Honey Gourami emergency!!

[Abbie Rockliffe]

Tank size: 240L
pH: 6.5
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 40
tank temp: 24 C

Help!! I've been on holiday for two weeks (neighbour has been popping over to feed and do a water change), done a quick health check on everybody and noticed this on the bottom of my honey gourami!! I have no idea what it is and am freaking out massively!

Behaviour wise he's acting normally, aggravating the snails and swimming about as usual. Aside from me being away there has been no change in decor, food or inhabitants.

Anyone seen anything like this before? I know the photos aren't great, I'll try to get some more when I can!

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Something has happened to the pelvic fins and they have mostly disappeared.

I have no idea what would cause the black but dark patches on fish is normally bruising and can be caused by chemical poisoning, an injury or an infection. The other fish seem ok so it might be an injury where the fish got attacked by something or caught on something. A bacterial or protozoan infection might have chewed up the pelvic fins but bacterial infections are normally red and protozoan infections normally show up as a white, cream or grey film over the body.

I would do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week and monitor the fish. If it is bruising it will heal up by itself over a few weeks. If it's bacterial or protozoan it will spread over the fish.

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Are you sure it's a honey dwarf gourami?
It looks a bit like a thick lip gourami. If it is a honey dwarf gourami it could be a male showing some colouration. They get black on the ventral (under) side of the body. Yours is not a normal colour form tho and it might be showing patches of black. However, the fact the pelvic fins have been damaged would indicate something else, most likely physical damage.

Monitor and see how it goes. Take pictures of it each day and compare them to the original pictures to see if the black is spreading.

 

[Jeremy180]

Agree with the large water change, 40ppm is a bit high for nitrates IMHO.
EDIT: if I recall correctly, a darkening abdomen is breeding coloration for honey gourami. Is there another one in the tank?