Sick Gourami Help Please!

[dandom]

I have had two dwarf gourami's for about 6 weeks. The male has been looking rather docile for the last two days. Today he seemed to be having a poo but it just got longer and longer and rather stringy. That was about 3 hours ago and it is still hanging. He is now lying on the bottom of the tank, just coming up for air every now and then. He looks swollen too.
I did a 30% water change yesterday and all the stats are fine, ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrate 3 ph 7.4
Does this sound like a bacterial infection? and if so how can i treat it. The shops are closed now. Right now he doesn't look like he'll make it through the night. i don't have another tank so can't isolate him. We have 4 neon tetras and 4 zebra danio in there and they all look fine. He's our main man and we'd hate to lose him, especially the children.

 

[WILDER]

Sadly yes it does sound like a bacterial problem, once they lay on the gravel not good, usually hard to get them to recover when they do that.

If he's still eating you could try shelled peas and daphnia.

 

[dandom]

Sadly yes it does sound like a bacterial problem, once they lay on the gravel not good, usually hard to get them to recover when they do that.

If he's still eating you could try shelled peas and daphnia.

Sorry but i'm not well up on fish treatments. Dapnia i've never heard of and not sure what you mean by shelled peas.

 

[WILDER]

Daphnia is a water flea helps the fish digest it's food, shelled peas are good for constipation, sometimes when a fish has contipation it can show the same signs as a bacterial infection, so we usually say try the pea trick.
Cook frozen peas in boiling water for a few minutes, let cool down, pop out of shell, mush between fingers and add to the tank.

 

[dandom]

Daphnia is a water flea helps the fish digest it's food, shelled peas are good for constipation, sometimes when a fish has contipation it can show the same signs as a bacterial infection, so we usually say try the pea trick.
Cook frozen peas in boiling water for a few minutes, let cool down, pop out of shell, mush between fingers and add to the tank.

i'll give the peas a go now thanks

 

[dandom]

Daphnia is a water flea helps the fish digest it's food, shelled peas are good for constipation, sometimes when a fish has contipation it can show the same signs as a bacterial infection, so we usually say try the pea trick.
Cook frozen peas in boiling water for a few minutes, let cool down, pop out of shell, mush between fingers and add to the tank.

i'll give the peas a go now thanks

Our Gourami is still hanging on. He seemed to get a bit more lively last night but today he looks lifeless again but now he's hanging around at the surface, resting against the filter. I've tried the peas. The other fish seem to love them but i don't think he's eaten any. He looks really swollen. He still has a bit of 'poo' hanging from him. Does this sound more like constipation than bacteria? He's a beauty and we don't want to lose him. He seems to be fully grown. How old would that make him?

 

[WILDER]

No its sounds bacerial, if you issolate him you could try a bacterial med, but the chances of recovery are very thin sorry.

 

[pokagon55]

I don't know if this will help but I have a Grouami that was like your's and I treated him with Jungal Labs Internal Bacterial Meds. Just drop them in the tank. It worked for me. This sounds like Dropsy. I don't know if this wil help, but hope so.

Wilder is very knowledgable.

 

[steelhealr]

I agree with Wilder in that this looks bacterial. You could also add aquarium salt to the tank but I strongly advise you to keep a hospital tank in the home. Otherwise, you risk your neons and danios when you treat the entire system. You can keep one stored away when not in use and you can put one together very cheaply.

I had a gourami that I was able to save with Melafix, of all things. Isolation really makes it easier to treat and observe your fish. Have you found antibiotics at the lfs? Wish you luck treating it. SH

 

[pokagon55]

I agree with Wilder in that this looks bacterial. You could also add aquarium salt to the tank but I strongly advise you to keep a hospital tank in the home. Otherwise, you risk your neons and danios when you treat the entire system. You can keep one stored away when not in use and you can put one together very cheaply.

I had a gourami that I was able to save with Melafix, of all things. Isolation really makes it easier to treat and observe your fish. Have you found antibiotics at the lfs? Wish you luck treating it. SH

This sounds like it is internal, adding regular salt or aquruim salt will not help. If it is internal and is not dropsy then you could try epsom salt as this is used for bloating.

 

[steelhealr]

I disagree with Waterboy. Aquarium salt is not a curative, but a 'tonic' and stress reducer. Unless contraindicated specifically, I would add it during treatment for illness when a fish is under stress. SH