gourami has parasite / fungal infection - too late to help him?

[QueenBee]

i have had 12 neons and a powder blue gourami in a 65l tank since Oct / November.. all going well, i did notice the gourami had 'dents' over his body, but no sign of illness, swimming fine, not rapid breathing, acting normal, eating, and the dents didn't get deeper, but i kept an eye on him. started to think maybe they get dents as they age? as he was otherwise well - this was over the last few months.

the water parameters have been normal, no ammonia, no nitrates, and i do a 25% water change when the nitrates get up to 20 (my water supply has nitrates in it, so it wont be zero, but i can get them down to about 5.

when i noticed some of the neons had what looked like fungal patches, some on their tails, some on their noses... i treated the neons with the white growth in a separate tank... (blue wunder tonic) it didn't get worse, didn't get better, they continued to eat, no other signs of ill health, I put them back in with the others after a couple of weeks, and eventually treated the whole tank, with the gourami in it. this was back near the start of the year, before covid `19!

the dents in the goruami stated the same, hard to tell if there were more, i kept a close eye on him. checking for fin rot, or 'hole in the head' etc.

few weeks ago, i noticed more of the neons had growths ... some quite big, they wernt like cotton wool, so didn't think they were fungal. but, to save teh rest of the neons, and to save my gourami, i euthanized 9 of the 12 of them ( i felt so bad!!!!) anyway, last week i noticed one of the three remaining neons has the tiniest white growth thing on the front of its nose ... sigh.

(i should add my whole country has been in full lockdown for 7 weeks, and 2moro we open back up, so i haven't been able to just go down to the pet store and buy meds to treat my fish)

today - and i don't know how i didn't notice it in the past few days i saw he had a cotton like growth growth under one of his front fins ... and it looked like a larvae of some kind hanging out the middle of it!!!! i dont have good eyesight, even with glasses, but it LOOKED like a worm of some sort, but with the head out of the body?!!!!! maybe it was just the tail, i dont know, it was GROSS. the worm thing was short and fat, at least 0.3-0.4mm.

i caught it, couldn't see what the thing in its side wa,s but pulled it out / off - it was osft, and cam apart, kinda like a slug? couldn't see or find a 'head' or what looked like a head of a parasite, so maybe i was seeing things there is a dent left behind, but it isn't bleeding, doesn't look like there is anything left stuck inside him...

so now what???

can i treat the tank with salt? put him in a salt bath for 10 mins? or use the blue wonder again? can you put salt in a tank with a gourami in it?

my first instinct was to euthanize him, cos it looked so bad, but now its out, and he doesn't have a huge crater in the side of him, there might be hope?

he also has a hole in the middle of his tail, all the way through... so possibly fin rot? he had been doing so well, no signs of illness, other than the dent things (which might still be normal, and nothing to do with whats wrong with him now?)

TIA

 

[QueenBee]

When dont my water change, i can see hundreds and hundreds of what i think must be small white eggs in the water.

 

[Derekshatch]

I would try salt with the gourami first.

 

[trash.binh91]

I'm not the best fish person, but can we have pictures?

I think that @Colin_T and @Byron can help you, and maybe @Deanasue as well.

 

[Derekshatch]

Also how big is the tank and how often do you do water changes. Because water quality is most likely the problem with the fish.

 

[Colin_T]

A picture tells a thousand words and if you had asked for help when this first started you probably wouldn't have euthanised the others.

I can't give a diagnosis without seeing the fish so post pictures asap.

In future, don't add chemicals unless you know what you are treating.

The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth a read when you have some spare time.

What to do if your fish gets sick

If your fish ever looks sick or unwell, then the following steps might help. Test the Water and Clean the Tank. Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH and write the results down in numbers. Check it for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) too if you can, but...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Byron]

Colin and other members will help you with the disease. I am just going to respond on this particular item:

the water parameters have been normal, no ammonia, no nitrates, and i do a 25% water change when the nitrates get up to 20 (my water supply has nitrates in it, so it wont be zero, but i can get them down to about 5.

Fish are harmed by nitrates, though not as rapidly as they are by ammonia or nitrite. Keeping nitrates as low as absolutely possible on a permanent basis is the aim. As you have nitrate in the tap water, you have a bit of a disadvantage; but if you can see 5 ppm regardless of that, then you want to aim for 5-10 ppm and never allow it to go any higher.

It is easy to control nitrates occurring in the aquarium. Not overstocking, not over feeding, keeping the filter clean, vacuuming into the open areas of the substrate, and substantial regular partial water changes. Live plants, especially fast growing species (floating plants are excellent here) also help.

Water changes should be regular (once a week is minimum), and substantial; change 60-70% of the water. Condition the fresh water. This will provide the basis for a more stable biological system.

Nitrates should never be higher from day to day or week to week between water changes. My tanks have beeen in the 0 to 5 ppm range using the API test for more than ten years now, with sporadic tests. That is what you want to see, consistency and as low as possible. If you can achieve this in the 5-10 ppm range, you will be doing your fish a big favour.