Kissing Gourami with weird spots

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Ebon

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May 9, 2021
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Hi there! Just noticed the past day or so my pink kissing gourami has some weird colored patches on his side. I've never seen this on either of my pink gourami's before (both in separate tanks) so not sure what to treat it with. Tank is a 125 gallon and his tankmates are a flagtail, redhead tapajo, 12 silver dollars, pearl gourami and an angelfish. Tank is cleaned out weekly with a 50% water change. Last one was done on Friday. Maybe during the water change he banged up against something? Got a big buddha statue, small drift wood pieces, live plants and some short accent rocks in the tank. Also have a Fluval FX6 for my filtration. If anyone knows what I might be able to do to treat this I would greatly appreciate it. Normally I just treat with general cure, kanaplex or metroplex. Just don't want to treat with these unless I absolutely know what's wrong. Thank!

P.S. the white spot by his pectoral fin is a spot on my glass, not on him!
20210509_184715.jpg
 
Last edited:

fishorama

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Hmm, I'm not sure, it almost looks like bruising. But the larger rear 1 looks raised? I'd just keep up your good maintenance & watch it for now.

I'm glad you said the big white spot is on the glass...but the pink lump at the base of the pectoral fin is concerning me...not sure what it may be...lymphocytes?...& missing scales on it's forehead...How big is she? & how long have you had it?

Can you post your water parameters? I don't think that's the primary issue...
 

Ebon

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May 9, 2021
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Hmm, I'm not sure, it almost looks like bruising. But the larger rear 1 looks raised? I'd just keep up your good maintenance & watch it for now.

I'm glad you said the big white spot is on the glass...but the pink lump at the base of the pectoral fin is concerning me...not sure what it may be...lymphocytes?...& missing scales on it's forehead...How big is she? & how long have you had it?

Can you post your water parameters? I don't think that's the primary issue...
Yeah the scales are slightly raised and she is about 6-7 inches long and we've had her for a little over 2 years and she's been in this tank pretty much since we got her. Water parameters are pH 7, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate ~20ppm (I can never get it lower) Also, not sure what lump you're seeing near the base of pectoral fin. I'll post another picture just to be sure.

20210509_194305.jpg
 

fishorama

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Oh, this last pic of the pectoral base looks much better, just a bit pink but not a swollen lump I saw in the first 1. Whew!

If there is something going on with those side spots (the raised back 1 especially is of concern) I'm guessing an internal...something, parasite or something, not sure...could be bruising I guess. Just watch it for now.

It can be hard to keep nitrate under 20ppm in a heavily stocked tank. Can you up water changes to 60 or 70% weekly or go to twice/week? I know, hard in a big tank...bigger than I've had.
 

Ebon

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May 9, 2021
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Yeah I have about 300 gallons worth of tanks i change weekly. But I can try and do bigger or twice on this until it clears up. I also have some prazipro on hand I could try too since it's pretty safe. Just in case it's some type of parasite or flukes or something like that.
 

Lalo J.

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It may be because of the water quality, I see big fish, and as fishorama mentions it's a bit of work but it's necessary. Another option at least in my experience, in addition to improving the water quality, would be to treat the gourami with nitrofurazone, since I see red marks on the caudal peduncle, not only on the left side.
 

fishorama

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I don't think it's flukes, could be IP...too soon to tell for me. Maybe someone else has an opinion...wait to see what they say...That's the value of a board...yours doesn't seem like an emergency yet. Flubendazole would be my first option but I haven't used prazi more than once or twice in 40 years...

I see Lalo has answered you too. I'm not sure that the pink caudal peduncle intersection is cause for alarm...yet. But certainly something to watch...maybe nitrofurazone is a good way...again, I've not much experience with it...it's so hard to say...
 
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FishAddict74

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Dec 8, 2020
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Hi there! Just noticed the past day or so my pink kissing gourami has some weird colored patches on his side. I've never seen this on either of my pink gourami's before (both in separate tanks) so not sure what to treat it with. Tank is a 125 gallon and his tankmates are a flagtail, redhead tapajo, 12 silver dollars, pearl gourami and an angelfish. Tank is cleaned out weekly with a 50% water change. Last one was done on Friday. Maybe during the water change he banged up against something? Got a big buddha statue, small drift wood pieces, live plants and some short accent rocks in the tank. Also have a Fluval FX6 for my filtration. If anyone knows what I might be able to do to treat this I would greatly appreciate it. Normally I just treat with general cure, kanaplex or metroplex. Just don't want to treat with these unless I absolutely know what's wrong. Thank!

P.S. the white spot by his pectoral fin is a spot on my glass, not on him!
View attachment 229891
I’ve seen something similar on a bichir I got through the mail. It arrived in rough shape and nasty water. I’m pretty sure it was sepsis and I treated with kanaplex. I’m not sure if this is good advice since it died, but I’ll attach pics for comparison to what you have going

FBD84A9D-784F-4427-A61F-FF6909BF0D8D.jpeg
 

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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It's hard to say. What concerns me is it appears your KG has pursed lips. If KGs aren't doing the lip thing, they're either sick, stressed or both. I do know kissers can get darker patches over time, but it kind of looks like raised scales around the area too.
 
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