Oh no, Petey has a disease!

supgourami

supgourami

Gourami Expert
Jun 10, 2006
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Well, one of my favorite fish ever, Petey, my pearl gourami, has something wrong with him.


I'm not sure what it is, but its something. His eyes are clouded over and half of his body has a whitish film. He doesn't swim much and instead of being to confident and happy, swimming right in front of the tank, he sort or falls back behind everyone else. He usually shows off his fins too, but instead they are all scrunched together.


I'll be putting him in a hospital tank when I'm done posting this, and doing frequent water changes, but is there anything else I can do for him? Buy meds, anything?


I love Petey and if he dies, I will die.
But not really, just be really sad. :sad:
 
1) After you get him into the hospital tank, take a good look at him and
note all the symptoms.
2) Get back on-line, search fish diseases and try and find something that
matches what you observed. The same site will likely tell you available
treatment.
3) Take a photo, post it here, and see if it's anything any of us can help
identify if you can't find a solution during your research efforts.

Throwing treatment at a fish without knowing what's actually wrong with it is generally a not great idea.

Other than that, keep the lights off, increase the temperature of his tank a degree or two, consider some artificial floating plants to help keep his stress levels down.
 
Wishful said:
Other than that, keep the lights off, increase the temperature of his tank a degree or two, consider some artificial floating plants to help keep his stress levels down.
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I would excercise caution at increasing the tank temperature. Many bacteria become more virtulent at higher temperatures. IMO keep it the same as the main tank until you ascertain just what this is.

Roan
 
increase the temperature of his tank a degree or two
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NOT a good idea. while increasing the temperature when you are treating a fish for the ich parasite is reasonable (it speeds up the life cycle, therby increasing the numbers of that life stage which will succumb to drugs), doing so for pathogenic diseases will only serve to (a) stress the already weakened fish and (b) increase the virulence of the disease process.
 
Hrm. Well, the increase in temperature advice came from several sources, including a vet who handles fish fairly regularly. Then again, I've certainly had plenty of experience with vets giving out misinformation on other animals.

How's Petey doing?
 
His eyes are clouded over and half of his body has a whitish film
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cloudy eyes in fish can have many causes including velvet, Ich, fish tuberculosis, corneal edema, cataracts, nutritional deficiency, bacterial infections, fungus, or on rare occasions digenetic flukes such as Diplostomum. trauma and hereditary factors can also be causative. in the vast majority of cases however, water quality is the issue. have you checked your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?

a "whitish film" which covers a significant portion of the body could be any of various types of protozoa which can cause these symptoms, and they are treated in a similar way. the different parasites are Costia (Ichtybodo), Cyclochaeta (Trichodina), and Chilodonella respectively, the last being the most resistant of the parasites. once the disease has spread to the gills, it is at its most deadly, and could prove fatal to the affected fish. this is probably best treated with malachite green. If not effective try short-term table salt water bath or Formalin water bath.
 
All my levels are normal, the nitrates are normal, ammonia's down, pH is 7.



The water seems fine.


Petey is doing better, I put him in a hospital tank and put a tiny bit of fungus meds in his water. He seems a little better, but he needs more time I think.
 
supgourami said:
All my levels are normal, the nitrates are normal, ammonia's down, pH is 7.



The water seems fine.


Petey is doing better, I put him in a hospital tank and put a tiny bit of fungus meds in his water. He seems a little better, but he needs more time I think.
Click to expand...

What are the exact numbers for your water paramters? Ammonias down doesn't sound good, it should be at ZERO. Maybe you could post a pic of your little guy to help us help you!
 
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