Gouramis With a Lump and Acting Weird

[GouramiFanatic]

Yesterday I noticed that 2 of my Gouramis have a tiny red bump on the left side of their mouth. It's on the same spot on both of them. It's a very small bump, but it seems weird that they both have it and it's in the same spot. Any ideas on what this could be?

Also, I noticed that they're not acting normally anymore. They'll be swimming around totally normally for a little while and then all of a sudden they get this burst of energy or something and they zoom to the other end of the tank or they just do a nose dive straight to the bottom. Sometimes when they stop swimming after one of these 'episodes' they kind of swim on their side for about a second before straightening out and carrying on again. A little while passes and then they'll do it again. Any ideas on what's going here? Could the bump and this swimming pattern be a sign of a parasite or infection?

I'm in the process of getting the water parameters. Will update in a about 5 minutes...

Also, just a note... my 3rd Gourami seems to be doing fine. He doesn't have a bump or anything.

Thanks,
- Mandy

 

[GouramiFanatic]

Well, I found a problem. I'm not sure if it's THE problem though...

Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 10-20ppm
PH = 6.4!!!! The last test about a week ago was 7.0!!!!

So, the PH dropped from 7.0 to 6.0=4 within 1 week! On the PH test kit it says possible causes are overfeeding (which I may be doing just to make sure they're ALL eating so I'll be cutting down on that), left over/uneated pieces of food (I just did a gravel vac yesterday so I got most of it already), overcrowding (all of the fish in my sig are in this aquarium), or poor filtration/air agitation (I just turned my filter up to the highest setting). I also cleaned the carbon (I don't have a spare to replace it right now).

Will this be enough or will I have to do more? Also are any of my fish in immediate danger of dying? I'm extremely worried

 

[fvalbr2l]

Hi I'm going through the same thing with one of my gouramis. I was told that it may swim bladder disease or its constipated. My gourami doesn't eat anymore so I couldn't treat for constipation. A fungus clear say's it treats swim bladder but I haven't tryed. Someone told me that 'Unfortunately, if this swimbladder then there isn't alot that you can do. Sometimes an antibiotic will work but that is only if the problem is caused by a bacterial infection. Other than a bacterial infection swimbladder disorders can also be caused by viruses, injury or genetic defects.'
To treat constipation thaw frozen peas and mush them up. the fish love it and it helps constipation.

 

[fvalbr2l]

i found a website on swim bladder disease.
http://www.netpets.com/fish/reference/freshref/swimbldr.html

 

[GouramiFanatic]

Thanks for the info. Going by what was read, I don't believe that this is swim bladder disease. Neither of these fish is floating at the top/bottom or struggling to swim. They're actually acting perfectly normal (picking at the gravel, rocks, plants, etc.) except for the occassional episode where they swim really fast like something is chasing them or something. One of the Gourami's hasn't done that fast paced swimming since I've done the things that I mentioned earlier to the aquarium and the other has only done it a couple of times that I saw.

Should I try putting in some PH Up to help boost the PH back up to where it was? I hate using chemicals, but I'm afraid that leaving it to low will kill my fish.

Thanks,
- Mandy

 

[rich311k]

6.4 is not that low. I would not mess with chems. What is the PH of your tap after sitting out over night?

 

[GouramiFanatic]

I tried calling my lfs today and here's what I was told...

They think that my Gouramis are doing something called 'flicking' which could be casued by the hardness of the water changing or other sudden water changes. They recommended that I bring in a water sample so they can test it. If the test comes back fine they recommended that I buy some Malifix (is that the right word?) which is a general medication that can be used. Does this sound like good advice?

I'm at a loss on what to do. I'm so worried for my fish. I really do love them dearly and I want to do what I can to keep them from dying.

