Gourami "sinking" to the bottom...

[tinetine]

I'm hoping someone can help.

I have a well established 30 gallon tank w/ 2 paradise blue gouramis, 2 dwarf gouramis and 5 tiger barbs and a spotted cory cat. All of the fish are healthy, the tank is healthy... but I have one paradise blue who is a tad smaller than the other gouramis and seems to be picked on.

One of his side fins has been torn away to almost nothing, but I don't see any other visible signs of distress. However, he doesn't swim "right." He lays listlessly on the bottom of the tank most of the time, but swims around diving at food when I feed them. So he does still eat. However, he often misses his target and doesn't seem to have much control when swimming.

The store in my local area told me to treat the tank w/ melafix which I did, however it doesn't seem to be working. Everything is thriving except this one little guy. I've taken to calling him Scrappy since he seems to be trying to fight his way through!

Lost post... sorry. Is there anything else you can suggest? Does this sound like more than a case of being "picked on" by the others? This morning I found him upside down in a fake plant. I thought for sure he was gone, but when I put the net in, he immediately perked up. It's frustrating!

Thanks!!!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sounds like swim bladder issues. These are usually caused by internal bacterial infections that infect the fishes swim bladder.

If the fish is still eating, my advice is to get some anti-bacterial medicated fish food. These are a good option to use when treating internal infections. You will also want to get an antibiotic such as Maracyn-Two and dose your tank with it.

Melafix is a medication for external illnesses, so no, it wouldn't do much for your fish besides fix his fin.

HTH

 

[severum mama]

Keep your test kit handy when you dose the Maracyn 2. I used it for a bacterial algae outbreak and it worked well, but it did affect the bio filter even though I believe the package claims that it won't.