What to do with poorly fish

[Sgooosh]

Hello, I have this small weak pearl gourami female that is currently in my quarantine tank. Whenever I add her back to the main tank, she always gets nipped and then gets fin rot. I have found that everything from baby platies to full grown pearl gouramis nip her. I'm wondering if I can just keep her in the small tank by herself forever?
Qt is 10 gallons, lightly planted
I do not want to surrender her to an LFS because she will definitely have a worse fate.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Fin rot is usually always a symptom connected with poor water quality, increasing your water changes should help with that. I've seen pearl gouramis get as big as 4 inches (10 cm) so I'd personally be reluctant to keep it in 10 gallons

 

[GaryE]

Fish are like birds. If they identify weakness, they kill it. So if your gourami is attacked like that, she needs to live alone.

Fin rot is an almost mythical disease in clean tanks, so something is wrong in your system. It's generally a disease of overstocking with too small or infrequent water changes. It can also be misdiagnosed if there's scar tissue on fins, or the fish version of a scab on a wound. It says she is being pecked to death.

A 10 as a refuge is better than a death by a million bites. It's possible that with water changes, good food and good care, she could go into the main tank again in a few months, if she becomes robust and active. But it will be a long QT. It's November, so I would reconsider the 10 around February.

 

[Sgooosh]

Fin rot is usually always a symptom connected with poor water quality, increasing your water changes should help with that. I've seen pearl gouramis get as big as 4 inches (10 cm) so I'd personally be reluctant to keep it in 10 gallons

Fish are like birds. If they identify weakness, they kill it. So if your gourami is attacked like that, she needs to live alone.

Fin rot is an almost mythical disease in clean tanks, so something is wrong in your system. It's generally a disease of overstocking with too small or infrequent water changes. It can also be misdiagnosed if there's scar tissue on fins, or the fish version of a scab on a wound. It says she is being pecked to death.

A 10 as a refuge is better than a death by a million bites. It's possible that with water changes, good food and good care, she could go into the main tank again in a few months, if she becomes robust and active. But it will be a long QT. It's November, so I would reconsider the 10 around February.

I doubt it's actually fin rot, but much rather just large nips taken out of the fin. My tank has matured over a long time and I've never seen it for like 2 years until i had this fish.

Do you think it will be a good idea to grow her out larger and reintroduce?
I can also put her in a large butterfly net in the big tank for a few days just to slowly adjust.

 

[GaryE]

It sounds like they've decided to kill her. Stressed in a net won't fix it, which is why I thought 3 months in the 10 might, might give her a chance.

 

[Sgooosh]

It sounds like they've decided to kill her. Stressed in a net won't fix it, which is why I thought 3 months in the 10 might, might give her a chance.

I meant after she is fully healed.

 

[Magnum Man]

Obviously not a Cichlid…

I had mostly cichlid’s when I had tanks before, and you can’t spank them into behaving… had fish get beat up, pulled them out for months and fully recovered, put them back, and got beat up again… took the aggressor out and put it back n a tank with meaner fish, and sure enough, it got beat up… put it back in the original tank, and it returned to being the bully…

I wish you luck, with your Grourami

 

[GaryE]

After a recovery time, I would treat her as a new fish. If she gets ripped up then, then she can never be part of the community.