One of my dwarf gouramis died (warning: dead fish pic)

**Glasstapper** · 11-21-2006, 11:35 PM

I thought I would put a warning in the thread title in case some of you get squeamish looking at these things.

This is the one that I thought was looking a little chubby lately, but nothing like these pictures. I saw him this morning out swimming around. He was sulking near the heater and ate a few flakes, but otherwise he looked fine. I came home this afternoon from work and gave them their dinner, but when he hadn't come out after a couple of minutes, I knew something was up. I checked his territory, and sure enough. There he was on his side under his pirate ship. I moved the ship to make sure that he was not moving and his body just sort of floated around.

I removed him and looked closely at him. The side he was lying on had a large round lump that looked bruised. Now I don't know if it was just the blood from his body that pooled there or something else, so I cut it open with a needle and brown fluid came out. Is it blood? It smelled pretty bad, but I imagine a dead fish might.

What do you guys think? I'm on day 4 of medicating my tank with Melafix and Pimafix, and performed a 20% water change with gravel siphoning yesterday. My carbon filter was removed before medicating, and my water parameters are reading 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 10 nitrates.

It's a mystery to me. I thought he was the healthy one. In other news, Scar's lip seems to be growing back.

**Lady Hobbs** · 11-22-2006, 12:15 AM

I don't know what that fish had but he appears to be full of infection. I hope he didn't have TB as it can be transferred to humans.

**Glasstapper** · 11-22-2006, 12:18 AM

wow, that's pretty scary hobbs. Hopefully it's not that, and just a bacterial or fungal infection that I didn't catch in time with the medication.

*really hopes that wasn't TB*

**jeffs99dime** · 11-22-2006, 12:22 AM

well, after a long look on google i found out that dwarf gouramis and lampeyes suffer from a virus strain. here's a pretty good read- http://www.int-res.com/articles/dao2002/48/d048p163.pdf
not to rain on your parade but, everything i have read on a bunch of different sites say that dwarf gourami's are very susceptable to disease. sorry.
here's one with a pic. http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewt...3b7971e59ec6c7
and another- http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewt...asc&highlight=
i don't know if these are the afflictions your gourami had but maybe. --jeff

**Glasstapper** · 11-22-2006, 12:32 AM

Thanks for the links, jeff. I knew the guys were prone to illness a little more than other species, but I was really hoping a varied diet of their favorites and extra clean water would prevent most of their problems. I guess sometimes things like this can't always be prevented.

Jeff, I also used to have a third, but he had developed a large ulcer similar to that first photo link, but more red/pink with a white center. I had to euthanize him as the infection was too bad.

It makes me feel a little better knowing that they may not be getting sick because of me doing something wrong. Maybe it really is just their species.

**jeffs99dime** · 11-22-2006, 12:34 AM

no problem. hopefully the rest do well!

**Lady Hobbs** · 11-22-2006, 04:34 AM

Glasstapper, have you been watching CSI?

**Glasstapper** · 11-22-2006, 03:19 PM

no, I don't watch TV. Why would you say that?

**Lady Hobbs** · 11-22-2006, 03:23 PM

Because you autopsied your fish. LOL

**Glasstapper** · 11-22-2006, 11:11 PM

oh, haha! Yeah, I don't really have much of a weak stomach for that kind of stuff. I was also just really curious to see if it was just fluid or if it was a worm so I would know if I needed to treat for parasites.

It's strange, you know. I bawled my eyes out when I put down that first gourami, but since this one had already passed away, I was just curious. Weird, huh?