"Pin holes" in fins and gasping fish

[UntimelyLord]

Hi, haven't been on this forum in a while quite frankly because of depression.
Anyway I know figuring out fish illness is often a shot in the dark but I'm lost on this one so here goes.

My dwarf gourami suddenly got what looks like clean pin holes in his fins. It does not look like fin rot. They are in the middle of his fins, not the edges. The next day he was gasping constantly at the surface and refused food. Ammonia is zero, nitrites are zero, and there is almost no nitrate as the tank is heavily planted and understocked.
Nothing new has been added to this tank in over a year. I have had the gourami for about a year and a half. I did plently of water changes and removed him to a hospital tank.

I am currently treating the hospital tank with Maracyn Two in a sort of last-ditch effort. I did plenty of searching around online and could find no cases the matched mine, or at least none where anyone knew what to do about it. I went to my LFS and they said it sounded strange but as best the could guess could be bacterial, and recommended Maracyn Two because it was what they had that is supposed to treat the bacteria that causes bacterial gill disease and also fin rot. I know better than to trust pet store employee advice but since I had nothing else to go on I figured at least I would feel better if I tried something as opposed to nothing.
I have read about dwarf gourami disease but it seems that in almost all cases this comes up within months of having the fish. Possibly the inbreeding amongst dwarf gourami makes them more susceptible to bacterial disease.
Something that may or may not be related: I've been treating this tank as "contaminated" for a year now, as sometimes the fish get small slow-growing lumps, sometimes the size of a grain of sand, sometimes a couple millimeters. Often they go away on their own, sometimes they do not. They don't seem to be a problem to the fish unless a lump is on the gill area or the mouth. I have lost a couple fish (euthanized because lumps were preventing them from eating and/or breathing) but it has been at least six months since I've lost a fish, maybe more. There are not any lumps on the gourami. The lumps were only ever on skirt tetras. I thought it was lympocystis because I couldn't figure it was anything else.

Any ideas are appreciated, thank you. Sorry for the long post.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello Lord...

Tank problems are most times water related and can be taken care of by just improving the water quality. Start working up to the point you change out most of the tank water weekly and do a good job of vacuuming the bottom material. You can also add a bit of standard aquarium salt to the replacement water. A teaspoon in every 5 gallons of new, treated tap water is enough to discourage the growth of parasites and to ease the stress and breathing of the fish. This small amount won't harm your plants. Putting chemicals into the tank water is risky at best, because you don't know how the fish will react.

Just keep the tank water extremely clean. Parasites and pathogens won't do well in pure water conditions.

B

 

[V227]

Untimely
I believe you have correctly answered your own questions; it's been well documented among some of the more experienced keepers on AA that many types of today's Gouramis are weakened fish and are more suseptable to species specific diseases.
Regarding the reoccurring growth / lumps on your fish; it does sound like Lymphocystis. A forum member recently had euthanize a Rainbow fish with a similar growth in the gills. Lymphocystis isn't an indicator of a "contaminated" tank. It's an ugly, non lethal virus much like a cold sore. There is no way to determine with any certainty when or where your fish were exposed to the virus, but the way to control an outbreak is through good nutrition, pristine water and in bad cases, euthanize.
IMO, BB' s above listed water management advice is your best course of action.
No need to be depressed. All of us have have to deal with unfortunate obstacles that occasionally arise.