HJSmith
New Member
Hi, please can you help. I have noticed white marks on my gourami. No other fish in the tank have no marks on them. Please can someone advise of what it might be and how to treat?
Many thanks
Many thanks
What is wrong with my Gourami?
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HJSmith
New Member
Thank you Colin_T for your response.
We have had the 450l tank about a year. We purchased the tank which had been established for at least a year and had a complete set up. We have two golden gourami’s, two blue and one pearl gourami. I have not witness any particular behaviour that would cause battle scars but obviously I am not watching the tank all the time.
We also have two varieties of rainbows, black widow tetras, cardinal tetras, black tetras, zebra danios and a pleco. All of the fish were together when we purchased the second hand tank. The marks have only appeared very recently.
We have had the 450l tank about a year. We purchased the tank which had been established for at least a year and had a complete set up. We have two golden gourami’s, two blue and one pearl gourami. I have not witness any particular behaviour that would cause battle scars but obviously I am not watching the tank all the time.
We also have two varieties of rainbows, black widow tetras, cardinal tetras, black tetras, zebra danios and a pleco. All of the fish were together when we purchased the second hand tank. The marks have only appeared very recently.
WhistlingBadger
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I agree it looks like fighting injuries. What kind of "blue gouramis"? Is your pearl male or female?
.Kai
New Member
I'd say you have too many different types of gouramis. Usually, different species of gouramis will be hostile to each other.
These are typical of Gourami war wounds; they usually heal on their own if your tank is clean enough
Can you post pictures of the other fish?
How many of each species of rainbowfish, danio and tetra do you have?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
--------------------
If a fish ever gets sick, do the following things:
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.
Monitor the fish over the next few days and if it gets worse, post more pictures and add some salt. You can probably add salt now if you like. Salt can help reduce the chance of infection and treats minor bacterial and fungal infections.
--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
How many of each species of rainbowfish, danio and tetra do you have?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
--------------------
If a fish ever gets sick, do the following things:
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.
Monitor the fish over the next few days and if it gets worse, post more pictures and add some salt. You can probably add salt now if you like. Salt can help reduce the chance of infection and treats minor bacterial and fungal infections.
--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
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