# Sick Gourami Emergency..................... Please help Her



## carronann (Jan 23, 2007)

Tank size: 58l (just bought a 220L tank to move the clown loach, plec gouramis and catfish to when fully cycled etc

Freshwater Aquarium established since June 06

Tank inhabitants - Plec, albino catfish, gourami, 4 neon tetras, 4 guppies and a clown loach

Artificial Plants, No CO2 unit, Fluval 4 filter

Light is on for 12 hrs a day, I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t turn the light on till the sun is up and the natural light has filled the room. The tank is not in direct sunlight

I hovered the gravel and did a 1/3 water change, added itch treatment 3 days ago. 

Quality flake and blood worms. 

pH: 6.4 (has always been this and I have tested the tap water which is the same before dechlorinating)
gH - 0, 
Kh - 0.
ammonia: 0.3, 
nitrate - 10, 
nitrite - 0, PH 

tank temp: 29 at the moment as per ich treatment advice, 

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 15/20% every week

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Just dechlorinater to make the tap water safe

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): Nothing at all

Exposure to chemicals: No

Any help would be gratefully received as I dont want to lose her/him


A week ago I noticed a couple of white spots on my gourami. I thought it was a reoccurance of ich as I had it in November. Anyways, I treated it as per the forums suggestions (2nd dosing 9th april). The gourami never had any other symptoms but was more playful and affectionate with the other fish. She became very frisky, then being a bit aggressive. Also, she has what looks like a fading patch on her back and a couple of patches behind the gills. Her back fin seems to be splitting also.

The tank has had no changes, no added fish, plants, chemicals (always ticks over itself) and all fish have lived happily for a long time.

I've had a rise in ammonia from 0 - 0.3, nitrate 10 and nitrite 0, since adding the ich treatment which i expected.






I moved the gourami to a hospital tank on Tuesday (10th April) as she got worse and was on her side. I medicated with Intrepet No 9 - anti Internal Bacteria - cures diseases with symptoms such as bacterial gillrot, dropsy, ulcers and septicaemia. (as I thought it was an ulcer originally after looking at other posts and maybe dropsy with her being on her side) 

That was 3 days ago and the patches look better. But she is still on her side despite having more energy and tries to swim round the tank on her side. She seems unable to right herself. 

She is constantly pushing herself around the bottom of the tank on her side and does at times get upright for a split second then back on her side. I thought she wouldn't make it through the night when i originally moved her to the hospital tank, but she seems to be fighting but i'm not sure if it's in vein and if I should euthanise her or not. I really dont want to if she can come back from this.


oh, the other thing that happened is the day I moved her, my molly was fine 1 minute then the next it was spinning around trying to right itself. kept turning upside down. The other fish in the big tank also seemed a little unhappy, some looked bloated and had white poop. I added a few cooked shelled peas, dosed with the same Intrepet No 9 as it looked like the molly had dropsy. I moved the molly to the hospital tank immediately but she didn't make it I'm afraid. I left the light off the big tank for the last day and a half and did not feed. They all seem fine today and the bloatedness has gone (keeping my fingers crossed.


As for the gourami........ I need help on what's wrong and what to do here 



This is what she looked like the day before going on her side


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

I don't have much time tonight, and will be away until late Sunday night... but I wanted to leave you with some help before the weekend.
For starters, your gourami is a *male *powder blue dwarf gourami. It sounds to me like you are dealing with a swim bladder problem, and possibly an intestinal parasite.
Provided the gourami is still in the quarantine tank, you can treat with 2 different medications at the same time. The first is called metronidazole, and is a powder that should be used to coat the food for 3 - 5 days. With flake food, simply put a small (very small amount) of the medication into a plastic zip lock bag and add a couple of pinches of flake food. Close the bag and shake it up really well until the meds mix with the food. Give this to the gourami once/day for a feeding, stop all other feedings for at least a week.
The 2nd medication is nitrofurazone. This will be used to treat the water in the tank. If you have a difficult time finding it, look at the packaging on the medications available to you. The ingredients you will want are nitrofurazone and furadolazone. If the fish is in the main tank with the other fish, do not use any medication that containse furazone green.
If it were mine, I would treat in the quarantine tank alone, away from the other fish. While medicating, make sure to watch the water params. Any signs of ammonia or nitrite could be deadly, or a high nitrate of over 40 can also be dangerous.
I hope this helps, and I'll check back in here on Sunday night when I get back. Good Luck to your and your fish!


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