dropsy in dwarf gouramis

[Silverfox91429]

so the first dwarf gourami i got, got dropsy and died. at the time i didnt know wat was wrong with my fish (it just looked fat to me) and it died so quickly i didnt even realize it was sick. since that was the only fish in my tank and i was going on vacation soon, i completely broke down the tank.

after a couple of months, i set up my tank again with new gravel and a new filter. i got another dwarf gourami and within 6 months it got dropsy. this time i figured out wat it was, tried both medication for dropsy and parasites and the gourami died anyways. meanwhile my guppy (in the same tank) looks fine and i dont think he was ever sick (i didnt have a qt tank and didnt want to move him to another for fear of infecting other fish).

so FINALLY, my question is are dwarf gouramis prone to dropsy (b/c i'm sure it wasnt still in the tank from the 1st time) or did i just have bad luck?

[SteelScale]

dwarf gouramis are usually pretty sensitive to any disease so don't feel bad. Maybe you had a bad source, where did you get the fish?

[Silverfox91429]

one was from petco the other was from Havahart (LFS)

[SteelScale]

idk about the other store but chain stores like petco sometimes have not-so-good conditions for their fish, but it also depends on which one. If you had gotten them both from the same store I would have said that the store might have a sick stock of fish, but maybe it was just bad luck. sorry! I hope you have better luck in the future cuz its really no fun when this stuff happens :frog:

[Stargazer53]

I don't believe dwarf gouramis are prone to dropsy. I do believe that dwarf gouramis are sensitive to diseases as noted by someone earlier. The most important thing about dwarf gouramis is the purchase them from a good source. I personally feel that Petsmart has better stock than Petco; this is just from my experience. I try to not purchase fish from either store and mostly visit and patronage actually fish stores in the area but in the rare event I do buy fish from either, it's usually Petsmart. With that said, one of the causes of dropsy is unclean/dirty water conditions. It's really important to make sure you keep the water in tip-top shape if you want to keep non-dropsy affected fish. Lastly, although dropsy is not 'contagious', don't let your guard down just because your guppy is showing no symptoms of dropsy. By the time symptoms of dropsy are visible (raised scales - pinecone looking), it's almost always already too late. Good luck! :)