Very Sick Gourami

[Queen Bee]

Last week I had a powder blue gourami die from dropsy. Couple of days ago, I noticed my dwarf gourami has lost a lot of his colour. Yesterday he stayed at the bottom of the tank and was panting. He has these lumps on his side which are quite large compared to the other gourami. I have one other powder blue gourami who is showing signs of a lump. The lumps are not different colours, but just makes the fish look really fat.

I put the dwarf gourami in a hospital tank, taking a good look at him, I noticed that the top of his head down to his tail is a dark grey colour. No scales are protruding, no worms visable. His feelers in the front are barely stubs now. Not eatting this morning. He is just hanging at the top, looks dead, but isn't. (See pic) I had to unplug the filter in the hospital tank (Very bad I know) but he kept being tossed around by the out coming water. The intake of the filter kept sucking him back. Once he got unattached from the filter, the water would toss him around again.

Tank stats.

45 Gallon
ph 7.6
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10

I did add peat to the filter last week. Ph was at 8 now at 7.6. Temperature is in range. Tank is not over loaded. Not even close to the stocking limits. Do water changes every week at 25%

Any ideas as to what is up? Oops, meant to post in emergencies section. Don't know how to move it.

Reduced: 50% of original size [ 1024 x 768 ] - Click to view full image

 

[Gilli]

Most dwarf gouramis are infected by viral and bacterial diseases when purchased and a high percentage of them die within a few months. Theres not much you can do except treat with a broad range bacterial med and hope for the best.

Once the fish begin to get sick, death is more or less inevitable. The symptoms are typically:

Lethargy
Loss of appetite
Appearance of bloody patches (sores) on the skin
Bloating and swelling of the body

I dont buy them anymore - its too upsetting when you lose them.

 

[Queen Bee]

It really is upsetting. I've lost almost every dwarf I've bought in the last few months.

Just checked on him again. He is gone. These deaths happen too fast to do much about it.

 

[shane87]

iv had 4 dwarf gouramis and they all seemed to have died of a mystery death no signs of anything

 

[WILDER]

There a desease called dwarf gourami plague.
All you can do really is try an internal bacteria med.

Is it possible to load a pic up.
Any redness to the lumps.
Are the lumps hard looking, or soft like filled with fluid.
Do the lumps look smooth or like a cauliflower.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=153493

 

[Queen Bee]

There is no redness in the lumps. They are smooth. It is oval in shape, but no cauliflower. Fairly large and don't appear to inhibit the movement of the fish. The fish is lethargic. Now noticed a very similar lump on my powder blue gourami. The fish isn't moving much and using gills to breath. Not going to surface even when I stand in front of the tank which always sends them to the top.

 

[WILDER]

Keep the fish issolated as if the lumps burst they can infect the tank.
All you can do is try a bacterial med.

 

[Littlemonkey]

Some advice I was given was ask the shop how long have they had the dwarfs, if it's 6 months + you will have a dwarf that stands a better chance of surviving. I started out with dwarfs, but as you are finding, it was a tough and costly battle to keep them alive. I now have two moonlights and a Opaline.

 

[Queen Bee]

Thank you for the advice folks. I did buy this little guy when he was quite small. Learning the hard way. Will try the meds. Thanks

 

[WILDER]

Good Luck.