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View Full Version : Disease? Stress? Ideas/suggestions/etc welcome.


VoidParadigm
07-01-2009, 07:12 PM
Blue gourami in a tank with two other fish. Since last night he wouldn't feed. This afternoon he was sluggish and slow, even when the tank's temperature was warmer than usual (at which point he's usually swimming in and out through the plants endlessly.)

About a half an hour ago witnessed a 45 second freak-out. His colors changed rapidly between the dark hues usually seen during breeding and his usual pale blue. They did this 2-3 times. He sped around the tank bumping into plants, objects, glass and other fish. At about 30 seconds he drifted to the bottom and did several barrel rolls. Then went back to the sluggish swim.

No signs of damage or trauma to his body before or after the freak-out. He has been moved to a small container with just a thermoneter, bubbler, a spot to hide, and a towel draped over it to prevent him from jumping out.

No other alternative available as it is Canada Day and the LFS is closed, and I would rather have him die then have him infect the entire tank, to be honest. =\ He is a Wal-mart fish, so it's not like I'm expecting him to live forever anyways. Apologies if those two statements sound morbid.

Water stats unavailable as I'm out of testing strips and once again, LFS is closed.

The joys of irony. Tomorrow, after Canada Day, was when I was going to go in and buy a tank that could be used as a quaruntine tank in the future.
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Does anyone have any suggestions about what could have caused this? Or at the least, any suggestions on how long to wait before placing him in a main tank again, or how to make him more comfortable until he's better (or the alternative =\)?
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Edit: If anyone would like photos of his current state just say so, and I'll post them when I return in a few hours. =| Unfortunately I didn't think about recording his freakout or activity before being moved until after the fact.

PostalPenguin
07-01-2009, 07:26 PM
Is your tank cycled? And how long have you had the fish? I wouldn't keep the fish in the container as it isn't filtered and waste will build up just making the fish worse. Try dimming the lights and see if it calms him down.

VoidParadigm
07-01-2009, 11:11 PM
Is your tank cycled? And how long have you had the fish? I wouldn't keep the fish in the container as it isn't filtered and waste will build up just making the fish worse. Try dimming the lights and see if it calms him down.

The tank was cycled. This set of fish has been here for the past month, perhaps a bit longer.

I'm aware that the waste build-up will probably make him worse, and recognize your opinion as a good one, however without knowing for sure what caused his recent behavior I am not comfortable with him residing in the same tank as the others. My apologies if this seems arrogant, ignorant, careless or anything else, but I've stated my reasons.

Thank you for the light suggestion, however. I covered where he is with a thicker towel on all but one side, so the light inside is fairly muted, but not black. He's calmed down considerably since this afternoon with the light dimmed, and after 'sitting' in the bubble stream that's in there for a while was actually swimming much closer to normal than he's done in two days.