Pearl gourami, tail rot?

[freyar]

My bigger pearl gourami seems to have really bad tail rot. I do not have a quarantine tank and my smaller pearl gourami is also showing signs of fin rot. The little one has a black edging to her fins. It's a 55gallon, set up since the end of April, no fish until the last weeks of august except for some snails. In it I have 2 pearl gouramis, 6 zebra danios and 5 peppered cories. I got some Fungus Guard by Tetra from the man at the LFS who said he uses it himself, remove the filter carbon and redose after 5 days. Here's a picture of the gouramis. It was just a small amount this morning but now it looks like half her tail is gone . Oh and btw the smaller gourami is a male and the big a female of almost twice his length. I have never seen any fin nipping or quarrels.

 

[freyar]

Will this medication hurt my beneficial bacteria? I decided to treat my tank for 30gallons of water (3 tablets). Also the water is turning a faint green tint? It's not noticeable when you look at the front but if you look along the length of the tank it's no longer crystal clear.

 

[freyar]

The picture is a little blurry but you can see that there is a blue thing. There are little grains of this blue stuff that sink and leach out into the water. I think i'll just treat for 20 gallons unless I get some advice on what to do.

 

[Hholly]

Do you have reading for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? What is your water change schedule?

 

[freyar]

I don't know what my water parameters are, I'm asking for a test kit for Christmas. I do 25% weekly water changes with water conditioner, forgot exactly what it's called but API makes it.

 

[Hholly]

It wouldn't hurt to up the water changes to 50%.

 

[Zagz]

I would up your water changes to 50% and for the next few days do them every second day. Also remember to add dechlorinator to the water. For future reference a very good medicine is melafix and pimafix. Neither one of these products will hurt your cycle.

 

[freyar]

Will do! I think I might do 25% everyday because it's easier, one bucket out, one bucket in! And I always use dechlorinator, so that won't be a problem. I won't be able to get anything until after Christmas because I don't have time to get to the petstore tomorrow. I am reading about the medication online and it's supposed to be very effective and fast, but they say you should put the meds in then wait four days, do a water change, then if you need to treat again.

 

[freyar]

Today in the middle of my mom's Christmas party I saw my little gourami eating off the tail of the big one. The larger one didn't even notice and the smaller one took several bites before I could get across the room to scare them (I usually don't tap the glass but I felt that it would be ok to freak out the little one for a minute to save the big one's tail). I quickly went to find a container (I found one that was 3/4 gallon) and floated it it the tank full of tank water, put some floating plants in and caught the smaller gourami. I think that I will exchange its water twice a day until I find something suitable to part the tank with so that the gourami's are separated (it'll be like 2 twenty gallons next to each other.) Though I might make the bigger gourami's side smaller because it doesn't move as much, and the danios will want space. I have never seen that little fish be mean in any way, chase or nip at another fish.

 

[Hholly]

That is very odd. I wonder why it's doing that? Pearls are usually so peaceful.

 

[freyar]

I know! That's why I chose them, but it didn't seem like an aggressive thing it looked more like "Hmm, your tail tastes delicious, I think I'll take another bite if you don't mind."

 

[freyar]

This is her rightnow. Her tail looks like it falling apart, it's getting worse but way slower than the last few days.

 

[Hholly]

Have you medicated the tank? Salt? Do you have a test kit? They are helpful. Hopefully things will turn around quickly.

 

[freyar]

I'm using Tetra Fungus Guard, no salt because of the plants and no parameters but I hopefully will get a test kit soon. I really hope she getsbetter she was really pretty before I added the little pearl gourami. I might return the little one to the store.

 

[Hholly]

At least tails grow back.

 

[freyar]

Yup, with the little pearl gourami out of the way (I think she might have been bullied while no one was looking) she's starting to get the pearly pattern back, she completely lost it for the last few days except right in the middle of her side.

 

[freyar]

There is visible cloud around the edge of the fin where there's still skin. I added more fungus guard (treating for 40 gallons now) and hoping for the best.