressive and although I've not seen it do any damage, I suspect he's been nipping at the other fish - the neon tetra, the male gourami and the sick female all have a few nips). Maybe the initial tail nip was the trigger for the disease of my gourami?
The male gourami has also become very territorial (often building bubble nests) and basically keeps the females from swimming around in his zone, which seems like most of the space. Although he doesn't bother them during feeding time and it's not constant, at times the females seem to cower from him on one side of the tank, behind some plants. They seem "nervous" around him. I tried changing the decor, moving things around, but it didn't help.
I wonder if the stress from the male gourami and the serpae was the cause of this? And is there anything I can do at this point?
Any help will be greatly appreciated..
