Unknown disease on dwarf gourami

[Rook426]

Any help would be appreciated.

I've taken over a 110 gallon tank that was in very poor condition. I brought it up to spec amd gradually started introducing fish. I got 9 dwarf gourami in good health and spirit. After they had settled I did a 20% water change due to a fluctuation in water conditions. I heated the water to around the same temp before adding amd the new water was left overnight before adding. Everything seemed fine bit I noticed some pale small spots on one of the male fish. I readied myself for white spot but i have plecos and corys in there also so was casting around for a safe treatment. The fish continued acting fine, I noticed some heavy breathing when I first changed the water but that had stopped by next morning. They are still acting fine, the alpha male had a go at building an epic bubble nest. Today the affected fish has large pale areas, mainly on the bottom of the dorsal find and continuing onto the body. O found a safe white spot treatment amd was planning on doing this tomorrow as well as a water change as there has been a spike in no3. I will try amd take some pictures if needed
But o can't seem to find out what this is. Ah almost forgot no sign of itching from the fish bit I have noticed the same pale spots appearing on other gourami

 

[seangee]

Do you know if your tap water is treated with chlorine or chloramine? If the latter it is not enough to let it gas out and you will need to add dechlorinator.

 

[Colin_T]

Do not add medication until after we have seen pictures of the fish. Most disease and fish health problems normally occur due to poor water quality (ammonia or nitrite). Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH, and post the results on here along with pictures of the sick fish.

 

[Rook426]

 

[Rook426]

Well this is very upsetting. I did a test yesterday and noticed a spike in no3. This morning i have:
100 no3
10 no2
7d gh
6d kh
6.8 ph
0 cl2

That's another spike in no3 amd now no2.

 

[Rook426]

In this picture he has the white spots on his tail amd dorsal. They are very faint.

 

[seangee]

You need too do a big water change - say 80%. The NO3 is an issue, but NO2 is highly toxic to fish at any level. It MUST be 0.

 

[Rook426]

What would cause such a spike overnight like this?

 

[Colin_T]

If you washed the filter out when you cleaned the tank, that probably upset the bacteria in the filter and it will take a few days to settle down.

Most of the NO3 (nitrate) is actually from the NO2 (nitrite). Basically nitrate test kits also read nitrite and call it nitrate. So don't worry too much about the nitrate, but do worry about the nitrite. As mentioned by Seangee, do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate to reduce the nitrite. Monitor the ammonia & nitrite levels over the next few weeks and do a 75-80% water change any time you have an ammonia or nitrite reading.

Reduce the feeding to once a day or even every second day and see how things go.

---------------------------
In the first picture (post # 4), the gourami appears to have a cluster of small white dots on the side of the gill cover behind the eye. this looks more like a graze or bacterial infection. It is not red so I am thinking a graze, where the fish has panicked and run into something and scratched its face.

The second picture you posted (post # 6) I can't see anything on the fish. It might be excess mucous from the nitrite in the water. Fish naturally have a mucous coating over their body and if they are stressed from poor water quality of parasites, they produce more mucous and it can appear as cream, white or grey patches on their body and fins. Doing a big water change dilutes the nutrients and reduces the stress and the mucous is shed leaving the fish without the patches.

It could be something else but it does not look like it has a disease. I would monitor them and the water quality over the next few weeks. If there is any change for the worse, then take a bunch of pictures and view them on your computer. Pick out a couple that clearly show the problem, and post them on here. We can go from there.

 

[Rook426]

Thank you so much for the help. Ive just managed to take some better pictures of him.

 

[Colin_T]

It doesn't look like a disease but looks more like colouration. It could be stress colouration if the fish is arguing with another male.

What does concern me is the last picture you posted, which shows a male with the side of his face looking purplish and some pale pink bits under the eye. Is this the same fish or another fish because the colour around the face looks really bad.

Monitor them over the next few weeks and as long as they continue feeding and swimming about normally, I wouldn't worry too much. However, if they stop feeding or the colours change or spread, then post another picture.

 

[Rook426]

Water change done. Recheck of levels show both no2 and no3 reduced but still present. Ive added filter boosters.

 

[Colin_T]

Just do another water change tomorrow and each day until the ammonia and nitrite are 0. Keep the feeding down during that time and see how they go

 

[Rook426]

I think it might have been the lighting on his face making it look awful

 

[Colin_T]

If that is the same fish then it looks better in this latest picture