Dwarf gourami disease

[Mikayla]

Hello, please can you help me.
I have two dwarf Gouramis and one of them have swollen up like a balloon. I’ve tried giving him peas and I’ve also starved them for a couple of days (suggested by other threads) but nothing has seemed to work. So I think my gourami has the disease and he looks so uncomfortable. I just don’t know what to do. I know it’s contagious aswell so I’m so worried that my other gourami is going to get it. I’m in the process of setting up another bigger tank as well.
Please help me what should I do for my sick fish???

 

[Peepss]

can you please post a pic for us? I have lost a few Gouramis to iridovirus unfortunately. It is a sad sight and unfortunately due to inbreeding and over breeding of a beautiful fish.

Do you have a hospital tank set up? Or a second tank with an established filter?
What else is in your tank and how big is it?
What are your water parameters? They are very easily affected by this.
I would add your affected gourami to a hospital tank (if you have one set up) and add 1tsp/true gallon aquarium salt to the tank. Change the water at least 50% every other day.
Dose with melafix.
Continue to feed the gourami boiled peas (and be sure to remove excess food when he is done eating)
Hope this all works out for you

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Any chance of a picture and short 20 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

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Is the fish still eating?
Is the fish still pooping?
Does the fish have scales sticking out sideways from the body?

How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish?
How long has the fish looked fat?

 

[Mikayla]

can you please post a pic for us? I have lost a few Gouramis to iridovirus unfortunately. It is a sad sight and unfortunately due to inbreeding and over breeding of a beautiful fish.

Do you have a hospital tank set up? Or a second tank with an established filter?
What else is in your tank and how big is it?
What are your water parameters? They are very easily affected by this.
I would add your affected gourami to a hospital tank (if you have one set up) and add 1tsp/true gallon aquarium salt to the tank. Change the water at least 50% every other day.
Dose with melafix.
Continue to feed the gourami boiled peas (and be sure to remove excess food when he is done eating)
Hope this all works out for you

 

[Mikayla]

Unfortunately I lost my gourami over night.
Thank you for all your advice. I’m really sad about it. I had him for about two months. I’ve had my other gourami longer about 4 nearly 5.
I’m very new to owning tropical fish so if you have any advice for me please let me know.

My other gourami doesn’t look infected but I know the disease is contagious. Shall I use that treatment you recommended and just watch him for a few weeks.

Thank you again

 

[Colin_T]

How long has the fish looked fat? ​

Did the fish have scales sticking out sideways from the body?
How long has the tank been set up for?

If the fish got fat over a couple of days, it probably had an internal bacterial infection and these are impossible to treat due to the internal damage done.

If you ever lose a fish, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week. This will dilute any disease organisms in the water and will reduce the chance of the other fish getting sick from the same problem.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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Dwarf gouramis (Trichogaster lalius) and all their colour forms are riddled with disease and should not be kept until the Asian breeders clean their stock up. You are better off avoiding dwarf gourami and do not add any new gouramis (of any type) to that tank. If your current fish have the Iridovirus (swollen belly is not a symptom of this but the fish could still have it), the virus will infect any labyrinth fish (Betta or Gourami) that goes in that tank.

If the remaining gourami dies and you want more gouramis, flush the tank out and start again.

Do not add any new fish (of any type) for at least 2 and preferably 4 weeks. This will allow the tank to settle and if everyone is ok in a few weeks time, then add some more if you want.