Please Help Diagnose The Issue With My Fish

[Nosnibor]

Hello everyone,

I have copy and pasted the information that you are after and I hope I manage to fulfil all the questions, here goes:

1. Water parameters. (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, temp', Hardness etc)
No2 - 0mg
Ph (4,5 - 9,0) - 7.5
NH3/4 - 0mg
No3 - under 20mg
Temp - 25 degrees

2. A full description of the fishes symptoms.
She is a female Sunset Gourami, she is constantly gasping and at the very top of the tank. Looking a little fat to me and not eating at all for the past 3 days. Have recently lost a Dutch Ram due to (I think) whitespot but not too sure, he was doing the same at the early stages before I saw white spots on his tail and fin. Becasue the sunset Gourami is all silver basically I can see any colour change, she is just fighting to stay at teh top all the time and is now pretty much hiding behind a piece of wood that reaches up high. I have been told that fish sometimes hide when they feel they are dying (so sad)!

3. How often you do water changes and how much.
Every Sunday night, about 80%.

4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water.
Since I was advised the Dutch Ram died of Whitespot I have been treating the tank with Protozin. I'm on the third day.

5. What tank mates are in the tank.
In my signature.

6. Tank size.
Juwel Vision 180 (180 litres).

7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish?
Only a Bamboo shrimp. This seems to have been when it all started. On Saturday (just gone) I added a Bamboo shrimp to join the current one and a piece of bog wood with a plant on it and placed it near the out flow lily pipe for them to filter from. We then did the partial water change on the Sunday. Not sure if it's something to do with the new stuff added or that I put the water back to quickly or what, I am so stumped and terrified at loosing another fish!

I will try and get a picture if she comes out and post it on here but PLEASE, if there is any information that I have missed and that you will need to diagnose the problem please just ask.

Should I do a water change even though I am only on day 3 of the Protozin treatment

Thank you

Martin

 

[DarkEntity]

Gasping is a sign of lack of oxygen in the water. White spot meds always reduce the O2 in the water, hence why you should always add aeriation while doing medical treatments.

 

[WILDER]

How bloated is she.
They can gasp with swim bladder and dropsy sadly usually means they are dying.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Sounds like the fish is plugged up. this can cause swim bladder prblems as a secondary effect. The most common cause of this is constipation and can be handled by dosing Epsom salt in the tank. The second most common cause is an internal infection. This can be treated with antibiotics. On sure sign of constipation is the fish stops pooping even before it stops eating.

If you have a hospital tank I would move the fish to it, dose Epsom (available at any pharmacy very cheaply) at the rate of 1 tablespoon/5 gals. I would also dose it with a good antibiotic such as erythromycin. If the fish is not pooping withing 24 hours, incrase the dose of epsom to 3 tablespoons/10 gals.

The H tank need not be cycled but it needs a heater and an air stone and, if available, I add a few fake plants to help make the patient feel less stressed. It should be bare bottom so you can see any poop, uneaten food etc. vacuum the tank at least daily and do a 25% wc every other day before dosing that days meds.

I am in the USA so i am not sure what antibiotics are available in the UK.

 

[TigerLotus]

Hi,

I cant help much on the diagnosing part. But I wonder if some of your issues come from doing 80% water changes once a week. That sounds like a lot. I've never heard of going over 50% water changes (and 50% is usually after medication treatment or when cycling with high ammonia and nitrites). The only thing I could suggest is to do less water changes, like 25% - 30% on Sunday instead of 80%. Except now since your treating with medication, follow what the bottle says. It will allow your beneficial bacteria to grow more. I could be way off base here but that's all I can offer.

Good Luck

 

[Nosnibor]

Thank you VERY much everyone for all your help and suggestions.

I will look in to it a lot more now and will drop the percentage of the weekly water change.

I will invest in to getting a Hospital tank now, the reaason I haven't so far is because all has been so well since I started, but I'm sure fish will always get ill at some stage eh....

Thanks again

Martin

 

[raptorrex]

all the mentioned reasons could cause your fish to gasp as you state.
when you treat for white spot, it is advised that you raise the temp, providing your fish can take it, to, well as high as you can. the bug you are after is only vulnerable to the meds when it is in it free swimming form. so to ensure that the meds work the treatment needs to be used, at least twice, and usually over a period of 5-7 days. large water changes are usually done a day or so after you medicate. s hospital tank will allow you to treat a single fish. however it is the tank that needs treating. if you treat the fish and put it back in an untreated tank,. its a fair bet the fish will become reinfected.