Sick tank please help!!

[LostAquarium]

About a month ago I purchased a Blue Dwarf Gourami to put in my tank with my other Blue Dwarf Gourami, 2 Clown Loaches, 5 Tiger Barbs, Black Ghost Knife, Red Tailed Shark and my Albino Bushynosed Pleco. Everything was fine until last Friday I noticed red sores all over my new Gourami's mouth and some on his sides. I was able to get medicine on Monday. I purchased "E.M. Erythromycin" by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I set up another tank and took my sick Gourami and was medicating him for the past few days. Yesterday he was belly up. I have just done a water change on my big tank today and found that one of my Tiger Barbs has died as well. I've looked at the tail of my old Gourami and it looks like he has the same thing that new one had. WHAT DO I DO??!! I've had this tank set up this way for around a year with no problems until this. I have been fine without checking levels in my water but now I'm not so sure. PLEASE HELP ME SAVE MY TANK!

 

[Chiroptera]

What size is the tank? As soon as you can, get the water tested at your LFS or buy a kit and do it yourself, it really helps to know if the fish may be stressed from improper levels.

 

[Alyxx]

Lost's profile says it is a 29 gallon tank.

 

[LostAquarium]

Yea, it is a 29 gal tank and as soon as I can I will be at the store so I can test my water. I will try and get a picture up of my gourami as well.

 

[Alyxx]

That is a good plan. If you can afford it, pick up an API master test kit while you are there. It's only about $30 and it is much easier to test at home. And when you think about it it will save money in the long run, the store may test for free but you need gas to get there. Aside from the possibility that you introduced a disease with the new fish, you have a lot of fish that will get too big for a 29 gallon tank, and some aggressive fish as well. What is your usual tank maintenece schedule? If you aren't careful about regular water changes, all those fish would lead to a high bioload and high nitrates. Gouramis are from the same family of fish as Bettas, and the established gourami may have picked on the new one and stressed him to the point of getting sick. Dwarf gouramis are usually a little better tempered, but they are still territorial. Did you notice any aggression?

Also, the ghost knife gets really really big.

 

[Chiroptera]

Mhm. Also, are you planning on upgrading your tank to anything larger? Most of those fish do well in much larger tanks, and will get very sick in a aquarium that's too small for them.

 

[Greenphantom]

Way too small really rehome the fish you have and do some research before you buy anything else sheees

 

[Chiroptera]

Way too small really rehome the fish u have and do some research before u buy anything else sheees

If they're young, it'll be okay for a few weeks, but try to upgrade as soon as possible, or like Phantom said, rehome the fish. That ghost knife gets to be over two feet long, and won't survive in the 29.

 

[Alyxx]

Not to mention the shark will terrorize everything left alive when it gets a little older. They don't get all that big, but they need large tanks because they are super territorial.

 

[LostAquarium]

Yea I do know they will get bigger but they are not even that close to needing anything larger. Plus they all get along great. My 2 clowns take naps with the Shark. My Ghost knife, clowns and shark love to get under the same rock for hours and just chill. When I put the new Gourami in they got along great. When the new one got sick my old one got super sad and wanted to be in the tank I had the sick one in. As of now 2 clown loaches 2 inches each. shark 3 inches. pleco 3 inches. ghost knife 3 inches gourami 2 inches and 4 tiger barbs not even an inch long.

 

[LostAquarium]

Way too small really rehome the fish u have and do some research before u buy anything else sheees

Just as a note I spent months researching the fish I put in my tank. I know how big they will get but I also know how big they are not.

 

[LostAquarium]

I just want to know if E.M. Erythromycin is good or if I need a new medicine so part of my FAMILY doesn't die. So please people enough that my tank is too small, its not, and concentrate on the medicine.

 

[LostAquarium]

Wow. Fine if you don't want to give advice then go get bent. Say all you want but I can sit here and see that my fish are perfectly happy. The only time they have been sick is after the new Gourami was introduced. I am big enough to accept advice but you all act like I am stupid. I KNOW they get big. Anyone with a tank does and I can tell you I have checked with multiple people and books and they all say the amount I have is fine for right now but obviously that wont last forever. Stop acting like [mod edit] and maybe I don't know suggest medicine! Didn't know asking for help got me no help at all.

