Sick (Possibly Beaten Up) Dwarf Gourami

[Trenton]

Hey everybody, so yesterday me and my girlfriend were walking around in wal-mart when I decided I'd pop in to take a look at the fish since I was grabbing some food anyways. We saw a group of dwarf gourami in a tank, which I thought was unusual so I took a look. I found one who was kind of drifting about in the tank, Nose up being picked at by one of the mollies they had with it. I spoke to the employee working there and not to my surprise they hadn't done anything. So, quickly I brought it home and set it up in a makeshift quarantine tank I have made from a big plastic tub.

Tank size: Around ten gallons
pH: 8.0 (My local water is extremely ridiculous)
ammonia: 0.25-ish
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 10ppm-ish
kH:
gH:
tank temp: 78 F

Fish Symptoms:
- Laying at the bottom of the tank
- Not eating
- When he does swim, his movements are erratic and "ungraceful"
- No discoloration, infections, or parasites I can see

Volume and Frequency of water changes: I haven't changed it yet, but tomorrow im doing a 25% and plan to do one everyday

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: None

Tank inhabitants: Just my gourami

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): Nothing, its bare.

Exposure to chemicals: None (unless Wal-Mart decided they would)

I haven't tried anything drastic (Medicines, etc.) until I could get some more experienced fish keepers input on the subject, all help is appreciated. I just want the poor guy to make it. I've lowered the water level to almost his height to assist him in getting to the top to eat (which I've been feeding very sparingly in case he is bloated). However, even when I do feed he shows no interest. Also, I think he might have been attacked by the tank mates in wal-mart, since I saw the molly picking at him while he was floating around (maybe some parasite the other fish don't want?) also, his (I think) pelvic fins, the long thin ones, are completely destroyed, maybe a quarter of an inch or less on each. Please help..

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Dwarf Gouramis (Trichogaster lalius) have a couple of horrible diseases (the Iridovirus & Tuberculosis) that they carry and neither disease can be cured. The fish was unwell at the shop, which is why it was up by the surface being picked at by the molly.

If you paid for the fish I would return it and get a refund. If you don't want to do that, just keep the water really clean and see how it goes. A few floating plants will help the fish feel more secure.

You have alkaline water (pH above 7.0) and any ammonia in this water will be harmful to the fish. You should do a 75% water change each day until the ammonia is at 0. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If the fish is just stressed out then it should recover without any help from you. However, if it has the Iridovirus or TB then it will go downhill and eventually die.

As a general rule I do not recommend people buy dwarf gouramis because of these diseases. If you can get locally bred fish they should be fine, but any dwarf gourami from Asia will potentially carry the Iridovirus or TB and should be avoided at all cost.

 

[Trenton]

Yea, I read up about those last night. He still seems to be doing fine, I'm going to atleast try because I feel bad for the little guy, but if it gets to the point of where I think he has no chance of making it im going to have to put him down. But, lets hope it never comes to that... any suggestions on how to help him eat?

 

[Colin_T]

Live brineshrimp, daphnia or mosquito larvae will usually get fish to eat. If you don't have access to those foods, then just keep the water clean, have some floating plants in there for him to hide in, and offer a little bit of floating food once every couple of days. Remove uneaten food after a couple of minutes. If the fish is hungry it will eventually pick at the food.

Don't worry about the fish starving, then can last for weeks without food.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Dwarf Gouramis (Trichogaster lalius) have a couple of horrible diseases (the Iridovirus & Tuberculosis) that they carry and neither disease can be cured. The fish was unwell at the shop, which is why it was up by the surface being picked at by the molly.

If you paid for the fish I would return it and get a refund. If you don't want to do that, just keep the water really clean and see how it goes. A few floating plants will help the fish feel more secure.

You have alkaline water (pH above 7.0) and any ammonia in this water will be harmful to the fish. You should do a 75% water change each day until the ammonia is at 0. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If the fish is just stressed out then it should recover without any help from you. However, if it has the Iridovirus or TB then it will go downhill and eventually die.

As a general rule I do not recommend people buy dwarf gouramis because of these diseases. If you can get locally bred fish they should be fine, but any dwarf gourami from Asia will potentially carry the Iridovirus or TB and should be avoided at all cost.

Agree with Colin.

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