Gourami is getting fat - is he sick?

[cjack]

Hi all,

Im new here but I'm worried my Dwarf Gourami is sick.

I have had him for about 2 momths and hes getting very fat.

Could he be sick with something?

Tank temp is 24-25c.
I test the water twice a week and there is no issues with that.

 

[Kribensis27]

Welcome! That doesn't look great. What have you been feeding, and how often? Is he acting lethargic or "off" at all? The emergency template might be helpful here, just to give any possible info on what's causing the issue.

 

[cjack]

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 160ltr
How long has the tank been running? 4 months
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 24-25c
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
3x dwarf Gourami
10x neon tetra
1x Catfish

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Once a week
How much of the water do you change? 25%
What do you use to treat your water? Vitapet
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Substrate

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? yes
What do you use to test the water? test strips
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: unkown
Nitrite: 10
Nitrate: <1
pH:6.8-7.2

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Once a day
How much do you feed your fish? A small amount see photo attached
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Dymax - Tropical Essential
Do you feed frozen? No
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? No

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 2.months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? 1 month
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? fish is fat
Have you started any treatment for the illness? No
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? He is fat but acting normal

Explain your emergency situation in detail.
I noticed that he was starting to get a little fat and today i have found he is very fat or bloated. One of my Gourami's dead 2 days ago. He was not growing at all which made me think he was a famale but he died.

Welcome! That doesn't look great. What have you been feeding, and how often? Is he acting lethargic or "off" at all? The emergency template might be helpful here, just to give any possible info on what's causing the issue.

Hey Kribensis, thank you for the quick response!

I feed once a day a small ish amount. Takes the tank roughly 2-3 minutes to finish food.

 

[Kribensis27]

Do you mean 10 nitrate, or nitrite? Nitrate is harmless unless it's very high and is usually present in a fully cycled tank, but nirtrite is toxic to fish even at low levels. If you have that much nitrite, it's time for a big water change ASAP.

 

[cjack]

Do you mean 10 nitrate, or nitrite? Nitrate is harmless unless it's very high and is usually present in a fully cycled tank, but nirtrite is toxic to fish even at low levels. If you have that much nitrite, it's time for a big water change ASAP.

It looks like i got it around the wrong way... both are at safe levels

 

[Kribensis27]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. If you had nitrite that high, bloating would probably be the least of the issues you'd be dealing with. I would suggest not feeding the fish for a day or two and trying to get some frozen daphnia. It's a great treat for fish and can help with bloating. Do you know why the other gourami died? It could be a disease issue.

It looks like i got it around the wrong way... both are at safe levels

 

[cjack]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. If you had nitrite that high, bloating would probably be the least of the issues you'd be dealing with. I would suggest not feeding the fish for a day or two and trying to get some frozen daphnia. It's a great treat for fish and can help with bloating. Do you know why the other gourami died? It could be a disease issue.

Unfortunately I'm not sure why he died. He was eating but didn't seem to gain any way weight at all.

 

[Kribensis27]

It sounds like that one could've been suffering from some sort of internal parasite, and this one may be as well. Did the other one show any bloating or other issues before he died? Unfortunately I'm not very knowledgable about diseases and parasites. Maybe A201 can help. It could also just be normal bloating, in which case I would do what I suggested above.

 

[A201]

Looks like the Gourami is suffering from Bloat. Some type of blockage in the gut causing impaction.
Sometimes these things work it's way out, other times a deadly intestinal bacteria infection results.
Be a good idea to fast the Gourami until things get better.

 

[SparkyJones]

I use the same test strips, they have been accurate in my opinion, yeah you reverse the reading for nitrites and nitrates. they put them in a weird order on the strip

between the previous one and now this one, I'd say it's the species, and probably its the Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus, which they are carriers of in the hobby.There is no treatment to make it better if it is that. they all kind of have it as carriers unless you know for sure it came from clean stock/ breeder. or they just got lucky and missed it as a fry at the breeder.

From my experience with dwarf gouramis, (admittedly limited) they can be "big bellied" due to genetics of inbreeding, But if it develops later, it's usually the iridovirus taking hold a lot of them have it as carriers, while I like their colors and they are pretty, I won't keep them again because of this I don't want to deal with it appearing 1-2-3-6-9 months later from dormancy to activity.

Generally speaking it starts with erratic behavior, bursts of swimming or darting just not normal, then comes an eating disorder in some, they sometime starve themselves and eventually die. in other they swell up and it causes organ failure from the virus.

if it were bloat it wouldn't be building over time, it would have seemed like it appeared overnight.

There is no treatment to make it better if it is that, its a virus and genetic cause, and it's going to drop the fish eventually. mortality is near 100% with it and they usually drop between 20 and 40 days depending on the symtoms and how fast it progresses. starvation symptoms move faster to death than bloat and dropsy symptoms which lead to organ failures.

Any other dwarf gouramis in with it are likely carriers at the least also if it is it, it's really contagious.

This doesn't appear in the wild populations, just at the farms and from there to hobby breeders. it's speculated it could be a genetic trigger from inbreeding or the virus is passing in the confines of the farms and laying dormant in the fry that survive their first infection and they become carriers and it reappears at maturity with a stressing event. .

Fingers crossed that it's some weird bloating/constipation or maybe an eggbound female. You could try epsom salt baths to see if it does anything to relax and release, if egg bound female relaxing might also get her to push them out. but if unlaid eggs they are supposed to reabsorb them, that can malfunction...

Not sure, but it sounds to me like it's the DGI by how long it's been going on and what happened with the other fish. if so, I'm sorry. I been down this road and lost a group of 6 and swore never again.