jprime84

I have read a lot about this, but I figured I would post and see if anyone had any other ideas.

I have a male pearl gourami I have had for a few weeks now. I came back from a long weekend and he has become reasonably bloated. They are a fairly thin fish, so it doesnt take much for you to notice it.

I figure the two options are dropsy or constipation. He is not a very aggressive eater, and about the only thing I saw him go after was brine shrimp and the occasional flake. He was not bloated before I left and they had no food over the weekend, so its not overfeeding. However, I do not see the "pine cone" effect of the scales on him associated with dropsy.

In any case I have moved him to the quarantine tank. He still appears to swim around just as he always has. I tried to feed him some mashed up peas yesterday. He had no interest in them, but the two platys who keep the quarantine tank cycled gobbled them up.

I will have to post pictures later when I get home. Any ideas or suggestions in the meantime?

Shawnie

try feeding a piece of the pea not mashed up and rolled in a little bit of garlic juice....keep him in QT for a week...do the pea method for that week and fast the last day..if he starts to shrink, then you will know..if he has no changes after a week of just the pea diet, you will also know its not constipation ...i hope he does ok!

jprime84

He has still not eaten anything, despite it being soaked in Seachem Garlic Guard (the other fish LOVED the stuff). I still dont see the "pine cone effect" of dropsy, although it does seem like he is getting bigger despite not eating. He still seems to swim fine, but is breathing heavily.

How should i proceed? Is there a point at which he should just be euthanized?

jprime84

I forgot to resolve this - the poor guy died in the isolation tank. He continued to get bigger despite not eating. He would not eat the peas. I soaked them in garlic too. I also tried daphnia as well as brine shrimp which was his favorite - nothing. One morning he was laying on the bottom. I assume it was dropsy.

Lucy

I'm really sorry you lost the little guy.

bolivianbaby

I'm so sorry you lost him

callichma

Really sorry you lost him.