Dwarf gourami looks on way out

[Country joe]

I have had my dwarf gourami for a month, and he has been doing good, yesterday was eating okay, but noticed today he is hiding amongst the plants and not feeding, I read they don't live long so I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I think I might not have him tomorrow. Apart from this behaviour he looks ok, no sign of any disease.

 

[MaloK]

They are prone to multiple problems, but when good, they live 4-6 years and I had some live up to 9 years.

Can you post pics of him ?

 

[Country joe]

 

[Country joe]

 

[Country joe]

 

[Colin_T]

What does its poop look like?

If it stopped eating and did a stringy white poop, it probably has an internal bacterial infection and is dead.

Try offering it some frozen or live food and see if it eats, if it doesn't, get ready to remove the body.

Monitor its breathing too. Fish with internal problems (infections, organ failure, etc) will breath more rapidly and quite often gasp at the surface or near a filter outlet.

 

[Country joe]

Well, as I expected was found dead this morning, I can't get over how quick it happened, the day before it was fine, no sign of disease, swimming and eating well, I really liked this Dwarf Gourami, but I doubt I would get another one, is their any other Gouramis of a similar size, that are hardier?

 

[Colin_T]

Most gouramis are better than the dwarf, which are heavily inbred and regularly infested with Fish TB and the Gourami Iridovirus. The Iridovirus kills them over a week or two so it wasn't that. It was probably an internal problem like organ failure which was possibly caused by TB.

Don't add any new fish to the tank for at least a month.

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Do the following to reduce the pathogens in the aquarium.
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 the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

 

[Country joe]

Most gouramis are better than the dwarf, which are heavily inbred and regularly infested with Fish TB and the Gourami Iridovirus. The Iridovirus kills them over a week or two so it wasn't that. It was probably an internal problem like organ failure which was possibly caused by TB.

Don't add any new fish to the tank for at least a month.

--------------------

Do the following to reduce the pathogens in the aquarium.
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 the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Thanks for that,but im going on holiday, this morning, so won't be able to carry this out, fingers crossed that the remaining fish will be okay. I did a 25% water change yesterday with a good gravel clean.

 

[Country joe]

Well I checked My tanks this morning before I went on holiday. I was worried all my fish were on the bottom, even the harlequins who are never on the bottom, and all fish did not look happy I had only time, to do a quick water test I tested ammonia and nitrites and they were good, but I fear something is wrong, there is nothing I could do as was booked to go on a weeks holiday, I dread what I will meet when I return, fingers crossed. My small tank is okay.

 

[Colin_T]

The temperature might have dropped, the filter might need a clean, the oxygen level could be low or the fish were still asleep.

 

[Fishfunn]

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Can you recommend a fish sponge to buy?

 

[Country joe]

The temperature might have dropped, the filter might need a clean, the oxygen level could be low or the fish were still asleep.

Hope they were asleep temp was 25 c, filter is new, tank was cycled u

 

[Country joe]

Hope they were asleep temp was 25 c, filter is new, tank was cycled using media from old filter, and bacteria in a pouch called Goop.

 

[Colin_T]

Can you recommend a fish sponge to buy?

I get mine from a supermarket in the washing up section. They have a yellow sponge on one side and green scourer on the back. I buy a 6 pack for $2.00.

You can use any sponge as long as it's free of soaps, chemicals and mould inhibiters. Generally the cheap sponges won't have additives, but the fancy more expensive ones will.

Before I use any new sponge, I wash it with warm soapy water. Use a soap that doesn't have any perfume on moisturiser in it. I just use a cheap non perfumed soap and wash the sponge a couple of times with soap and then rinse well.

I wash the sponge before using it to remove any dyes that might be in it. in some sponges the colour can run the first time they get wet so by washing in warm soapy water before its first use, I can remove anything like this and prevent it getting into the aquarium.