Any help would be appreciated!
- Mandy

 

[Zagz]

Hi I'm going through the same thing with one of my gouramis. I was told that it may swim bladder disease or its constipated. My gourami doesn't eat anymore so I couldn't treat for constipation. A fungus clear say's it treats swim bladder but I haven't tryed. Someone told me that 'Unfortunately, if this swimbladder then there isn't alot that you can do. Sometimes an antibiotic will work but that is only if the problem is caused by a bacterial infection. Other than a bacterial infection swimbladder disorders can also be caused by viruses, injury or genetic defects.'
To treat constipation thaw frozen peas and mush them up. the fish love it and it helps constipation.

I had success treating swim bladder disease in my goldfish with triple sulfa.

They think that my Gouramis are doing something called 'flicking' which could be casued by the hardness of the water changing or other sudden water changes. They recommended that I bring in a water sample so they can test it. If the test comes back fine they recommended that I buy some Malifix (is that the right word?) which is a general medication that can be used. Does this sound like good advice?

I'm at a loss on what to do. I'm so worried for my fish. I really do love them dearly and I want to do what I can to keep them from dying.

Melafix andPimafix are medications that are mild and work well with most fish, but I don't recommend treating until you know what the illness is. Is there any chance you could post a pic of the lump? It might help with the diagnosis. Anything new added to the tank that might have caused your ph to drop? Crushed coral, medications?

 

[GouramiFanatic]

Melafix andPimafix are medications that are mild and work well with most fish, but I don't recommend treating until you know what the illness is. Is there any chance you could post a pic of the lump? It might help with the diagnosis. Anything new added to the tank that might have caused your ph to drop? Crushed coral, medications?

Unfortunately, my fish are at work and I'm now at home. However, I was able to find this photo http://www.fishpalace.org/unknowngrowth_mikeaofa.jpg which looks a lot like what's going on with my Gouramis. I don't know if the picture is deceiving or not, but lumps on my Gouramis don't look that large though, but still they're very similar. I'd guess the lumps on my Gouarmis are probably about the size of an asterisk = * I findi t very weird that both Gouarmis and the fish in that photo has the lump in the same spot.

I haven't added anything new to the tank in terms of rocks, formations, etc., but the Zebra Danios are new. I just added them a week ago today. One of the Gouramis had the lump when I added the Danios, unfortunately I noticed it after I had added the new fish. I don't like using medications/chemicals so I know that's not the problem.

- Mandy

 

[Guest]

Sounds like one of two things, either some sort of parasite (internal or external) or fungus. Gouramis are very prone to internal parasites so i think that could be the culprit. hard to tell with out any pictures though... And you could use the rule out method.. treat for fungus and if that doesn't work treat for parasites... try treating for parasites first. The bad thing with that is that using different meds will stress the fish especially when you are not sure what it as.
I had a gourami once that had a lumpy belly so i treated him in Quarenteen with antipariasite meds and he got better. Then he wound up dying 3 months later of no apparent cause :?
The best you can do is try your best to "diagnose" the condition and then treat what you think it is!

 

[GouramiFanatic]

Just wanted to post a quick update on this situation. I came into work this morning to find my newer and sickest Gourami had died over the weekend. He must've just died because there were no physical wounds on it to suggest that any of the other fish had begun picking at it. So now I'm back down to 2 Gouramis - the 2 that I originally started out with! They both seem to be doing very well. One of them was acting oddly last week, but I haven't seen him do anything strange at all today. I'm hesitant in saying this, but I'm hoping that he just had an off day and that he'll be just fine now.

Since I've been fortunate enough to keep the same pair of Gouramis since day one and they're both doing well I think I'm going to avoid adding any more. I can't help but feel guilty that my eagerness to add more Gouramis (even though I thought they were female) caused nothing but trouble. I'm sure that the stress of having multiple males in one tank caused a certain level of stress and perhaps this had something to do with all 3 of the new Gouramis to become ill and pass on. Either way, I'm happy I still have the original pair. They've survived a pretty good bout of Ich and now this. They're my little troopers. I hope they can stay strong for me!!

- Mandy

 

[Zagz]

So sorry for your loss!

 

[rich311k]

I am sorry for your loss. I hope the others are ok.