j_guilliatt

Hello everybody.
I was wondering whether there is some neat trick to keeping Gourami's. I had two flame-dwarf, male and female. They both got sick, the female died, then the male was on the mend, and now he's going downhill again. I treated them for body fungus, slime disease, parasites, bacterial infection and no matter what i throw at the male he still isn't getting better. My local fish store seem to have the same problem. Are they generally prone to disease? I've looked at some articles online that mention a decline in health in gouramis. Can anyone shed any light on the matter?

Shawnie

hi J_guilliatt..whats the readings of your tank? ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? I dont think they are generally prone to disease, mine have been great other than territorial lil buggers...they are very sensitive fish to meds, as alot of fish are, but gourami's dont seem to handle anything well.."throwing" all those different kinds at them, maybe having an effect in the negative..test the water and see if anyhing is off there...goodluck!

j_guilliatt

Well i finally got my act together and got a nitrate kit and it reads 10mg/l. pH is neutral. Tank temp is 28. The male is going downhill the same way the female did. His anal fin is frayed and he is bloated in the front part of his body. He'll swim in between filter and heater just below the surface and shake and twitch. I haven't literally been throwing medicine at them. First i treated them for fungus, and then i got a more broad spectrum med. with malachite green in it. Should i just stop with the medicine? What do you rekon he's got?

mumzy50

Hi i breed dwarf gouramis,and have had no trouble.But a lot of people have.I only buy one breed in my country,I believe a lot of the problems are from imported stock.I do water changes every three days.I also feed shelled peas which they love.Try finding a breeder near you.What fish do you have them with.

Shawnie

nitrates at 10 are good!! whats the ammonia and nitrites? those are the killers! no more meds until you know whats wrong...gourami's are sensitive to most meds and you already have used alot..and I know you werent throwing the meds lol...daily water changes of at least 30 % with tap water treated with prime..and find out if ammonia and nitrites are up...ill betcha its one of them most of us use the api master liquid test kit because it has everything in it..goodluck

Sabi

I'd go with keeping the water as clean as possible. Bloated stomach? How much do you feed? But that could be some internal infection too. I'm not sure but it sounds like they could be affected by something from where they came from, more so because you say your lfs is having a problem as well.
Best of luck! I havn't had the best of luck in keeping dwarf gourami's either.

angelfish220

I had a gourami and he was a tough little bugger. He lived though a fungal infection that killed all of my other fish, guppies and danios. died of dropsy, though, probably because I overfed him to the high heavens. That was before fishlore.

I would say overall they are very 'begininer fish' yet are pretty enough to fill out every tank. I would say that Shawnie is right with your water quality. Do a 30% water change every day till you can get a test kit to see your amonia and nitrite levels.

j_guilliatt

He's with 4 rummy-nose tetras. I rekon he'll be dead in the morning though. His fins are really frayed now and he's sort of swimming stationary in a totally vertical position. I missed a few days of feeding in case i was over-doing it. The rummy-nose are fine- colours are vibrant and everything. If it was something to do with water quality (nitrites) then wouldn't the other fish be affected too? Especially if they're sensitive fish like rummy-nose tetras. Thanks for the replies!

Shawnie

each fish is affected differently..so until you get the nitrites and ammonia readings, its not something you can rule out...I hope the lil bugger makes it .!!!!

Sabi

Ouch, shame man. Frayed fins is either finrot or maybe your tetras are nipping him. Not common but possible.

j_guilliatt

Ah! Still alive. I dont have a test kit for ammonia and nitrites but i'll go to the local fish shop today and get the water tested. I'll keep you posted.

j_guilliatt

Ok, help! Unfortunately i dont think there is any hope for him. He's on the bottom of the tank, on his side gasping for air. Can i do anything to ease his passing? Can you eunthenase fish?

Septhen

If your dwarf gourami hasn't passed away yet, euthanise it by putting it in a jar and freezing it in the freezer

Barbrella

For information on what's wrong with dwarf gouramis, you might want to read this article I linked on another thread:

Dwarf gourmis and Iridovirus


I"m sorry, but freezing fish is not humane.

For the best way to do this is explained HERE