Sick golden gourami?

[eudielynn]

My little golden gourami was chewed up by his three larger tankmates (who immediately went back to the lfs). Most of the damage was to his anal fin. I noticed a little ick forming on the fin and I stuck him in the hospital tank with some maracyn and salt. I alternated treatment to days 1,3 & 5 per the instructions and did daily water changes with just salt on the days I did not treat. My hospital tank is 1 gal with no filter. I put 4 drops of maracyn and about 1/8 tsp salt in the tank. Now, the ick is gone, he seems to feel much better and he is swimming around being sociable just like he used to. The only thing is the two little "feeler" type fins that are under his "chin" look really rough. They are shorter than they were and the best way I can describe it is that he looks like he has split ends. The split part is white. He is eating everything I put in there, and seems to have really recovered from the ick well, but I wonder if I might have put too much salt/medicine in the hospital tank and "burned" his fins. Sorry I don't know the correct name for the little "feelers". Has anyone seen this before?

 

[Mr Miagi]

I definately havnt seen it before but what percent salt did you use?

 

[eudielynn]

Don't know about %. I put 1/8 teaspoon of aquarium salt in 1 gal. of declorinated water. He doesn't seem like it's bothering him. When I checked on him this morning he seemed like he was feeling fine. He swam to the front of the tank and ate like a pig.

 

[gaya]

hi eudielynn,

ime I wouldn't worry about it. I've noticed similar things with my gourami's feelers and nothing has ever come of it. As long as he's swimming and eating normally hopefully all will be well. Maybe as a precaution you could keep the water super clean for awhile just in case.

 

[eudielynn]

Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better. I am a fanatic about water changes. I have had very little illness with my fish and I am sure that has a lot to do with it. He seems like he feels better than he has in a week, so I'll just keep a close eye on him.

 

[eudielynn]

Update: My little golden is not doing too well. His pectoral fins look like they are almost gone. They look like two little pieces of thread hanging under his body. His other fins have started to deteriorate badly as well. I am guessing this is finrot. I still have him in the 1 gal unfiltered hospital tank with clean water and salt, but he finished his cycle of maracyn for the ich. I don't see any signs of the ich now, but his fins look awful. He can hardly swim. He has now developed some dark spots on his back. He is still eating, but not with the gusto he used to have, and he does not seem to be growing at all. He's only a few months old but the others I had gotten at the same time were almost twice his size before I sent them back to the LFS.

Does this sound like finrot? If so what is the best treatment?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. This is a really sweet little guy and I would hate to loose him.

 

[sylvia]

You need to move him to a larger tank ASAP. I hope this tank is heated as well... When you say his 'pectorals', do you mean the feelers? Those are 'ventral' or 'pelvic' fins (the pectorals are behind the gills) and less of a worry if those are the ones you are reffering to. You say though that all the fins are deteriorating... Is there a white or black edge to them? Either way, I suggest you move him to at least an empty 10 gallon and treat with an anti-bacterial med for the finrot. The fact that you say he hasn't grown much worries me though - are there any signs of an internal bacterial infection? Any bloating, lack of appetite, problems swimming etc? What about a parasitic infection? Again, bloating or problems swimming are signs but the most obvious would be any sign of stringy, white poo. I can't say what the black spots are but I'd think moving him to a larger tank and treating him for the finrot is a good start. I suspect he'll then need treating for an internal bacterial infection too but I can't say without more detail. Minimize stress as much as possible by keeping the lights out, providing floating cover (plastic plants suctioned to the side are best for hospital tanks), a dark bottom (just put a black piece of paper under the tank and keep it bare-bottom) and a ceramic pot to hide in. Then monitor water quality - it has to be perfect - and keep the temperature at around 78 deg F. Oh and if you don't have a 10 gallon hospital tank, you should get one, but you can use a bucket temporarily - just make sure don't forget to have a heater in and make sure there's some kind of cover or else he's liable to jump... It will also be harder to monitor his progress though.

 

[eudielynn]

Sylvia,

It is the "feeler's" I am talking about. Sorry, I looked at a picture to get the correct term and I guessed wrong.

In another post I explained that I came home from work one day and my husband surprised me by adding two male golden gouramis to my 20 gal tank, I already had a male and a female. Within a few days the others had attacked my smaller male and left him a mess. I took the other gouramis to the pet store and traded them in. But my little male developed ich shortly thereafter. I took him out, put him in a small bowl until I could get another tank and treated him with salt and maracyn. The ich disapperared and he was eating normally. He seemed to be doing well, but his feelers looked like they had developed "split ends." After I was sure the ich was gone, I put him back into the community tank. He did okay for a day or two and then started hiding. I noticed then that his fins had started to deteriorate so I moved him back into the small tank. He is moving around better now, but the fins look awful and as I said he is not growing.

I don't have another tank, and really don't have the space for a 10 gal on top of my 20 gal and my betta's 2 gal., but I do have the bucket I use for water changes and a spare heater. I can put him in there until I can get something bigger. I only use the 1 gal for hospital/quarantine.

There does seem to be a white edge on what is left of his fins. Other than the black spots on his back I can't see anything else unusual. Poo is normal sort of a reddish brown. He is still eating, but not swimming to the front of the tank like he used to and grabbing the food. He just waits for the food to come to him.

No bloating, the only problems swimming seem to be because of his fins being "eaten" away. He still manuevers around pretty good but just slowly.

I'll stop by the LFS and see what they have for finrot on the way home.

Thanks for the help. He is such a friendly little guy and would always come to the front of the tank like he was trying to talk to me. I would hate to lose him.