possible dwarf gourami disease / iridovirus - any suggestions beyond euthanasia?

[hbeth82]

A few weeks ago, I came back from being out of town for a week and noticed that one of my powder blue DG's had some raised scales and a small sore on his side. Upped the water change, and kept an eye on the tank parameters, but the sore spread and noticed that his ventral fins looked bad also. Looking into it I began to suspect that it was the DGD or iridovirus, so I put him in QT with water changes every other day but the sores keep getting worse (you can't see it well in the first picture but the right side of his head is just an open wound). He's still eating some but with much less enthusiasm and spends most of his time at the corner of the tank near the surface. Hate to give up on him since he is still eating, but it doesn't look like he enjoys being a fish anymore.

Meanwhile, whatever this is seems to have been passed on to my two other DGs, also powder blues. Their sores aren't as bad but they've gotten worse over the last several weeks. I've read on a few sites that there's evidence this may be passed on to angelfish and some Ramirez dwarf cichlids, and I have both.

Tank parameters:
QT (established filter): 82F, ammonia & nitrites = 0, nitrate ~ 5
main tank (55gal, established): 79F, ammonia & nitrite = 0, nitrate ~ 15

Aside from moving the other DGs to the QT and apparently waiting for nature to take it's course, does anybody have any suggestions on treatment options? Also, should I euthanize the first DG to show symptoms or do you think he can recover from this?

Thanks

 

[Delapool]

Just curious but are you going to try antibiotics at all? Or have you tried any treatment plan at all?

 

[hbeth82]

Just curious but are you going to try antibiotics at all? Or have you tried any treatment plan at all?

My understanding has been that there really weren't any ways to treat viruses or viral infections in fish, which is why I've been focusing on trying to keep the water as clean as possible. Of course, that's assuming this is a virus and not something else. I have been adding Kordon Fish Protector with each change but that's been it.

I have some metronidazole on hand, can give that a shot with tonight's water change.

 

[coralbandit]

Looking better or worse since move to QT?
I question the elevated temp without knowing what is going on?
DGI is incurable at this point,and unfortunately often quickly fatal.
Sorry about your fish,I would suggest looking to another type of gourami in the future.


I also wouldn't be keeping 2 dwarfs together ,more or less 3!!!.
Do you think they are male female and ?
Males are brutal on each other and can just stress another to death!

 

[hbeth82]

I also wouldn't be keeping 2 dwarfs together ,more or less 3!!!.
Do you think they are male female and ?
Males are brutal on each other and can just stress another to death!

Actually they all seem fairly indifferent to each other so I don't think that's the issue, plus they got along fine for 3 weeks in a 10gal QT so I'm sure there would be even less issue in a 55gal.

 

[hbeth82]

Here's an updated picture of the little guy who's been in QT for about 2 weeks. It's not a very good picture but I just noticed that the largest sore which is on his side has two little white fleshy pieces hanging out. They're about the same size as his scales but float pretty loosely, and there's another smaller one appearing at the center of a sore right above his right eye. Any thoughts on what that is? Wondered if it wasn't some type of parasite that was kind of tunneling out, but seems unlikely that there would be species-specific parasites.

 

[Delapool]

Just quickly but my other thought was a bacterial ulcer. Like NTD and FNTD one is pretty much incurable and the second is just very difficult however we can try a treatment, particularly if the fish are declining anyway. More in a tick.

Edit - what else have you got meds wise? Metro wouldn't be my first choice.

 

[hbeth82]

I'll take an alternative diagnoses with more hope! I thankfully don't have any personal experience with neon tetra disease but the descriptions don't seem to match what I'm seeing. Aside from the open sores / ulcers, they look fine, I don't see any changes to muscles or bone, but that seems to be one of the main symptoms of NTD.

Below is a list of the meds I have on hand, please let me know if you think any of them might work (mainly anti-parasite treatments but some stuff has cross-purposes):
Kanaplex
Metronidazole
Clout
Parasite Guard
ParaGuard
MaracynPlus
PraziPro

Anything useful in this little arsenal, or can you recommend anything?

 

[Delapool]

I'll take an alternative diagnoses with more hope! I thankfully don't have any personal experience with neon tetra disease but the descriptions don't seem to match what I'm seeing. Aside from the open sores / ulcers, they look fine, I don't see any changes to muscles or bone, but that seems to be one of the main symptoms of NTD.

Below is a list of the meds I have on hand, please let me know if you think any of them might work (mainly anti-parasite treatments but some stuff has cross-purposes):
Kanaplex
Metronidazole
Clout
Parasite Guard
ParaGuard
MaracynPlus
PraziPro

Anything useful in this little arsenal, or can you recommend anything?

Sorry, post was a bit short.

What I meant was that like NTD and FNTD; viral vs bacterial infections can be hard to tell apart. Say we think we are 75% certain it is viral. We still have a 1 in 4 chance of it actually being something else. As you can imagine that's not great odds but for larger fish who are surviving past a few days and in QT, then imo nothing is lost by trying this (as long as the meds don't do more harm than good). And he is still eating which is a good sign of a localised infection and not something systematic which is shutting down internal organs.

Sore doesn't have the round shapes of parasite wounds and are also on fins so have discarded metro. So my thought would be still bacterial ulcer as possible cause and would try treating with Maracyn Plus.

 

[hbeth82]

Sore doesn't have the round shapes of parasite wounds and are also on fins so have discarded metro. So my thought would be still bacterial ulcer as possible cause and would try treating with Maracyn Plus.

Thanks for the clarification and the suggestion. I'll give the Maracyn a shot and report back.

 

[Delapool]

Good luck! Hope he pulls through as lovely looking fish.

 

[hbeth82]

UPDATE: I added the second dose of Maracyn Plus on Tuesday, and when I got home from work yesterday I found that patient X was dead. A few hours later I noticed another one of the gourami laying on his side gasping, so I euthanized him.

I did a 50% water change and the third gourami appears to have perked up a bit this morning. I think I'll just keep up with frequent water changes for the time being and seeing how it goes.

 

[Delapool]

Sad news

 

[hbeth82]

Sad news

Agreed, but thank you for your suggestions, better to try something than just watch them waste away.