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Hello. My blue dwarf gourami has never really been a good eater. I've been wondering if he could even see the food. When i put food in the water all the other fish rush towards it, but he never does. So i put food RIGHT on his nose practically and he still won't eat it. What gives?

Today i noticed that his eyes are cloudy like they have a dullness over them. This is only noticeable if standing behind his tail. If i look straight at his eye from his side they look normal. Could he be blind or is there some disease called "cloudy eye?" He is currently getting over ich and columnaris. The water readings are fine.

littletank

He is currently getting over ich and columnaris. The water readings are fine.

A fish that's getting over two illnesses and showing symptoms of a third doesnt' sound to me like it's a fish that's in a tank where water readings "are fine". You might want to check your test kits, or have someone else run the tests for comparison purposes. You can try your LFS, and be sure to ask for the numbers. "Fine" doesnt' tell anyone anything .

I have one tetra out of a school of 6 that is often the last to bother to eat, even with the food directly in front of it's face. Foods containing garlic will increase appetite, it may be worth a try.

^_^ [hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

Okay, the ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, and nitrate is 5. the temp is 77. I can't remember if i mentioned this or not, but my platies and zebra danios are healthy. When "Bahama" (my sick dwarf gourami) started getting sick, about three weeks ago, there was a slight nitrite reading of two tenths that i had for about a week. It is gone now though. I don't know what else to do for this guy. The columnaris is gone, but the ich is still on him. He's not getting any new spots, but there's about twenty "salt grains" that just will NOT fall off. Can I give him a salt bath? How do you give salt baths? Thanks.
littletank
SICK of ICH!!!!!!!!!!]

Those last 20 or so 'salt grains' ... I'd check them to see if they are something other than Ich. Because, at 77°F, they should have fallen off by now. Bring the temperature up slowly to 85°F, continue standard Ich medication, and see if that finally deals with the problem. Remember, you'll need the medication in the water for a good 3 days after the last spots have vanished, to make sure that the free-swimming stage of the parasite is nuked.

Once the Ich is nuked, then it's time to address the cloudy eyes. Myxazin or Melafix time, I think.

The feeding, or lack thereof, also needs to be addressed. First, check that there is no cotton-mouth disease around the lips. If that's present, your gourami is in real trouble. If that's not an issue, then getting the fish to eat is going to be troublesome, especially with other fish snatching the food. A classic case of the need for an isolation facility (i.e., quarantine tank), so that the patient doesn't have to compete for food during convalescence.

All in all, this sounds like a potentially terminal case. The interventions I've listed above fall into the category of 'kill or cure' at this point. Be prepared to lose the poor guy.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks for your help. I slowly raised the temp up to 82 degrees, and some of the spots have fallen off. There's about six big ichs and around seven really small ones that are still hanging on.

I added another jungle tank buddy tablet for ich yesterday and today. I also added .5 tablet for fungus today. The columnaris is definitely gone but he's got quite a bit of fin rot going on now.

He still won't eat, though. I practically put food on his nose and the others don't "mess" with him since he's been so grouchy lately. They leave him and his corner alone. But, even when food is literally resting on his nose he won't eat it! He HAS to be eating leftovers when i'm sleeping or something because he would have starved to death by now.

I wan't to start slowly lowering the temp back to 80 at least because i'm afraid the meds will become gasous with the heated water? I don't really know that much though. What do you think? I know that my gourami can just breath at the surface, but my platies and danios may suffer? Thanks, again.
littletank:%)

Depends on your oxygenation capacity. If you're using a powerhead, you shouldn't have problems. Thing is, if the temperature is elevated, the Ich life cycle runs faster, and you get the free swimming tomites quikcer, which means that the meds kill them quicker. If you didn't have anything else in there, but the Dwarf Gourami, I'd have said raise the temp to 95°F, because at that temperature, your Ich is well and truly nuked, and labyrinth fishes can stand this for a few days while you're nuking the Ich.

If your oxygenation is airstone powered, then you might have cause to worry. In which case, a partial water change once the treatment régime is finished to boost oxygen levels will be in order.

Almost forgot. If you can get live food, this will have a major beneficial impact on your gourami's recovery rate. Drop in some live Daphnia. Chances are your gourami will sense it's there without needing to see it because it's moving and creating vibrations in the water. Remember, labyrinth fishes live in stagnant waters in the wild, some of which become clouded with plantkonic-type blooms of small creatures. Hence the modification of the pelvic fins into touch-sensors. Sight isn't actually as important to a gourami in the wild as you think because of this!

However, a blind gourami is still not a good idea, and there I'm in complete agreement with you ...

In the case of your Danios, they come from the same part of the world. And can stand up to 90°F for short periods.

Last edited by Calilasseia at 18-Feb-2005 22:38

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

To tell you more about my tank. It's a 10 gallon glass with a top fin 10 filter that came with it. Top fin being the brand and 10, i'm assuming is for the size of the tank. It is housing Bahaman, my dwarf gourami, two platy adults, and three zebra danios. I do not have any airstones. The lfs guy said that as long as there is moving water (from the filter) there is oxygen in the water. I hope he's correct.

To update you on the ich: he's got only three spots still hanging on. As soon as those fall off i will add another jungle tablet, which i thought i was really going to like as a treatment for ich. However, since it only calls for one tablet and specifically says, "don't overdose" it makes me nervous. I cannot just assume that one tablet over a weeks time is sufficient, but at the same time i don't want to "overdose". I should have got the rid ich plus, but at the time just one tablet sounded really good. I didn't think the spots were going to hang on for so long.

Anyway, the temp now is at 80 and im hoping my platies can withstand this. I'm pretty sure they can. I think they're from South America. That statement is pretty broad, but they're tropical i'm sure.

About his eating: I put in some frozen brine shrimp today and he didn't eat them. He doesn't look skinny or anything. Still this puzzles me more than anything. I'll try the dapnia tomorrow. what is that and where do i get it?

I checked the water again today and it's ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 20. 20 for nitrite is okay right? anything under 40?

You have been really helpful!
littletank

If that top fin 10 is an internal power filter of some sort, then aeration shouldn't be a problem. You're not using activated carbon are you? Only that'll suck all the meds out of the water and you'll be back to square one.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002