Urgent Help - Sick Fish

[big_mac1810]

Hi Guys. I have just come home to find my fish looking very worse for wear. It has a grey patch on it's flank and White growths around the mouth. I've never had a problem like this before and the tank has been running for about 3 months now (fish was transferred from my old tank and has always been very healthy and active). I send a picture to anyone who can help.

 

[fluttermoth]

What kind of fish is it, how big is your tank and what kind of filtration do you have?

How do you clean the tank and filter and when did you last do a water change (and how big was it)?

 

[big_mac1810]

Tank is 120 litre fluval studio. I have a fluval 206 external filter. Last water change was about 4 days ago and it was about 20 litres. No different to any water change I have ever done.
The sick fish is a full grown pearl gourami about 6cms long and otherwise healthy up until this point.

 

[fluttermoth]

How often do you do a water change? Do you hae any test kits for the water? How do you clean the filter?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get as much background info as possible

 

[big_mac1810]

Water change is normally same volume once per week. Filter is cleaned in the waste water. I do have test kits for the water. Nitrate varies between 5-10 ppm over the week, nitrite nil, ammonia nil (also have ammonia remover in the filter to be sure). Ph is stable and ever so slightly acidic at about 6.8.

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm sorry; tankmates?

It sounds like fungus. That's normally related to poor water quality, but yours is spot on, so we can rule that out. I'm thinking more that the fungus is a secondary infection on an injury, from another fish or from decor or the heater.

 

[big_mac1810]

Another Pearl if a similar size, 2 dwarf gouramis, 4 neons, 4 red eye tetras, 2 penquines, 4 bronze corys and a Pictus catfish.

Nit changes anything in the tank for ages. What can I do to stop it if is fungus? The pearl was my fish fish about 18 months ago and I'm quite shocked by how attached I am to it.

 

[fluttermoth]

You can use a proprietry fungus med from your LFS. I can't recommend a specific one, as I've been lucky enough not to have this problem myself. Could it be your two pearls are both males? That would explain the source of the injuries, as many fish fight be locking mouths.

 

[big_mac1810]

They've been in the same tank since they day I bought them and I've never seen they have a go at each other so can't imagine that's the cause. I'll hit the shop tomorrow. Thanks for hour help.

 

[fluttermoth]

It could be that they've reached sexual maturity and that's why they've started scrapping now, but I'm only theorising!