bacterial infection? what about everyone else?

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R

rnocera

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 1, 2008
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New Castle, Pennsylvania
www.herpfamily.com
First- My gourami has been frozen, then disposed of. He's not still floating around the tank.

A couple days ago, my dwarf gourami started sporting a funny spot on his fin. I figured one of my bichirs nipped at a fin or something, and didn't think too much of it. When the hole got a little bigger, I was going to pull him out and QT him because of the fish picking on him. Over the span of about 72 hours, the hole turned into a big red blister, then tissue started dying around it. It turned white, and actually fell off. There are currently pieces of gourami floating around my tank. I've never seen this in another fish, but I did find out that the dwarf gouramis in the tank I got him from at work developed a bacterial infection and died after I bought mine (who I've had over a month). I'm guessing that's what this was, too. Now that I've googled pics, that's my thought, anyway.

So, on to the next point- Should I worry about my other fish catching this infection? This is a small growout tank with a small Florida gar (maybe 7-8" now?), a gold severum, an Apistogramma agassizi, and two Senegal bichirs. (also, I know, gars "shouldn't" be kept with cichlids. I also know everyone in the tank will get big enough to kill/eat the Apistogramma. He will be staying in this tank when everyone else moves out. Please don't start on me about this.) I'm not really worried about the gar or bichirs catching anything, but, should I do something to prevent the other guys from catching it?

Is there a preventative medicine that would be safe for everyone in the tank? The gourami took a long time to start showing any symptoms of the same thing other gourami died from, so I'm worried that the other fish could start to show symptoms, and die as quickly as the gourami.

Thanks!
 
If the source of dwarf gouramis came from Asia, then you have to know that a majority of the stocks of dwarf gouramis here in Asia are fed with foods laced with hormones for sexual changes and color development as males are in demand more than females due to their intense coloration. Dwarf gourami stocks are very poor nowadays. A friend who owns a LFS complained to me about his problems towards dwarf gouramis dying after a few days of arrival.

There is no preventive medicine that you can find, not that the fish needs it or you risk developing resistant strains of bacteria that will make battling them harder. You can however prepare a medicine cabinet of antibiotics if bacterial infection appears on your other fish. Warm temperature allows bacterial infections to progress quickly so you should be aware of this. Stock in Maracyn and Maracyn 2 just in case but do not treat your fish yet unless the first symptoms appear that you are sure of is a bacterial infection. If in doubt, ask here first before you treat. Treating carelessly can endanger your fish.
 
Thanks for the quick response!

That's really a shame how fish are kept. Actually, in the LFS I work in, we talked about that when the other gouramis were dying. My manager said they used to have problems with dwarf gouramis specifically all the time, and they used to lose them to the exact same thing as what these ones died from. They went quite a while without carrying them at all- well over a year. Then they started again, and for about 6 months, there were healthy gouramis. Then suddenly, *poof*, a bunch of them died all within a day or two of each other.
It's so disappointing that these things are as prevalent as they are in the pet trade if they're kept this way, and the problems are basically encouraged.

The real shame is, they ARE gorgeous fish, and mine at least had a ton of personality. He was bolder than any other fish in my tank, and would swim up to the glass when he saw me moving. My wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed having him in there.
 
Another trouble added in this dilemma is more people are frustrated by the lack of availability of female dwarf gouramis to breed. Now you find some people thinking they have females when their fish are all males due to lack of education clearly thinking females have the same color as males except different dorsal fin shape which is totally unreliable in this case as the females already had their sexes changed from hormone-laced foods.

The owner has complained a similar case with pearl gouramis. I can't verify yet if this is true as pearls are very rare unlike before (at least in my area).
 
My lack of willingness to purchase hormone fed fish left me with some unhappy patrons but some healthy stock! I would buy my gouramis out of Florida, they were much cleaner and stronger, and no hormone feeding. I never found a good source for dwarfs though.

Lupin - I know that the gouramis and african cichlids were hormone fed, but what about barbs, they would be surprisingly small and have amazing colors, do they practice this with barbs and rasboras in the far east?
 
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