Blue Dwarf Gourami - overnight fin rot

[Mae140]

Hey guys,

I'm currently faced with fin rot in my blue dwarf gourami (His name is Inquisitor). I noticed the jagged areas and scale loss this morning when watching the tank.

The little guy doesn't seem to be too affected by it at the moment; his behavior hasn't changed and he's still as energetic as when I first purchased him (3 months ago).

I've been doing 10% water changes every day for the past 3 days (used to do a 25% every Saturday/Sunday). I would really prefer to not use any Pima/Melafix in the tank (I've read they can really impact Labyrinth fish; coating the labyrinth organ and making breathing difficult), and cannot add too much salt due to the presence of a few loaches and a peacock eel.

Is it possible to treat him using water changes only? Or should I set up a 10g hospital tank and treat with salt. I was also planning on cleaning out the canister filters set up to the tank, as I haven't done so for a few months.



Tank:
55g, sand bottom, live plants. Has a HoB Penguin 400, Fluval 406, and an eheim professional 2 hooked up to it. Got the 2 canisters from a friend and decided more biofilters wouldn't hurt.

Stock:
Blue Dwarf Gourami (The Inquisitor)
Peacock Eel (Washington)
Lady Angelfish (Johanna)
Dojo Loach (Kevin)
Khuli Loach (Rumps)
Population of Malaysian Trumpet Snails to help keep sand aerated (Only the eel likes to burrow).

Perameters:
Temp: 80 F
pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Nitrates: High - hence why finrot popped up. Working on lowering it with water changes (10% everyday)

 

[coralbandit]

He doesn't look all bad.
The rot is on tail?
Up your waterchange % not frequency.
10% doesn't count for much change.
50ppm nitrates with 10% wc = 45 ppm !!!!!!
50 ppm with 50% wc = 25ppm.
The math on 10% is a long battle(2 weeks IMO)
If you are 'high' then one more @10% to help fish adjust to other parameters that have changed/will change with clean water then higher % 40-50 IMO.

Are you familiar with DGIV?
Dwarf gourami iridovirus is apparently specific to the dwarf gourami (Colisa lalia), including the various fancy varieties of the species, such as neon gouramis and sunset gouramis. Infected fish develop a variety of symptoms, including loss of color, decrease in activity and appetite, the appearance of sores and lesions on the body, abdominal swelling and finally death. This fish disease is highly contagious, completely untreatable and invariably fatal.

Taken from
Aquarium Fish: Fish Viral Disease

 

[Potluck]

I've had 4 dwarf guramis that succumbed to that hence why I'll never buy another one, they're susceptible to disease.

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