unknown fish sickness, also killing shrimp

[Rowangel]

ugh, that looks painful. *sigh* these things can be soo difficult to treat sometimes. I know the whole tank is probably suffering from something, but those gouramis look bad. At this point you might want to consider pulling the gouramis and setting them up in a hospital tank on their own. No plants, no gravel, just a clean 20 or 10g with a filter that can be seeded from your 55g tank and heater if necessary. You can continue to treat the main tank, but this will allow you to treat your gouramis more accurately, observe their food intake and keep the water crystal clear. Most important IMO right now is perfect, clean water. I still think it looks like a bacterial infection, especially with the fuzzy white stuff developing. I have heard Melafix (info here) is a good medication for this. I would start treating with this asap and see how the gouramis do. If this starts helping, you can treat your main tank in turn.

I’m sorry I can’t be of more help (and chances are someone else has already given you this advice ) but I hope things get better for you and your fish fast. Good luck, and please keep up posted.

 

[Star_Rider]

I dunno..it looks like something took a chunk out of your fish..are you sure you have siamese algae eaters?

if they were attacked ansd flesh exposed you would see fungus from the wounds possibly secondary bacterial infection.

I'm curious..what is your water change schedule like?

as suggested you might consider moving the gouramis if possible.

in any event if you are feeding the gouramis anti bacterial food and they ingest the food they are getting dosed with meds. I would consider changing out water.

when my angel had HITH I did daily water changes after treating with parasite clear(it is suggested that HITH is related to parasites some studies indicated flagellated protazoan) in any case once there is an exposed wound..clean water is an essential part of the recovery.
in my case I changed out 50% treated the tank 48 hrs did 25% change out redosed after 48 hrs then changed out 25% after which I did daily 20% changes. after a week there was noticable improvements and continued water changed every other day till the fish recovered.
result was no secondary infection(bacterial) al signs of HITH are gone and she(angel ) is laying eggs again.

 

[Tulipa]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your suggestions and comments. Sadly, the gourami pictured above passed away yesterday. Towards the end of the day he was gasping for air and "resting" at the bottom of the tank; not long after that I found him deceased.

I have one remaining gourami and I'm waiting to see if he gets any better.

Since I dosed the tank with the Metronidazole three days ago, there has been a 25% water change after 48 hours. The tank is due for another 25% change today. I've been told not to remedicate the tank with the Metronidazole for a long while, if at all, and that it may take weeks to show improvement. The remaining gourami doesn't look like he's knocking on death's door but he's still unwell. I'll be watching him closely.

I am certain that the fish I think are Siamese Algae Eaters really are - they do not attack other fish and I have observed them eating algae from plants and tank walls. They do not harass or even interact much with the other fish; they stay in their own group of four and are active amongst themselves. The gouramis were the most dominant fish of the tank.

I do think the gourami's wounds were getting a secondary fungal infection, but the origin of the wounds still remains uncertain to me. All the affected fish have had open sore-like wounds. The hole in the head of the deceased gourami was the only one to not appear as a sore.

The water's parameters have consistently tested within normal ranges, though green water often plagues tanks in my geographical area (Bay Area, CA). I've installed a UV filter and it is slowly helping to clear up the tank. I have a second tank which is afflicted with green water from time to time as well, though that tank has not had any illnesses or problems with parasites, just the green water.

None of my other fish in the gouramis' tank - SAEs and zebra danios - appear unwell at this point, though I know that could change overnight; they are all eating the anti-bacterial food and I will be keeping a close eye on them as well. I do not have a spare tank for hospital tanking at this time but may pick a small one up to treat this gourami; I'm leery of treating my tank a third time with yet another new medication, especially so soon after dosing it with the Metronidazole.

Thanks again to all of you for your thoughts and suggestions. I'll post again soon; hopefully the last gourami will pull through.