Sick Dwarf Gourami - What to Do?

[juliemom]

We've had a sick dwarf gourami for a few weeks now, and I'm having a really hard time knowing how to make it better - if it's possible at all.

I've been focusing on trying to make the water "ideal" - it's very hard water that's very alkaline, the pH is probably too high, the nitrate and nitrite levels keep fluctuating....

I've tried antibiotics for a bacterial problem, a liquid aimed at "true fungus," a solution for "ick"....

I've added the appropriate amount of aquarium salt to the water.

I've tried changing out part of the water a couple of times a week.

I've been adding stuff to lower the pH, which doesn't seem to lower it much.

I've added anti-ammonia stuff.

I've tried putting this stuff in the filter that was supposed to soften the water. I can't tell that it did that much.

I've tried adding nitrifying bacteria.

At this point the fish has at least a couple of spots/areas that are still lighter colored than normal - I'm not clear whether there's a fungus or bacterial problem or if the other fish nibbled on it or what.

The fish has lost weight.

The fish used to stay toward the surface most of the time but has mostly been hunkering down at the bottom lately. It doesn't seem to have the buoyancy it used to. It seems like it has to make a lot of effort to swim toward the top of the tank.

The other fish (a cherry barb, which it used to bully) has been trying to bully it when it moves around very much.

So I don't know.... There are so many possible problems, according to what I've read, that it seems impossible to know what to treat how.

Any general or specific advice would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Julie outside Austin, TX

 

[DarkMuse]

Had your water finished cycling? In my personal opinion, you have added way too much to the water instead of letting it correct itself. You shouldnt' mess with the pH because your fish will get accustomed to what the "normal" pH for your tank is (as many people have said on here). Dwarf Gourami tend to be sensitive to changes in the water condition, so maybe with everything you've added it has only made it worse. Maybe you should do a few water changes to get the chemicals and such out of the water and see how that helps. I'm sure someone else will have a better reply, but that is just my unprofessional opinion.

 

[ashleigh]

Not unprofessional at all (of course I'm not a professional so what do I know ) - I agree- I would do water changes and put new carbon in the filter, and let things stabilize.Trying to change PH especially is a bad idea- I don't know why companies sell those stupid chemicals. I would say for now don't add anything else but declorinator when you do water changes- adding chemicals can cause stress, which will of course make whatever he has worse. I'm sorry you are having so much trouble- I hope he gets better.

 

[juliemom]

For a little more background:

We've had these two fish for about 2-1/2 years - in a 5-gallon hex aquarium. This is the first time I've kept fish.

We haven't had any real problems before other than bullying - the gourami used to bully the cherry barb all the time. Now it seems to be the other way around.

I did do a complete tank clean-out not too long before the gourami developed whatever problem it has. I kept a couple of gallons of the "old" water but did change the rest of it at that time, so it may have been too much at once. I didn't mess with the bio filter, but changed the carbon one.

I was skeptical about adding drugs and chemicals to the water, but I first thought the gourami might have a bacterial or fungal infection. When I started testing the water quality, it didn't look very good for the gourami. The pH is close to 8, or higher, for example.

We have a well on our property, so the water is treated with salt before it comes to the house, to soften it somewhat. I don't know what that does as far as the fish are concerned, but they seemed to do okay with it up till now. No chlorine is ever added to the water, so I don't have to take it out.

I think this type of gourami lives 4 years or so, so I guess it's possible it's getting old. I'll try laying off the water treatments and trying to let the water get back to "normal," whatever that is.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Julie

 

[discus4everGrl]

How many fish are in the tank now, just two?

If the fish has been sick for three weeks and hasn't died, it is most likely a water quality issue. Don't use various medications attempting to see if one works this will stress or kill your fish. Different meds should also not be combined. You may consider doing a water change every other day with the cheap foodlion bottled water. Read the label, but one of their waters is put through reverse osmosis, uv sterilization and ozone sterilization before bottling and since you have a 5 gallons, you can get about four water changes for less than one pack of fish meds. Only do 1/2 gallon every other day (5 gallon tank right?) until desired ph is reached. However, if your gravel or decorations are made of calcium (like crushed shells) then no matter what you do, it will always go back up. Don't fill the whole tank with the fl water, it will cause such a shift in ph that it will kill your fish from shock.

Here are some general tips that I learned from the school of hard knocks - because I never found them in any books I read.

1) never use tap water to rinse or clean anything in the filter, the chlorine will kill the good bacteria instantly and therefore the nitrogen cycle will never happen. Instead use the water you take out of the tank during water change.

2)If you do medicate - take the carbon out of the filter, it will remove the medicine faster than the fish benefit from it.

3) Do you use a tap water conditioner? Your water conditioner must perform two things, neutralize chlorine and break the chlorammine bond. Not all of them do both. It must say on the bottle that it breaks down chlorine and breaks the chloramine bond, both actions are critical.

4) What do you use for substrate and decorations? The Ph is too high for dwarf chiclids and the gravel may be causing it. They prefer acidic water, however your cherry barb may not. But I would recommend try to reach a neutral ph, I would say over 8 is just too high for those dwarf chiclids such as rams and kribs.

Good luck

 

[juliemom]

Yes, two fish. They've been in this tank together about 2-1/2 years.

For the first year and a half we had the fish, we lived in Houston, where we used tap water treated with dechlorinator, but we've been living near Lake Travis/outside Austin for a year now, where we have well water, so no chlorine should ever be involved. Our well water is treated with salt before it comes in the house, to soften it some. The water is very hard to begin with, I assume because we live in an area with limestone in the ground. The water leaves a white deposit on everything.

We've had the same kind of decorations the whole time, though the coloring has been coming off of some of them. They're just whatever was for sale at the aquarium store where we got the fish - my then 4-year-old picked them out, because they're "his" fish.

We used to have blue-coated gravel in the tank; now we have multi-colored coated gravel in the tank.

Is it useful to buy one of those "automatically resets pH to 7.0" products or not, do you know? The pH-adjusting product I bought before doesn't seem to change the pH much in any case.

I've wondered whether the pH of the well water has changed over time, but there's no way of knowing because I didn't check it a whole lot, before recently.

I may use some bottled water in future changes. Thanks.

 

[discus4everGrl]

You should still use a tap water conditioner. Most detoxify metals as well which may be of concern with a well. You also may be better served using the bottled water for your weekly water changes and once you get a 7 ph, cause bottled water that has been put through reverse osmosis will be about a 6 in ph, use whats called a neutral stabalizer.

Because you have a well that is in a limestone bed, your ph is going to be very high indeed. If you ever venture to a bigger tank, you may consider getting a ro unit.

 

[juliemom]

I do run the tap water I use for the fish through a PUR filter, which I hope removes metals. I haven't read the packaging lately.

We do plan to get a reverse osmosis filter at some point, but haven't invested yet. We've actually been buying drinking water rather than drinking the well water. We did have it tested for e. coli, and it was negative, but I don't like how salty the water tastes after it goes through the softener.