Hi all, I'm new to the forums but I've been running my 50 gallon freshwater tank for almost 2 years now.
Near the beginning I lost a few fish and learned some lessons the hard way, so I'm fairly particular about taking care of my fish now.
A few weeks ago I noticed my moonlight gourami (who was very active, greedy and sociable in the tank) got what looked like a red pimple on one side of nose. It didn't seem to change its behaviour and continued to act normally.
I did panic a little and I added more salt to the tank than I normally would put in order to help it fight off whatever infection it may have had.
The other fish seemed fine. After about a week the reddish growth withered away.
However during this time I noticed the gourami being more picky about its food sometimes spitting it out.
Then eventually I noticed it stopped eating completely. All the other fish continued as normal and the reddish growth on the gourami seemed altogether gone now.
It also became less social but wasn't hiding. Apart from its behaviour change and refusal to eat it physically looks fine.
A week ago I noticed it had a tell tale stringy white poop and I started to think from what I've been reading on the forums that I'm dealing with some sort of parasite, probably internal.
2 days ago I started 25% water changes every day and also started medicating the tank with Metro+ that contains metrodinazole. I decided to medicate the whole tank in case the other fish may be getting infected too. I soaked all the feed in the metro+ solution and also added it as a bath to the tank.
So far all the other fish are still fine but the gourami is still not acting like itself and not eating even though it doesn't seem to be getting worse.
My question is should I quarantine the gourami and give it a serious bath in metro+? Or continue to add salt and metro to the tank and hope it recovers?
Does the fact that the pimple went away and it's not getting worse mean the gourami is getting better?
I'm afraid to put the gourami in the quarantine tank bc I fear the change in environment will stress it out and it will lose the battle. So I'm hoping to keep it comfortable in its familiar surroundings and hope it recovers.
Is this a bad idea?
Thanks for any ideas on how to move forward.
Edit: I forgot to add that I noticed whenever I added the Metro+ medication to the tanks the gourami would swim a bit more erratically and twitch every once in a while, then after a few hours, it would be fine and continue on with its new passive behaviour.
The fish I have in the 50 gallon right now are:
1 x clown loach (about 3 inches long),
1 x moonlight gourami (about 5 inches long),
8 x ember tetras,
4 x corys,
1 x black spotted catfish (about 6 inches long, gift from friend, not sure what species),
8 x otos,
3 x angelfish (1 adult and 2 tiny albino juveniles)
2 x siamese algae eaters (about 4 inches long each)
5 x guppies
It seems I have a lot of fish, but most of them are small
Near the beginning I lost a few fish and learned some lessons the hard way, so I'm fairly particular about taking care of my fish now.
A few weeks ago I noticed my moonlight gourami (who was very active, greedy and sociable in the tank) got what looked like a red pimple on one side of nose. It didn't seem to change its behaviour and continued to act normally.
I did panic a little and I added more salt to the tank than I normally would put in order to help it fight off whatever infection it may have had.
The other fish seemed fine. After about a week the reddish growth withered away.
However during this time I noticed the gourami being more picky about its food sometimes spitting it out.
Then eventually I noticed it stopped eating completely. All the other fish continued as normal and the reddish growth on the gourami seemed altogether gone now.
It also became less social but wasn't hiding. Apart from its behaviour change and refusal to eat it physically looks fine.
A week ago I noticed it had a tell tale stringy white poop and I started to think from what I've been reading on the forums that I'm dealing with some sort of parasite, probably internal.
2 days ago I started 25% water changes every day and also started medicating the tank with Metro+ that contains metrodinazole. I decided to medicate the whole tank in case the other fish may be getting infected too. I soaked all the feed in the metro+ solution and also added it as a bath to the tank.
So far all the other fish are still fine but the gourami is still not acting like itself and not eating even though it doesn't seem to be getting worse.
My question is should I quarantine the gourami and give it a serious bath in metro+? Or continue to add salt and metro to the tank and hope it recovers?
Does the fact that the pimple went away and it's not getting worse mean the gourami is getting better?
I'm afraid to put the gourami in the quarantine tank bc I fear the change in environment will stress it out and it will lose the battle. So I'm hoping to keep it comfortable in its familiar surroundings and hope it recovers.
Is this a bad idea?
Thanks for any ideas on how to move forward.
Edit: I forgot to add that I noticed whenever I added the Metro+ medication to the tanks the gourami would swim a bit more erratically and twitch every once in a while, then after a few hours, it would be fine and continue on with its new passive behaviour.
The fish I have in the 50 gallon right now are:
1 x clown loach (about 3 inches long),
1 x moonlight gourami (about 5 inches long),
8 x ember tetras,
4 x corys,
1 x black spotted catfish (about 6 inches long, gift from friend, not sure what species),
8 x otos,
3 x angelfish (1 adult and 2 tiny albino juveniles)
2 x siamese algae eaters (about 4 inches long each)
5 x guppies
It seems I have a lot of fish, but most of them are small
