Dwarf Blue Gourami Bloated And White Growths And Glowlight Neon Tetra

[Mervin]

Hi everyone, I have 2 poorly fish. The gourami is the emergency as he was fine until 2 days ago, the glowlight has always been sick and it would be nice to save him but I am expecting to lose him. My 10 gallon tank recently cycled (about 3 weeks ago). I purchased 5 neon tetras, 6 glowlight tetras, a dwarf blue gourami and a couple of tiny cherry shrimp juviniles. I'm waiting for my 35 gallon to finish cycling so I can move them to a larger home and can then use this smaller tank as a permanent hospital tank.
 
Tank Inhabitants:
 
4 Cherry Shrimps
1 Khuli Loach
5 Neon Tetras
6 Glowlight Tetras
1 Dwarf Blue Gourami
Various live plants
Various free loading snails
 
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: About 12
 
The Dwarf Blue Gourami:
 
I got this guy at the same time as the tetras and he seemed fine for the first 2 weeks. 2 days ago he stopped eating and became bloated. I assumed I had overfed and he had become constipated. (he was always the first to get the food). I tried feeding a blanched pea but no one in the tank seems to like those. I went and got some epsom salts to relieve his constipation. I put about a gallon or so of the tank water into a large container, added a tablespoon of salts and put him in (and the tetra described below, I thought it may benefit him too). I let them swim about for 30 mins before returning them to their home. The tetra showed no signs of anything as usual, but the gourami did a massive 4 inch long poop, which seemed quite stringy and white. Today he looks even more bloated than before although it's hard to see in the pictures. I went out today to get some frozen blood worms and a couple more shrimps. When I got home I noticed he has what appears to be 2 small 1mm holes above his left eye (very hard to see), and a white growth on his side about 1-2mm in size. This growth was not there yesterday. He still wont eat a thing and is not being his usual self, normally he swims about everywhere and hangs around at about mid-level, but now he just hides in the top corners of the tank at a 45 degree angle (facing upwards).
 

 
The Glowlight Tetra:
 
When I got them home I realised I had made the rookie mistake of not watching which fish were taken from the tank as when I released them I noticed 1 of the glowlights was huge. He's very fat, white in colour, has big bulging eyes and breathes rapidly. I havn't seen him eat once in 2 weeks. He doesn't swim about or do anything, just stays in the same spot all day and isn't interested in anything. The scales on his belly are also slightly pineconing. He also doesn't appear to be able to close his mouth.
 
Heres a picture. It would be good if I could get a diagnosis for him as I would like to save him if possible. To be honest when I first saw him I thought he wouldn't last more than a day or two but as he's still here let's see what we can do for him!
 

 
 
 
Medicines I have at hand and could start today are:
 
Epsom Salts
Myxazin
Protozin
Octozin
 
I hope I don't have to use the Protozin as it says on the bottle that it is not safe for shrimps and snails. I would have to relocate them to a container which isn't heated (would that kill the shrimp?).
 
thanks for any help.

 

[This Old Spouse]

First off, your 10g is much too small for a gourami. He shows all the symptoms of dwarf gourami disease (DGD) and unfortunately there is no cure. It's probably best to euthanize him. We on the forum think it's likely from overbreeding. 
 
Not sure what's wrong with the glowlight, but if it's not eating and displaying all those symptoms, if I were you I would euthanize him as well. 
 
Do any other fish show any bad symptoms? Neons are another fish that are inbred so much they're fairly tricky to keep alive, especially in a new tank and one that's so small. They like to be in larger groups.

 

[Mervin]

Thanks for the reply, All the other fish show no ill signs. I just phoned the place I got them from and they said I can return them (i'll let them do the euthanizing, I can't bring myself to kill snails let alone a fish!). The growth on the gourami looks like it is spreading, its almost as if it's growing from under his scales and pushing the scales out.
 
Do you think it's worth while doing a course of Myxazin for the remaining fishes?

 

[This Old Spouse]

I generally don't medicate unless the fish are showing signs of a specific illness so I know what I'm treating. What I would do is remove the sick fish, then do a large 80-90% water change.
 
It's so sad about DGD. I lost 6 beautiful fish to it. 

 

[KirkyArcher]

Dwarf Gourami are probably the most greedy fish in my tank, and can quickly get bloated, ease way back on your feeding to once every other day, You could try adding regular table salt (try sourcing a type without caking agents and iodine, dose 1 teaspoon per gallon of water once a day for up to 3 days and go out and buy some Esha 2000 if it's available in your part of the world, you can still continue with the salt dosing while using this medication.

 
I also feared the worse when one of  the two I have showed symptoms, of Dwarf Gourami Disease, thank god I didn't panic and destroy him as he's now fit as a lop

 

 

[This Old Spouse]

I wouldn't ever use table salt, but aquarium salt, if I were to use it at all. But I think in this case you'd just be prolonging the inevitable with the DGD.

 

[Mervin]

I've taken them both back, the Dwarf Gourami wasn't looking too good, his symptoms seemed the be getting worse very quickly, the tetra was as oblivious as ever! I think he may have had dropsy but I have no idea what caused it as he was like that when I got him.
 
It's such a shame about the DGD, they are beautiful fishes, if only we could find a cure or breed them properly. I wanted him to be my centerpiece, maybe i'll try a killifish