seaturtle120

i am totally new to fish keeping and have only had my tank for a month or so
i have a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium with six zebra danios and two dwarf gouramis
one of my danios just recently got a fungus infection and i have been treating the whole tank, since i do not have a quarantine tank
this morning when i went to feed my fish, i found my gourami laying in the corner. all of my other fish went up to eat, but he stayed in the corner.
i don't know if he is sick or if it has anything to do with my danio's infection
they usually eat flake food in the morning and in the evening they get frozen brine shrimp and a little bit of flake food
ps. the gourami is normally the one that waits at the top to get fed
please help me! thank you!!

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!!!

I hope things get better for you..its so frustrating when things go wrong ....I have a few questions then maybe we can get a better idea to help

how did you cycle the tank and is it fully cycled?
what test kit do you use?
what are your water parimeters? ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates?
how do you know its a fungus? what were the signs on the sick fish?

getting some of these answers will let us know the next steps for you and you fish babies

seaturtle120

the tank is not totally cycled, but the ammonia levels have gone down to about zero
the nitrite levels are down to zero as well
the nitrate is at ten, though
i use a liquid test kit by API
i added the danios pretty early because they are hardier, but waited until the ammonia levels dropped to put the gouramis in. before i put the danios in i fed my tank flake food for a couple days to get it started.

the sick danio started to grow a white puff ball on his mouth, and from what i had researched it looked like a mouth fungus. otherwise he acts pretty normal
the sick danio just so happens to also have only one eye. he was like that when i got him, but he did not act sick at all then.
hope this helps

Shawnie

I would get some prime or stress coat + and do a few days of water changes.. that will help finish up the cycle and make any ammonia or nitrites non toxic for 24 hours until your next change....most meds will totally kill a cycle ....water changes will be your best friend for now...gourami's are labryinth fish and dont handle most meds either....so he probably has the effects of either ammonia or the fungus meds...

seaturtle120

thank you!!! ill try that and keep you updated

Shawnie

goodluck and yes do keep us updated when you can!

seaturtle120

sorry, one more thing: should i keep using the medication, even if i do water changes for a couple of days?

Shawnie

its a catch 22 because the tank isnt cycled, but are you sure its a fungus or could it be from the ammonia in the tank? maybe get a tupperware container that you could put a spare heater and filter in for a QT tank and treat that fish there? the gourami is the one having the issue and it could be from either meds or ammon as I said so treating the sick one alone would be best so you can do daily changes for the cycle and the rest of the fishies...

seaturtle120

thanks, i will try that too
one interesting note: i put the carbon filter cartridge back it the filter, just to see how my gourami would react, and now that his light is turned off, he seems to be moving around more. he is still not wanting to eat, but it is too early to see any drastic changes

2lucky

Hi and welcome to Fishlore!

For a newbie you are very well educated! Well done on doing your research before you jumped in!

Also you should take out the carbon before putting meds in as the carbon de-activates them.

About the gourami -I just got 3 of them and 1 is like that. Maybe it just got knocked around in the handling??

Good luck!

Shawnie

I would stop treating the tank and continue on with your cycle ..change out your carbon every 3 weeks or it will pour all the nasties back into the tank...you dont want to change the filter media tho just the carbon if you are going to run it ...daily water changes with some prime or stress coat+ and things will look up...goodluck!

seaturtle120

i don't know if i understand what you mean. i have a penguin bio wheel that uses one carbon filter cartridge. (obviously you have to change it.) the bio wheel can filter by its self, and that is what i was recommended to do by my local fish store while i was treating the sick fish.
the gourami (aka Justin) still will not eat, but he swam around a little at around ten a.m. this morning. now he is just laying in the corner again. for some reason he chose the corner by the heater. sometimes he will swim over to the opposite corner, behind a piece of drift wood. when he does go up to the surface, he stays at the back of the tank, and then goes to one of the corners again. my other gourami (Jackson) is as energetic as can be, and is not bothered by anything at all. he is a red flame dwarf gourami. my 'sick' gourami is a powder puff blue.

Shawnie

you can cut a hole in the filter and drain out all the carbon because after a few weeks, its just pouring all it has collected back into the tank...keep the rest of the cartridge in there but dump out the black pieces .....daily water changes will help you finish up the cycle and the prime or stress coat+ will help the fishies breath better during the cycle....gourami's breath off the top of the water so he needs to get up there for air....in time as he feels better, he will eat ...right now the ammonia is getting to him and will get to the others eventually.....some frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp will entice them also..

seaturtle120

i am using a small qt tank for my sick danio right now and i am doing the water changes daily. i use prime as my water conditioner anyway, because it also takes out chlorine and chloramine, but i have added a little extra to take out the ammonia and what not.
i have noticed him come up for air every once and a while, but mostly he stays in the corner. today he chose to stay behind the drift wood instead of by the heater.
he always came to eat frzn brine shrimp out of my hand

seaturtle120

i should get a medal!!! i just caught and transfered the sick danio
it took me almost five minutes! they are fast, agile and only 1.5- 2 inches long; in a twenty gallon tank!!!
well, now he can get better, and so can my gourami!

seaturtle120

Danio died
i think he was to stressed and he had no one to play with
then he got stuck to the filter. aaahhhggg! that is so annoying!

but the gourami is getting better all ready

agabr123

whatever you do make absolutely sure that you DON'T use melafix, it is extremely dangerous to labyrinth fish. i can't find the thread right this second, but it's on here somewhere. this could include pimafix too, but i'm not 100% sure.

good luck!