Female Gourami seems "round"

[Max Taffey]

Over the past few days, my female fire honey gourami seems to have swelled quite noticeably. I know females generally have a more rounded belly than the males, but she is much larger than before.

I suppose it's possible she's carrying eggs, but how can I tell if that's the case, or if she's sick (maybe internal parasites)?

The second pic probably is the best view, because you can see her reflection at a slightly different angle.

BTW - this is not a result of overfeeding! They only get fed once per day, and none of my other fish are like this.

 

[Dr. Orifice]

Hey,
I'm not totally sure but I don't think that it'll be IPs fish with IPs that I've seen stomachs are sunken in instead of bloated. I'm no expert so I'm not totally sure though.
Good luck

 

[BlueJax]

Well, there's an easy way to find out if it's eggs: get a male and let them breed!

Seriously!

Hard to tell from your pictures, but she doesn't look too bad to me, definitely not dropsy anyway.

Internal parasites do tend to have a habit of emaciating fish as the above poster says.

Could be trapped air I suppose, in which case there isn't much you can do apart from wait for it to...er...disperse.

Does she behave normally otherwise or is she behaving as if something is wrong?

 

[rosita]

This might help. . . .

The same thing happened to a male dwarf blue I had. He swelled up quite a bit (looked like he'd swallowed a grape), with no pineconing, no signs of dropsy. Good appetite, movement in tank, poops, it was a mystery. Treated him with several types of meds over several weeks to no avail. Finally I had to euthanize him. (There's a great post w/pics on another forum but I don't know if I can link it. . . ) In the last couple of weeks another gourami keeper dredged up the post as he had similar problem. Did an autopsy on fish, he was full of stinky fluid but that was it. He's trying a combi of meds with success--if I can find the post, I'll let you know sometime today. Maybe you can catch it in time, too.
Dwarfs are notorious for having such ailments--breeding practices have gone downhill, lots of postings out there with similar stuff.
GOT it:
site's been down for upgrades,, supposed to be back up today. Good luck.
http://www.*************.com/forums/showthread.php?t=763

site blocked (?????????? very strange, this) is (without spaces)
a q a r i u m b o a r d . c o m / f o r u m s

 

[BucJason]

The same thing happened to a male dwarf blue I had. He swelled up quite a bit (looked like he'd swallowed a grape), with no pineconing, no signs of dropsy. Good appetite, movement in tank, poops, it was a mystery. Treated him with several types of meds over several weeks to no avail. Finally I had to euthanize him. (There's a great post w/pics on another forum but I don't know if I can link it. . . ) In the last couple of weeks another gourami keeper dredged up the post as he had similar problem. Did an autopsy on fish, he was full of stinky fluid but that was it. He's trying a combi of meds with success--if I can find the post, I'll let you know sometime today. Maybe you can catch it in time, too.
Dwarfs are notorious for having such ailments--breeding practices have gone downhill, lots of postings out there with similar stuff.
GOT it:
site's been down for upgrades,, supposed to be back up today. Good luck.
http://www.*************.com/forums/showthread.php?t=763

site blocked (?????????? very strange, this) is (without spaces)
a q a r i u m b o a r d . c o m / f o r u m s

why the heck did you euthanize him if he was acting normal and healthy and no signs of suffering?

 

[Max Taffey]

The same thing happened to a male dwarf blue I had. He swelled up quite a bit (looked like he'd swallowed a grape), with no pineconing, no signs of dropsy. Good appetite, movement in tank, poops, it was a mystery. Treated him with several types of meds over several weeks to no avail. Finally I had to euthanize him. (There's a great post w/pics on another forum but I don't know if I can link it. . . ) In the last couple of weeks another gourami keeper dredged up the post as he had similar problem. Did an autopsy on fish, he was full of stinky fluid but that was it. He's trying a combi of meds with success--if I can find the post, I'll let you know sometime today. Maybe you can catch it in time, too.
Dwarfs are notorious for having such ailments--breeding practices have gone downhill, lots of postings out there with similar stuff.
GOT it:
site's been down for upgrades,, supposed to be back up today. Good luck.
http://www.*************.com/forums/showthread.php?t=763

site blocked (?????????? very strange, this) is (without spaces)
a q a r i u m b o a r d . c o m / f o r u m s

Thank you very much Rosita. That link was extremley helpful (don't know why they block links that are provided only to help - not spam). What I saw from the pics looks exactly the same as what is happening to my gourami. What a shame. Anyway, appreciated the info.

 

[rosita]

why the heck did you euthanize him if he was acting normal and healthy and no signs of suffering?

I euthanized the poor bugger because he slowly stopped eating and swimming. He was absolutely miserable. (ref. to link) In an effort to contribute in the most helpful way, I decided against writing the life and death of Harry Gourami with ALL of the sordid details. Believe you me, my little man, I would never have put him down had I thought he would recover and live a comfortable life. Hey, I put down--nay, murdered my 3 month old filly years back---wanna flame me on that? She would have been a cripple until she maxed out at, say, 1000 pounds, hip/stifle would have crushed in on itself, and she probably would have collapsed in the middle of the night when these things happen--suffering.:thud:

 

[rosita]

Thank you very much Rosita. That link was extremley helpful (don't know why they block links that are provided only to help - not spam). What I saw from the pics looks exactly the same as what is happening to my gourami. What a shame. Anyway, appreciated the info.

No problem, Max. Hope Steve's info and med rec's will help your girlie girl. Catch her in time!!! I still can't figure out why Harry didn't just explode!!!!!:huh:

 

[naps]

This has been happening a lot with DG's!!
I hear Jungle Parasite tabs are the best trick.
Best of luck!