sirdarksol

If you've had a sick dwarf gourami recently, please respond to this thread.
In particular, we want to know if you recently bought the gourami or recently introduced any fish without quarantining them. This is not in any way meant to criticize people. There is a concern that a very, very nasty virus called iridovirus may be plaguing this wonderful little fish, and the faster response aquarists have to the issue, the faster the aquarium industry will respond. This is also a potential issue to other labyrinth fish, though dwarf gourami are currently the only ones severely affected by the virus. If it species hops, this could become devastating to other gourami or to bettas (though the bettas' isolation will help protect them from being exposed to a pandemic).

Here's a thread regarding the virus:
Dwarf Guorami, Bettas and Iridovirus

bolivianbaby

I don't know if this will help or not, but we bought a dwarf gourami on 07-10-09 for my daughter's tank. He died on 07-18-09. I keep records of all of my tanks. The tank had been cycled for a little over a month or two. We knew about the virus when we bought him, but we thought we'd try it and see if we lucked out. We didn't and since we knew the tank was cycled, we've refused to buy any more.

Lucy

I recently lost my DG. I had him for months so when he started showing sign of illness, shyness, a little bloating, I didn't think of iridovirus right away.
When he developed lesions, my research kept pointing to iridovirus.

sirdarksol

Any new fish, or any possibility that you cross-contaminated the tank? It might be possible for other fish to be carriers, even if they don't actually get sick.

Lucy

No new fish or anything added. Parameters were fine. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite 10 nitrate.
I lost a guppy right around the time the first spot showed up on the DG. He was fine in the morning eating, playing by evening he had turned almost black and died that night with raised scales.

I lost a cory in another tank, but I use different equipment for water changes etc.
His only symptom was heavy breathing. Water was fine there too.

Matrk79

What are the symptoms of iridovirus? I've lost 3 Dwarf Flame Gourami in the past few months and now have a betta (introduced after the DGs had passed away) with the same symptoms as the others had.

Symptoms included;

Long, white stringy poos,
Lethargic, often just sitting in a corner near the bottom or at the top or behind a plant
Loss of appetite
Bloating/raised scales
In their final stages, they'd just lie on the bottom on their side, breathing rapidly.
Some of them also seemed to lose a degree of control over their swim bladder - would often do kind of somersaults when they tried to come to a stop

Does this sound like iridovirus? All fish were introduced without being quarantined (don't have a quarantine tank). I'm in Australia, but not sure where the supplier import their fish from.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore matrk! im sorry for your losses
theres a link at the top of the thread where you can read all about Iridovirus but also, is your tank cycled? do you know your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrate reading? allot of the signs your fish are giving could be ammonia/nitrite poisoning as well from an uncycled tank...heres a link on the nitrogen cycle for you to read... http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
as well as the Iridovirus link at the top of this thread

DeanAsploded

Thanks for the heads up. I lost one of my two Dwarfs back in July. Kinda glad now that I didn't bother replacing him.

Matrk79

Hi Shawnie,

Thanks for your reply and the info. My nitrite, nitrate and ammonia are all at 0.

I cycled the tank for about a month before I introduced any fish. The tank's now been established for about 7 months. The Betta has only been in there for about 6 weeks. He was fine for the first 4 weeks or so then slowly started becoming more lethargic. He's now in the last stages of this condition - He only has enough energy to swim to the top of the tank every now and then for a quick gasp before just floating back to the bottom (kind of like a feather, back and forth, back and forth rather than just sinking). Poor little fella!

I also have 6 cherry barbs and 3 siamese algae eaters in the tank and none of them have been affected by this at all. Only the Gourami and the Betta.

Shawnie

do you have live plants matrk? if not, you should have a nitrate reading...what test kit are you using? .a mini cycle could have happened as they will sneak up on you at anytime..even years after the tanks been running.....labyrinth fish, (bettas and gourami's) dont handle things as well as the barbs and CAE' might...they are much more sensitive...im still not saying its not Iridovirus but its also could be a mini cycle of some kind....

Red1313

Hmmm... not sure if this is relevent or not but in the biology building on campus they have a bunch of aquariums and they were having sever trouble with the labyrinth tank. Every gourmi in there would die of the same thing. I mentioned indovirus to them a few months ago but I don't know if that's what it was or not. I came back this summer and they're re-done the tank for mud skippers so I don't know if that's what it was or not.