 

[absolutangel04]

Ok. Everybody chill out please. The OP has said the tank is only temporary, so please try to help with the question at hand. Clown loaches only grow about an inch year, and knives are not fast growers either. That said, I think you will run into problems with the sharks sooner than you think because their aggression tends to hit hard and fast.
Yes, as far as I know, the erythromycin should help if more pwc doesn't.

Also, make sure to get your water tested as soon as you can. I suggest perhaps upping your pwc schedule for now too to see if that helps. If you can get a picture, that would help too.

 

[Alyxx]

We are on your side here. Some of us may not be putting things tactfully as they should, but the point I think we are trying to get across is that the underlying problem with the illnesses you are seeing is the crowding that is going on. Have you gotten your water tested yet? I'm guessing if you have, your nitrates were probably high. With that many large fish, as well as a pleco which has a large bioload, it is hard to keep the nitrate levels down. My guess is the addition of another fish made them go up even more than normal, faster than normal, which stressed the fish out and led to them getting sick. Either the new fish was infected with something or there was something already in the tank that your fish had been successful at keeping at bay with their immune systems, but the stress of a new inhabitant in their territories and the rise in waste levels from another fish stressed them which lowers their immune systems.
I would love to be able to tell you which med to use, but I can't really do that without a picture of the fish. If any are looking a bit sick, snap a picture and post it. At the very least, try to give as detailed a description as you possibly have of the symptoms, then maybe we can narrow down what the illness is. However, as your fish grow, the problems will just add up. They will take up more space, have more waste, and some will get aggressive. Illness will break out more often. I know you are attached to your pets, but it is your responsibility as an aquarist to do what is best for them. Even if they are small now, they do get bigger, and stunting can begin long before the fish are looking uncomfortable in a small tank. You really should upgrade as soon as you can or find homes for some of the very large fish. If you were to get a 55 and keep the 29, you could split up the fish between them and keep all but maybe the ghost knife. I know this is hard news to take, no one wants to be told they are doing something the wrong way, and people getting over emotional and insulting you over a forum tends to make people a little defensive. I'm sorry, but to keep your fish healthy in the long run, you need to treat the cause and not just the symptoms.
Go get your water tested, get yourself a test kit, and describe the symptoms as well as you can. Pictures would be best. I wish you the best of luck with this.
Also, more details about the tank would help. What is your water change schedule, what is your filtration like?

 

[LostAquarium]

My local pet stores are closed until Monday so I have yet to get a test kit. When I saw it on the new Gourami it looks like raw, medium red sores all over his mouth and sort of down his front. He also had a few on his sides. My oldest Gourami has small red areas that resemble what the other had, yet his is only on his tail not his mouth. I try to clean my tank once a week but sometimes it becomes once every 2 weeks. Once I check my levels in my water what can I get to correct any imbalance? If my Gourami is sick should I be moving him to another tank to treat like I did the last one?

 

[Alyxx]

How much water do you change every week?
I would move the gourami if you can. Any way you can take a quick picture of him for us? Also, how is his color and is his poop white or stringy? Sores on a gourami can be an indicator of dwarf gourami disease, which is 100% fatal unfortunately. Just in case, separate him as soon as you can. If it looks likely that this is indeed the cause of the sores, you should euthanize him humanely. There is no cure for this virus. Hopefully it is something else, but if it is dwarf gourami disease you will lose any infected fish. For now, separation is key until we can identify the disease. Continue to treat with the medicine you have in the meantime, in both tanks.

 

[absolutangel04]

Yep, I would move him too. It can't hurt to keep him away from your other fish until you know about what is wrong. Any chance the redness is from wounds that got infected?

 

[LostAquarium]

His color is and has been normal. As for his poop I have not seen it. He usually never has stringy poop. The picture I was able to get is sucky but he moves all the time. The spots circled in yellow are actually a dark red. Today it seems as though those are fading but I could be wrong. Also as far as them being wounds of some sort I don't believe they are. He has never been in fights and I didn't notice the spots until after the other Gourami had died. Oh and I change around 1/4 to 1/3 of my water. It varies so usually if I change once a week its 1/4 but if I change once in two weeks it is 1/3.

 

[Alyxx]

Are the red spots on his fins? If so, does it look like there are red lines going back towards his body? Almost like veins? Because that would indicate septicemia, which is tricky to treat but you can do it. It looks like some sort of infection, so keep up the water changes and the antibiotic. If it looks like its fading that should be a good sign. Also, you may want to up the changes to around 50% a week. It can't hurt, especially as the fish get a little bigger until you can get that bigger tank.