Blue Gourami turning patchy brown

[juliemichelle]

I was checking out my 55 gal tank, relaxing, this morning and noticed that my blue gourami is discolored to a reddish brown in places. My water is testing at 0 ppm for ammonia and 7.5 ph. I just did a 20% water change on Tuesday. Any ideas?

 

[Allivymar]

Ruh Ro Shaggy.

Some more questions; theres not quite enough to go on yet:

Are the reddish brown areas raised? Are the edges white? Where are they located?

Any behavior changes in the fish; heavy breathing, not eating, moving differently, etc?

Ammonia levels are obviously great; what about nitrites and nitrates? And pH?

Any idea how long its been going on? Did it definitely start last nite/this morn? Or is it unclear? And what about the tankmates? Any changes with them?

 

[juliemichelle]

Areas aren't raised, and edges aren't white. They on on his underbelly, one on his side and one on his tail area - not is fin. He is eating like pig (as usual) and acting like his pushy self. Ph is at 7.5 (my tap water is at 8 so I am slowly moving it from 7 to eight). I don't have a test for the nitrites or nitrates. I didn't watch him too closely last night because I have baby fry in the other half of the tank and I could care less right now about him (compared to usual) (there is a divider between the happy family and tankmates).

 

[Allivymar]

I hate to recommend medicating when I'm not fairly sure whats going on, so I won't yet. I'm suspicious that most of the markings seem to be on the lower half of his body, but I can't put a finger on why that would be. Do get the nitrites/nitrate levels checked (if you can't get a test right away, drag a water sample to a lfs and have them test for you) to be sure ALL water parameters are ok, and just keep a close eye on him. I'd do a water change anyway just to be on the safe side.

Btw, I may have missed the post. What sorta fry?? Babies...wheeee!

 

[juliemichelle]

My convict cichlids had a large batch of babies on Tuesday - thought they were algae/pooh and almost vacuumed! I hate to medicate at this time too because of the babies only being separated by a divider and I don't have another tank that they could go in (just a 10 gallon with 2 bettas - hungry bettas) My lfs people are out of town until Tuesday. I'll keep a close eye on him and if he acts starts acting funny I'll have to figure something out. I'd hate to lose my first batch of babies.