White Area in my Pearl Gourami

[FrankP]

I have 4 Pearl Gouramis in a 190l tank. One of them has a white area below the top fin. The top fin is also mostly missing. This fish is the smallest of the 4.


All of other other fish are unmarked and appear healthy.
Any suggestions?

Thanks

Frank

 

[sylvia]

Does the white mark look like it could be 'fungus' (either the actual fungus or bacterial) or might it be a scar or possibly ich? The fin should grow back in time as long as it does not become infected. I can't say what to do besides keeping the water as clean as possible unless you establish what the white mark is so you can treat it accordingly. Good luck with your fish - pearls are wonderful

 

[Fishist]

Is it pale or white?

I had a situation a couple of weeks ago with one of my dwarf neon blues.... he had some loss of colour in patches on various parts of his body including just under his fin. I treated this with an "all round" medication and it seemed to clear up. He was relatively new in the tank, so I'm not sure whether it was just stress or a problem, but he's doing very well now and is happy.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi FrankP

While it's hard for me to be sure without seeing a picture, or at least having more information about your fish an tank, I would take a chance and treat it for a bacterial infection.

Since you say your pearl is the smallest gourami in the tank, it is probably subjected to a certain amount of aggression from the others and the stress from this could have lowered its immune system and made it more apt to become ill. Further, the problems you describe are consistant with a bacterial infection (finrot).

If you had your location in your profile I could probably recommend some specific meds that you could use to treat it. But since your other fish are fine, do a big water change and bottom vacuuming and add some MelaFix. That won't bother the other fish and could well stop a bacterial infection at its early stage.

If the white spot turns red, you will definitely need to treat it with a stronger medicine. Also, take care that this fish gets his share of food.

Good luck and I hope he recovers soon.