Why do my Powder Blue Gouramis keep dying?

[jagr200]

hmmmm-this is making me nervous!
I will have to keep a close eye on my dwarfs- I have one flame, one powder blue, and one neon and they are all so beautiful! the guy told me it was the "neon" dwarf that is actually natural- like the way they are in the wild- red and blue stripes- but he is the one who seems the most fragile to me of the three- I have to distract the other fish so i can feed just him- he only eats itty bitty pieces of flakes, and then goes and hides. he appears to be getting a little plumper, but I did notice he had a whitish stringy -almost thread like substance hanging from him today- if i didn't know better I'd say it was weird poop-
any ideas?
Anyway- Good luck with your new Powder Blue!!!
j

Ya my blue was kinda shy for about 2 months but now he is out and about all the time. Oh and the white poop is the result of a parasite like mentioned above. QT immediatly and treat with meds.

 

[gingerinaustin]

RTR posted this on the Forum that is not allowed to be mentioned on this site:

There's another Forum that's not allowed to be mentioned on AQ? Good lord. I hope I haven't mentioned it inadvertently!

Back on topic: I had two sunset dwarf gouramis. One died a few days after I got them; looked like a ulcer blowout on its side. The other one died several months later after a prolonged, gradual deterioration. I did some reading and learned dwarf gouramis are overbred to achieve the vibrant colors and as a result are very fragile and prone to disease. Three-spot gouramis (like the one in my avatar) are supposed to be more hardy.

 

[Lupin]

I don't buy them. Almost all dwarf gouramis bred in Asia (and I do live in Asia) are fed with foods containing hormones allowing sex reversal on females but this also includes the males during their juvenile stages to be sure that all will achieve the colors on the expectations fo their breeders. Females are silvery in color and only a few people realize that as they are not common nowadays nor will you still see any of them anyway considering the way they are produced and distributed.

 

[rosita]

http://www.a-q-u-a-r-i-u-m-b-o-a-r-d.com/forums/general-freshwater/763.htm

This is a thread with 50 responses dealing with dwarf blues and fatal illness, including photos of huge bloat. My purpose in bringing it to AC is to share information and a person's research on the disease, so I'd like to think our MODS here will be mature and not make a case of it. I placed hyphens between letters so it would show. Hope it helps. If I get banned . . . well, I wouldn't want to be under a fascist regime, did that for 3 years in Italy.

 

[yourchoice]

They are highly inbred to get the baby blue color.Read they have bad intestines.Notice they have very square head look about them compared to the other colors.The two I had one lasted 3 months the other 4.Just seem to die old age .Ate less and less the last month.

Also finding meds(metro-flagyl included) not working to well when the Dwarf Gouramis stop eating. However freshly hatched Baby Brine Shirmps take about 24 hours to hatch in marine salt will bring them back.

 

[rsanz]

My experience with dwarf gouramis has been similar to many people in this thread. They seem to stop pooping, balloon up, then die. I don't understand it. Both of my gouramis (one normal dwarf, the other powder blue dwarf) both had the same fate.

 

[rosita]

Bad intestines, and I think, complete digestive system. One person believed his to have HITH bacteria in bloated stomach when he did an autopsy on it. Inbreeding is a scary thing, but to not warn hobbyists of something like that----mo' money, mo' money. My 3 died, and I'll never buy dwarfs again, period!!

 

[doreenjoy]

Are there any reputable breeders of dwarf gouramis on this board? I'd love to get a healthy one.

 

[dch475]

We're not having any luck with our powder blues (males). The first one we bought, lived for about 3 weeks. When we got him, we brought him home with a dwarf gourami that was aggressive, so we moved the dwarf into his own tank and left the powder blue in the community tank. Three weeks later, we woke up to find he had passed away in the night. We tested the water, and everything was fine. None of the other tank mates had passed.

About two weeks later, we decided to get another male powder blue. This time he lived longer, well over a month, but today, he's having trouble, we think he's going to die. His color is bad, very blotchy, and he looks bloated. He's having trouble staying on the surface, and just drifts to the bottom. We removed him from the tank and put him in the q-tank. We tested the water again, and all is fine.

We have two female gouramis that are showing plenty of life, with no problems. The other male dwarf that we put in another tank is still doing fine. So why are our powder blue males struggling? We love these powders, but are afraid of getting another.

Thank you,
T

I have gone through 3 dwarf powder blue gouramiis in the past year or so. The last one lived the longest but only 2 1/2 months. My blue neon is doing fine as are the rest of my fish. There is something defective or genetically wrong with this fish. I am done with them.

 

[dch475]

We're not having any luck with our powder blues (males). The first one we bought, lived for about 3 weeks. When we got him, we brought him home with a dwarf gourami that was aggressive, so we moved the dwarf into his own tank and left the powder blue in the community tank. Three weeks later, we woke up to find he had passed away in the night. We tested the water, and everything was fine. None of the other tank mates had passed.

About two weeks later, we decided to get another male powder blue. This time he lived longer, well over a month, but today, he's having trouble, we think he's going to die. His color is bad, very blotchy, and he looks bloated. He's having trouble staying on the surface, and just drifts to the bottom. We removed him from the tank and put him in the q-tank. We tested the water again, and all is fine.

We have two female gouramis that are showing plenty of life, with no problems. The other male dwarf that we put in another tank is still doing fine. So why are our powder blue males struggling? We love these powders, but are afraid of getting another.

Thank you,
T

I have gone through 3 dwarf powder blue gouramiis in the past year or so. The last one lived the longest but only 2 1/2 months. My blue neon is doing fine as are the rest of my fish. There is something defective or genetically wrong with this fish. I am done with them.

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