sick dwarf gouramis - was it dgd?

[rayv]

I am new to keeping fish but have been under the guidance of my (very experienced) father, but we are both a little miffed at what happened with two of my four gouramis and their rapid deterioration of health. I purchased all four fish from the same store (Petco - we are aware that these fish can have health issues, but all presented as healthy at the store), and all seemed fine until today (four or five days after they came home). When I fed them this morning, I noticed the scales on one of my powder blue gouramis looked almost necrotic. A red gourami also had discoloration in the same part of his body, but his looked more white and splotchy than the blue's. I turned their light to a dark blue and did a 40% water change. I went about my day and returned to find these two fish in worse shape than when I left. The blue seemed a bit bloated and his eyes looked sunken in. He spent most of his time hiding in the dark at the back, top of the tank. The red was resting on the bottom and looked lethargic. Both patches had spread to the other side of their bodies (the images included were from the morning). I removed both and humanely put them to rest. The remaining two gouramis both appear healthy (open fins, eating, swimming around), but I'm wondering if they have the chance to catch whatever illness this was? Is my tank safe for future fish?

Aquarium is a 40 gallon breeder tank. I did a 15% water change on Tuesday (2/5/19) and the fish were introduced on Sunday (2/3/19).

 

[rayv]

apparently my photos did not work in the original post!

 

[King Fisher]

Dwarf Gourami's are known to have dropsy. It's why I don't keep them anymore. Probably a larger chance from Petco.

What does your water test out at? Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? Is this a new tank and is it cycled?

 

[rayv]

Everything tested at zero/acceptable levels. The tank is a new tank but was cycled for at least 48 hours before the fish were introduced.

 

[King Fisher]

Tanks typically take between 4-8 weeks to cycle unless you added media from an established tank. You should be reading some nitrates if it was cycled.

Is your water slightly clouded?

 

[rayv]

It was for the first couple of days (before fish were added) but cleared up.

 

[King Fisher]

I ask because it looks cloudy in the pics you posted. The cloudiness is a bacteria bloom.

I think you're looking at doing a fish in cycle at this point. My suggestion would be to test your water daily and when ammonia hits .25 ppm do a 33% water change. You don't want to let the ammonia get above .25 ppm. Same goes when you see nitrites, do a water change.

 

[rayv]

Okay, thank you for your suggestions! I am trying to establish a cycle so I can get the fish I really want, though I didn't mean to endanger the current inhabitants! Do you think this was what made the fish sick in the first place? Or were they a bit doomed from their breed/purchase location?

 

[King Fisher]

Many people do fish in cycles. You just have to be on top of things and willing to put in the work with water changes.

An uncycled tanks water parameters can swing and cause harm to a fish. That's why I say check the water daily. Sometimes you can go from zero to 1-2 ppm on ammonia or nitrites within 24 hours. Then you are doing multiple water changes to bring it down. Just remember, if you have, say, 1 ppm and you do a 50% water change you will then have .50 ppm. You may have to do several back to back water changes to lower ppm to an acceptable range.

Fish can be diseased prior to arriving to a store. Petco isn't the best at keeping fish and who knows where they come from or how they were kept prior to arriving at the store. The big no no I see with Petco is they run all thier tanks on the same filtration system so if one tank has disease there's a good chance all of them do.