I don't THINK its fin rot.... UPDATE - not good news

[aquanewbie72]

One of my gouramis has an interesting hole in his dorsal fin. About the size of a pin hole. Has not gotten worse or better over the past 3 days, no behavior changes, no dark or white areas around it so I don't think its rot or any kind of fungus/parasite... my 2 gouramis pick at each other A LOT so maybe this is a battle wound.

It was VERY hard to get a picture - sorry its fuzzy but the red arrow points to the hole. Thoughts?

*picture removed*

 

[Zagz]

It very well might be a battle wound. I have the same problem in my tank right now, the only reason I know it is a battle wound is I saw the one gourami bite the other right where the tiny hole is. I am treating with melafix and added a few more hiding spots.

 

[aquanewbie72]

Thanks Zagz. Ordered a bottle of Melafix from Big Al's - should be here any day.


Thanks again!

 

[Zagz]

No problem, keep us posted on how he is doing.

 

[aquanewbie72]

oh one more question.... can I just Melafix my whole tank or do I need to QT this guy?

 

[Zagz]

Always best to QT when possible but you don't have to with melafix.

 

[aquanewbie72]

He died last night.
the hole in his fin got a little bigger but he also ended up with a wound on his head that kept looking worse and worse.
I picked up an old 10 gallon tank (to use as a QT tank) from my parents' house on Saturday afternoon - however got it home and realized the filter was not with it and there was no heater. He looked OK so I didn't worry too much about it. He was eating and swimming and active and all so I figured it could wait until I visited the LFS tonight. But last night he turned a dark color and started spiraling all over the tank at high speed and running into things. Not to mention when he would lay still, the other fish would start picking on him. It was awful. I was about to clean out the 10 gallon so he would at least have a place to die in peace but he took his last gasp a few minutes later. I feel absolutely HORRIBLE.

 

[aquanewbie72]

*sigh* I keep thinking about the little guy and getting all teary-eyed. Never realized how attached I was to him. I didn't even have him that long but he was so cool.

 

[rich311k]

I am sorry for your loss. I get quite attached to my fish as well.

 

[Zagz]

So sorry to hear about your loss, I have teared up over several of my fish that haven't made it.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sorry to hear about your loss...