Red spots/streaks on Opaline Gourami's cheek/mouth area.

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Burks

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
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Location
Toledo, OH
I noticed today that on the left side of my Opaline Gourami's mouth/cheek area there look to be some very small red dots/streaks. The area is also a goldish color instead of the normal pale blue/grey.

Any idea what this is? I'm thinking possible bacterial infection. If it is I would treat in QT with broad range antibiotics like tetracycline and penicillin?

Water temp is 78 degrees
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
pH - 7.2

I do water changes every 2-3 days of 10-20% depending on how nasty the water gets. No recent addition to the tank. I've had the same fish for about 2-3 weeks, same for the sword, and Anacharis about 2 weeks. My White Clouds are perfectly fine with no markings or red spots. The gourami doesn't seem to be acting funny or anything either.

Edit: Forgot my tank did have a brown algae bloom about 4 days ago. Have been doing frequent water changes to get rid of it.
 
I do water changes every 2-3 days of 10-20% depending on how nasty the water gets

Your water shouldn't get too nasty in 2-3 days. How many fish do you have, and what size tank?

Columnaris can sometimes discolor an area, leaving red marks, before the serious infection sets in. Any chance for a picture?

I would QT and treat like mentioned. Tetracycline or Maracyn-Two would work. I don't think Penicillin is too easy to come by...atleast it sure isn't around here.

HTH
 
Devilishturtles said:
I do water changes every 2-3 days of 10-20% depending on how nasty the water gets

Your water shouldn't get too nasty in 2-3 days. How many fish do you have, and what size tank?

Columnaris can sometimes discolor an area, leaving red marks, before the serious infection sets in. Any chance for a picture?

I would QT and treat like mentioned. Tetracycline or Maracyn-Two would work. I don't think Penicillin is too easy to come by...atleast it sure isn't around here.

HTH

I've been stirring the bottom up a lot lately with new plants and such. So the water gets pretty dirty quickly. Normally it would only be once a week.

I can "try" to get a picture but I doubt I'll be able to. Haven't figured out photographing moving objects yet. I'm used to coins.

The fish store near my parents has Penicillin so getting some of that wouldn't be a problem.

Let me go try to take a picture really quick.
 
Try putting the camera on the "sports" or "action" settings. This quickens the frame and makes them not blurry. Setting the macro mode can also help get detailed pictures (the macro symbol is usually a little flower).
 
Sorry for the somewhat blurry images. Still getting the hang of things. As you can see toward the mouth region it is a gold/red color.

img_649032_0_98a6443550b2dbda6f908bc6bb7247c7.jpg

img_649032_1_a917fb5d05cbd7ec88c150e4bcfbc599.jpg

img_649032_2_650aff5474ed3e7fa15ae5836b47033d.jpg


What about a product like Melafix?
 
Kinda looks like it's in the eye of the fish in that last picture. I would use the antibiotics, personally.

Can't really identify a specific pathogen, but bacterial is my best guess.

HTH
 
Before medicating, I would wait a bit to see if any other signs of disease show up. If it's acting normal (eating well, swimming normally, not scratching against objects, breathing normally, etc.), I'd probably just let it be. Meds can sometimes do more harm than good.

By the goldish coloring, do you mean on the lower part of the body? That looks pretty normal. The parents were probably a gold and opaline gourami (they are the same species).
 
I'll keep a close eye on him and his tankmates for the next few days (in seperate tanks of course). If the problem gets any worse I'll treat with Melafix.

Checked the disease sites and really didn't find anything exactly like he has. Best I could find was Hemorrhagic Septicemia (Red Streak Disease) http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Septicemia . Doubt it is caused by ammonia, test came back as either 0 or between 0-0.25.

The goldish color is right around the red area. I never noticed it before until the red started showing up. Maybe I just overlooked it. :?
 
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