sickly-looking FD gourami?

[hbeth82]

I have 3 dwarf gourami in my 55 gal community tank, 2 flames & 1 powder blue. One of the flames, always the runt of the group, has recently started looking really pale & bleached-out, like he'd been left out in the sun too long (like a stuffed-animal). He still seems to be eating well, getting 2 or 3 sinking pellets, but sometimes spitting out food if he eats more than that. He's also been a bit less active - he's always gotten most of the abuse but now he's no longer pestering the others. Other gourami don't seem any more aggressive than before. The only recent change to the tank is the addition of some plant food sticks in the substrate.

Here are the water parameters:
ammonia = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 15
pH = 7.2
temp = 79-80

Anybody know what could be wrong with the little guy or what I need to do?

Thanks!

 

[hbeth82]

Was finally able to get pictures of Chong so hopefully these will help diagnose the problem.

Found threads elsewhere online where others mention having this problem, suggestions were parasites and stress but nobody seemed to know for certain and in both cases, the fish died.

Should I try to isolate him or move him to another, gourami-free tank, treat him with something or just see what happens? Please let me know what you think!!!

 

[dkpate]

When my dwarf gets dark, I know there is something up. Not sure about pale though. I usually do a pwc, and he goes back to normal.

 

[hbeth82]

Did a water change after noticing this but that doesn't seem to have helped so far, I'll try a bigger change tonight.
Do you think it's very likely that he has been pestered too much & that this is stress showing? Don't notice them picking on him more than usual but it does seem like he's hiding more. Is he ok in this tank?

Thanks!

 

[dkpate]

He might be getting picked on. I started with 4, and 2 were bullied to death, and the other 2 had to be separated. Have you tried rearranging the tank?
I had my one DG in with my BGK, and they got along great. He is now in the community tank, but all of the other fish are smaller and faster than he is.

 

[hbeth82]

No, hadn't tried re-arranging the tank. Guess it's hard to imagine it any way other than how it is now (except with healthier looking plants!) but I'll try to move some of the bigger things around a bit when I do the water change. I've seen this suggested to others but does it usually help?

 

[dkpate]

I have heard it does, since they all have to establish new territories.

 

[hbeth82]

Read several posts where it's been suggested but never actually needed to try it. Did a 40% change and moved around the driftwood, clay pots, and some of the plants, and tried to make more hiding spots. Other than the one huge chunk of driftwood, I don't have anything really big to break up the line of sight.
Chong ate pretty well tonight but after moving everything was still being chased, though that could be because everyone was agitated over having their home re-arranged (psycho-pleco was extra territorial).
Hopefully this helps, thanks for the advice!

 

[dkpate]

I hope it works out for you! Keep me posted!

 

[hbeth82]

Thanks, me too! Happy that he's still eating pretty well, seems like a good sign.

 

[hbeth82]

Starting to think that all this time, Chong may not have been eating as well as I thought. Noticed a few days ago that he's continually eating & spitting out food, then sucking the same piece back in, over & over until either he looses the food in a plant or someone else gets it. They had frozen brine shrimp yesterday and he did the same thing with it but I think he at least swallowed a bit. If he continues to not eat, I'm not sure what to do as I don't want him to starve to death. Others are still picking on him but no worse than it has been in the past and he doesn't have torn fins or sores.

Any more ideas on what to do or what might be wrong?

 

[dkpate]

Ahhh, my dwarf does that too, but he does usually always eat the frozen bloodworms. Do you feed him flakes or micro pellets?

 

[hbeth82]

Part of what has me worried about him spitting out all his food is it's the same thing a bolivian ram did for a month or so before dying - never figured out what was wrong with him either. Most of the time they get Omega sinking pellets, with frozen brine shrimp or blood worms once a week, and carnivore pellets for the cory cats and pleco. I tried the Tetra tropical crisps but he wasn't interested in those.
In watching him, it doesn't look like he gets anything off of the sinking pellets. Does yours spit out the food whole or just little clouds?

 

[dkpate]

He spits the whole piece of food in and out, trying to break it up. Try putting some slightly crushed up flakes in for him. Mine loves flakes, and actually does this little whirlpool thing which brings the flakes to him.

 

[hbeth82]

I'll give the flake food a few more tries.

Fingers crossed!

 

[hbeth82]

Chong died this morning. Found him on the bottom, leaning against a plant and gasping, had to euthanize him.

RIP

 

[dkpate]

Oh no! Sorry about the little guy. I had a dwarf get sick and die too, for no reason. I think it might have been gourami disease.

 

[hbeth82]

Thanks for the advice & sorry to hear about your little one too.

Do you know if there's any kind of ratio concerning how many deaths you should expect over the course of a year? I think so far this year I've lost about 1 in 7 fish (3 out of 24 or so) and that seems kinda high.

 

[dkpate]

Hmm, let's see....I have 21 fish, and I have lost 10 fish (one was my fault if you remember), since last August, and 3 mystery snails. I have had dropsy, ich, fungus and who knows what. I think it just depends on the fish, not your care.

 

[hbeth82]

Yeah, remember poor Elvis and know that I hate hard lessons like that one, think I had several with my blue acara. Thanks for the reminder though that, as pets go, fish aren't the sturdiest, start feeling guilty and it's hard to remember that.
Has much of your trouble been with gourami or spread across species?