Lucy

In the other thread Ted brough up a good point
Matrk, the symptoms you describe could be attributed to several things, the stringy white poo is usually a sign of internal parasites not Iridovirus (that I'm aware of)

Fishies-for-me

I had a male and 3 female dwarfs die one by one very shortly after I got them...they would be fine and then start to get shy...hiding not eating and bloat up before dying. This would happen over a matter of 1-2 days.. They went from looking great to dead very quickly. This was at least a year ago. I have been losing fish off and on in that tank since ..but maybe have also got some neon tetra disease going on now as they were QT for 2 weeks and then added to the tank ( this was months after the dwarfs tho)...after a couple of months one started to fade and then died. I have lost 4-5 neons. A glowlight tetra and 3 albino cories in there...oh and a female betta . They were all non aggressive and not picked on...Tank has been up and running for 2 years and well cycled and maintained.

Tony G.

Hobo just passed today. He was only with me for a week.

Lucy

Omg, Tony, I'm so sorry.

Tony G.

thanks lucy

Lucy

Ok, I'm done with Dwarf Gouramis.
I bought one about 2 weeks ago along with some tetras. Put them in a Q tank.
I wake up this morning and he's lying on his side at the bottom of the tank.
He's moving his pictoral fins, but thats about it.
There aren't any marks or wounds on him, no bloating, nothing.
Parameters are 0, 0, 10

bolivianbaby

Oh, Lucy, I'm sorry Hopefully, he'll be okay. Both of you are in our fishy prayers.

mercurybebe

Oh Lucy, I am so sorry to hear about your DG. ((((hugs))))

I lost my DG Chaim in late August and it was terrible. He started to get a weird bump-like growth on his chest and turned a deep greyish blue around that area over the course of a few weeks. My poor daughter found him dead on his side at the bottom of the tank. None of the other fish in the tank were sick or anything but we have not replaced him. We got him from Petsmart in July and did not quarantine him.

My other Flame Gourami, Steve, was bought from a specialty tropical fish store who really take care of their fish and I've had great luck with their fish since finding them! Steve is in my 55g tank and is doing wonderful! No signs of any illness and I've had him for about 2 1/2 months.

We will not buy any more Gourami's or other fish from Petsmart...not sure about getting another DG yet as we still miss Chaim. But if we do, we will head back to the store where we got Steve for sure...

Lucy

Thanks, it's rough to lose them, for sure.
I had Rommy (my first DG) for several months, I thought I got lucky He was from Petsmart and got terribly ill
This latest one was bred in Fla and from a very good LFS.

I hope you have continued good luck with yours mercurybebe. I really love their personality.

mercurybebe

Lucy...that is terrible that your new guy was from a better LFS and is still so ill. I thought that was the key issue with my two guys and why Steve is doing okay so far.
You had Rommy for a few months before he passed? Again, I was thinking that Steve has been doing great for nearly 3 months now so I was starting to relax.
Again, I am really sorry that you are losing another DG so soon after losing Rommy...I hope that if/when you try getting another one that you have better luck. They are such amazing little fish...

It really is such a shame that this virus is so wide-spread in DG, they really are amazing fish and have such adorable personalities. I swear that Steve looks forward to when I "visit" him and he always looks so happy to see me...and unlike the other fish it doesn't always revolve around food! I know I am probably just projecting human traits on to him, but he really is a unique fish.

Lucy

They're great fish, much like bettas in personality, imo.
I can't say for sure what's wrong with the new DG, there's just not enough symptoms to even guess.

maggie

My little guy is currently showing a lot of those symptoms. I'm about to treat him for internal parasites to see what happens. Hes been sick on and off for months. It's at its worst now though. I have a thread on it right now with pics.

potatos

Any recent illness? dose this illnes fluctuate and have "seasons", so would there be a specific time to buy them with a lower chance of getting an infected, or dose it remain constant?

pearl gouramis arn't as susceptible to this, are they?

DeanAsploded

I lost a Dwarf Gourami to iridovirus just a couple weeks ago, and another back in the summer, so there doesn't seem to be a season for it.

It can apparently last quite the while before killing it's host because my Dwarf who died recently hasn't been in contact with an infected fish since the summer.

Please note that an enlarged spleen is another symptom of the infection, which can be seen outwardly as just having a rather plump fish.

This was my third gourami to die from an iridivorus infection, and I can only hope that my fourth, a three-spot from the same store, does not meet the same fate.

The university of Florida has an excellent write-up on iridovirus in Gouramis in their archives, which is well worth the read.

Dwarfs and Three-spots appear to be the most susceptible. I've yet to hear of a Pearl or Giant who's contracted it.

Lucy

Potato's questions about Pearl Gouramis have been moved here:
pearl gourami questions