Gourami has bulge on on his sides (pics)? Sickness?

[edaskalos]

My new-ish (3 weeks+) neon blue dwarf gourami has recently devloped some sort of bulge on his sides. It looks like he/she? has a small ball in his mid-section (not stomach area, see photos). He/she? has been somewhat hanging out in one corner of the tank compared to his normal patroling of the entire 29G tank, but he/she? has been eating normally and interacting with his other tankmates normally. Of note also, is that I just had a betta in the tank that I removed and treated for ich separately and raised the main tank temp to 87 to also kill-off ich. I know this isn't ich, but I haven't heard of this symptom before. Please advise! Thanks again... *thumbsups

 

[Scooper]

Dwarf gourami females are usually a silvery color so I think that's a male. I can't really see the bulge so I don't really know the problem. If you could get better pictures then I might be able to help. Good Luck. I hope it turns out well.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

looks like a female to me. females have a rounded smaller dorsal fin males are longer and more pointy.

 

[edaskalos]

See attached images for enlargments and a highlight of the area of the body with the subtle bulges. THANKS!

 

[Scooper]

Is your fish acting strangely? I had an Opaline gourami that had a little bulge like that but was perfectly fine. And the reason I thought it was a female was because this is what my brothers looked like:

Actually, all the ones in the store did. Maybe it was just that batch or store but that's how I was told to tell.

 

[edaskalos]

That looks VERY similar to my gourami. I don't know if it is related or coincidental, but he/she has been a little slower and not appearing to be eating as much as he/she did earlier and nearly as aggressive as the 2 other larger neon blues in the tank. If this is a sickness, would it be a bacterial infection of some sort?

 

[MissFishy]

That's a male gourami, females are silver and not normally sold in stores since they are less colorful. You do have too many aggressive fish in a 29g tank, a betta and 3 gouramis is WAY too much. Each of those fish need a territory and your fish may be the "loser" of the group since it doesn't have any territory in the tank. Generally in a tank that size you should only have one gourami or betta. As far as the bulge, it could be an internal parasite. I say this because although a bulge is normal, it appears that parts of him are sunken in, which can be a sign of internal parasites.

 

[stacic8679]

I just lost my male gourami to something similar. He started with the bulge on the sides, started kind of acting weird, hiding in corners by the filter. THen I noticed what I thought was long white poo hanging off him (3 inches or so). Suddenly I woke up Sunday and he was turning blue by his mouth and it was spreading. Almost looked like internal bleeding. He would just stay in one place near the top of the tank. I researched it and determined he probably had t iridovirus (sp??) and it was untreatable so I had to put him down. My first loss, I am just devastated. Hope it all works out better for you.

 

[edaskalos]

I think my little guy suffered from the same thing. I woke up this morning and he was just lying in the corner, barely breathing. I had to put him down also. So sad...

Thanks for the info guys