Dwarf Gourami, swollen mouth white/red getting progressively worse

[AlexS]

Hi guys,

I have had two Dwarf Gouramis for about three weeks now. the second week, one of them had an inflammation below his lip. It has been getting worse ever since, the top lip is now almost completely white and he seems to have a white spot underneath his skin but not breaking through.

Sorry in advance for the horrible quality of the pictures
Here is a picture from last week.

And this is how it looks today.

This is a new tank and before getting the fish I added Azoo bacteria starter and waited a week before adding the 2 DG's. The water went cloudy white several times (happening again right now)

I'm using the filtration system (which is mechanical) that came with my aquarium (Ciano Aqualight 80) however I have upgraded the pump yesterday from 260L/H (70gph) to a tetra WP 600 running at 600L/H (160gph)

The filtration and heater is hidden behind that black box

I do water changes at least 2x a week with a gravel cleaner and that is usually about 10-25%

I have been feeding my fish a mix of spirulina pellets, Tetra Pro colour crisps and Tetra Min tropical flakes. I feed them once a day and only around 2 flakes per fish.

And of course, all water I have added to the tank has been treated appropriately with dechlorinator.

I am currently trying Azoo Fungus treatment liquid as per instructions but so far no change.

Any help as to what it could be and what I should do would be tremendously appreciated

 

[Josie.paolillo]

It looks like an ulcer to me. Do you know your paramaters?

I think it sounds like your tank is not cycled, the cloudy water is a common sign of the nitrogen cycle establishing. Just adding bacteria (a lot of bacteria is dead)
And usually takes much more than 2 weeks to cycle. You also need to monitor paramaters to know if the cycle is complete.
I would try more frequent water changes, i would suggest 25-30% every other day. especially if you don't know you exact levels for ammonia/nitrite.

 

[AlexS]

Hi,

On the pictures it looks quite a bit less severe, I wish I had a better camera. There is skin loose too and what concerns me is that the top lip got a white dot which has made almost the entire top lip white. Could it be two different things? Either that or it's spreading.

I did another water change today of 40% and I will follow your advice on the water changes. I have a API master test kit which I have been using daily.

PH. 7.6
High range PH 8.0
Amonia 0. ppm
Nitrite 0.25 - 0.50 ppm (colour is somewhere in between)
Nitrate 0 - 5.0 ppm (colour somewhere in between)

 

[Josie.paolillo]

It looks like the nitrogen cycle is establishing I would go ahead and do another PWC to get the nitrite to 0.
Cycling with fish can be tough on them, it could also be ammonia burns, what ever it is, its likely been caused because of high toxin levels during the cycle. I'm sure he will really benefit from pristine water conditions. A lot of problems are caused by bad water quality, and can be fixed with frequent water changes and careful monitoring of the parameters

 

[AlexS]

Doing partial water changes every day now because Nitrites are spiking like crazy. The gouramis bottom lip is now completely gone, it seems to keep getting worse but all my other fish are doing fine so I don't think it's something contagious.

Is there any recommendation as to what I should do, such as what type of medicine I should get him? Fungus treatment didn't seem to make any difference.

 

[AlexS]

I went ahead and bought a 6 Gallon nano aquarium so I can put the DG in there with medicine until he is better. I'm just waiting for the heater to arrive

 

[AlexS]

Sorry for the triple post, I could not find an edit button**

Update: I think the dwarf gourami is suffering from iridovirus His front (belly I think) has swollen up, his silver parts are turning black. Also, he is not eating and staying at the surface constantly breathing air and turning onto his side. I think he does not have much longer to live. He is in a planted nano (QT) tank at the moment.