Dwarf Gourami help

Trigger1985

AC Members
Jul 31, 2009
222
0
0
41
Arlington Heights, IL (near Chicago)
Tank size 25 planted with Driftwood play sand substrate, DIY CO2 injection
Eclipse 2 hood, but media is bonded filter, ceramic media and activated carbon, no bio wheel. Also run a sponge filter.
Params 0-0-5 78*F ph is 7.4 or 7.6 (I can't differentiate the color on the drop test card)
Occupants
2 Zebra danio (1 is a red Glo Fish) 2 Dwarf Gourami, M-F, 3 Adult Platy (at least 1 free swimming fry) 3 Neon Tetras 2 Kuhlis1 upside down catfish and 1 oto
Tank also has MTS, Red Ramshorns, Pond Snails and RCS
Water Changes 1-2 times a week to keep the tannins in check

Newest occupants are the neons, they are a month old and healthy and show no signs of illness and come from a store with healthy fish.

This all started about 1.5 months ago, before I got the tetra's. My dwarf Female Gourami got attacked by an Angelfish that has since been rehomed. The fight left her with a line of missing scales along her right side that looked like a bite mark, and a smaller nip on her "nose". She had been ok up until 2 weeks ago, where she started showing symptoms of what I thought was ich. I raised the tank temperature into the 80's and added aquarium salt to the main tank. She got a lot worse, rapidly, The skin near her mouth had started to peel, so I moved her immediately to a QT tank, which is now at 75*. She is spending all time at the surface breathing every few seconds, but it almost looks like she has to get a running start to get there.. I though she was trying to get the condensation on the cover. I don't have a camera capable of taking a decent enough picture to get any kind of information from. I can however tell you, she is looking more and more like some kind of zombie fish every day. Her eyes don't look right, are beginning to cloud over and her mouth is peeling away, and the angelfish wound isn't healing.
The QT is a ten gallon, with a heater and a powerhead with attached airline providing aeration.

So based on the worsening symptoms with raising water temp, I'd have to guess bacterial infection. What I can't figure out, is whether her wounds are simply infected and that's what is causing her illness, or if it's something more serious such as Flexibacter columnaris, and her wounds simply providing point of entry and lowered her immune system so she got sick first.

I started treatment with Marclyn-2, but I need to go get more, as my supply was left over from treating the glo-fish for dropsy. So i figured, I'd ask opinions here to see what I should do next. Do I continue her treatment as is, or is there something else I should try. And do I treat the Main Tank. No other fish are showing any symptoms, growths, or other unexplained injury or symptoms, and my large bioload and inverts has be concerned with anything that might affect my Beneficial Bacteria or kill my inverts, and I know a lot of meds will do both. Any recommendations there

Thanks.
 
That sucks, Trig :( I had a DG that developed a head lesion and then passed on (but actually from jumping out of the hospital tank).....

Hopefully one of the more experienced folk will come along with advice, but I would probably suggest moving your guy to the 10g HT and medicating there. When I medicated it nuked my BB, so definitely should keep an eye on that and do FREQUENT wc's...

Hope things work out!
 
Dwarf gourami are notoriously bad for bacterial infections. The wound may have just been enough to weaken the fish's immune system, but it sounds far more serious than a superficial wound. As far as I can tell your treatment of Maracyn 2 is absolutely the best. Go through a whole treatment. After one treatment I would let the fish rest and keep the water as clean as possible. Look for signs of tissue repair and healing. Then if you have to repeat the treatment.

I would not treat the whole tank UNLESS the other fish start showing symptoms.

Keep us updated.
 
Just noticed in a wiki they were susceptible to disease, I'll pick up some more Marclyn-2 tomorrow after work. Everyone else in the tank is still swimming, feeding, and acting just generally normal. The other DG, the Oto and the Platy fry (names lucky since he's the only one I've seen survive so far) are all doing fine- and I would assume they would be the most susceptible- the DG for a species handicap, the oto since they seem to die if I sneeze too loud near the tank and the fry since he's only a few weeks old. Thanks for the replys, unless someone has any other suggestions, I'll keep with my current plan of QT, slightly lower temp, and Marcyln-2.
 
the oto since they seem to die if I sneeze too loud near the tank

Hah! Isn't that the truth? But seriously, keep an eye on that other gourami. I've seen them fall off one at a time; maybe just coincidence, but just watch 'em like a hawk.
 
If you can, lower the water level so she doesn't have to work too hard to get to the surface for a gulp of air.

Or else have a large leafed silk plant that she can lie on not too far from the surface.
Keep the room quiet and lights low, if you can.

Keep us posted. Wishing you the best.
 
Thanks for the help, unfortunatly she died over night, she was on the PVC I put near the surface for her to rest on. I'll keep monitoring the other fish closely, but so far doing fine. The Platy fry is actually big enough that he's swimming near the crypts instead of hiding in the java moss all the time, and the oto was happily munching on some blanched zuccini last I saw him.
 
Sorry for the loss -- hope for you to have good luck moving forward!
 
AquariaCentral.com