laritheloud

Doesn't look like dropsy to me, but I am concerned about the tank's cycle. If you didn't put cycled filter media or a cycled sponge into the tank, your tank is not cycled, and you need to check parameters daily and do partial water changes at least every other day (daily, if needed). Right now I'd wait-and-see and judge it as stress, and bump up the frequency of your water changes.

I'm very concerned about your new 'red flame' gouramis and putting them in with your honeys. Can I have a picture? Your store advised you poorly if it's what I think it is. If that's the case and you have two different species of gourami in your tank, I heavily advise you to return the incorrect species... but I'll need a picture first. That aside, your sick honey gourami (looks like a little girl) doesn't look like it is doing very well, and I'd be prepared for her to not make it. I've never had luck using aquarium salt with gouramis, and in fact, whenever I have tried it on a very ill gourami, they often got worse. Anecdotal experience, so take it with a grain of (aquarium) salt. I'm tempted to say it might be internal parasites affecting your fish and I'd, at the minimum, treat with paracleanse/general cure/prazipro (one of them, take your pick) as a first defense. Do yourself a favor and treat the 55 gallon tank, and do the full course TWICE two weeks apart. This will hopefully help keep your healthy fish healthy.

I would get and have both snails. I also have rabbit snails and spike snails. I recommend all of them, though rabbit snails are slightly more prone to wanting to nibble on plants than the others, so feed them well.

I wish. If it's not aquatic, I have a black thumb. 😝 I also have cats that like to chew on plants so I have to be careful about plants in the house. @lefty o glad I'm not the only banana plant killer. I wonder what it's missing?

It never sends roots into the substrate, so there's no point in giving it root tabs!

So tell me something. I know banana plants are supposed to be easy, and my son chose one to put into his betta tank... but we've been through two banana plants and they never seem to grow well for us. The first one was completely consumed, bananas and all, by rabbit snails. (my bad, I put it in their tank the first time and they're utterly voracious.) I tried again, putting it in the 10 gallon betta tank where there are no big snails to eat them and after... oh, I don't know, two months? The leaves are all melting off and it's putting out hardly any new growth. My other plants are all doing fine, but I can't seem to succeed with banana plants! Do they have special requirements I'm missing?

Hmmmm. The poop by itself wouldn't worry me that much. It's hard to say if it's parasites or something else because symptoms overlap. I guess I'd look at behavior: Is he acting sick? Is he worsening or improving? Does he swim with the school/shoal and does he eat vigorously, or does he swim off to hide by himself? If he's acting 'off' and he's continuing to waste, you could consider treatment with another round of parasite meds or an antibiotic for an internal infection. If he's not acting off, keep up water changes and see if he improves on his own. Full disclosure: I went through a huge circus of meds on my 55 gallon tank for a batch of 4 very ill pseudomugil signifer rainbowfish. They managed to get through 2 months of quarantine before worsening, and have been through all kinds of antibiotics and anti-parasite meds (including Levamisole). The only thing that stopped the disease was separating and euthanizing, when the time came.... and 'when the time came' was an easy but very sad decision to make, because they would be clearly suffering, wasting away, swimming weakly, and unable to feed or join the school properly. @Fish Folk is right in that the reality is sometimes the fish and the tanks are better off with separation and humane euthanizing than bombing with meds blindly. In retrospect, that was probably the best choice for my tanks from the start. Only you can make this judgment. Good luck ❤️

@quikv6 I've used 1 tablespoon epsom salt in 2 gallons of water for constipation

What's your favorite foods to feed your bettas? Both for conditioning and day-to-day well rounded diet.

I don't think duckweed is as virulent as they say, but maybe it depends on water conditions. My duckweed has definitely spread but much more slowly than I anticipated. My water lettuce does much better.

Is the beautiful betta in your profile pic one of yours? 🤗 Your fry are adorable! I'd love to breed labyrinth fish someday.

@isaly There's so much variety with bettas. I already find this little guy to be a delight! Day 2 in the tank and he's active and exploring. He hasn't gotten the feeding routine down yet so he hasn't eaten much I've offered, but I see him picking at plants and sponges in the tank (and attempting to hunt snails) so I'm not worried. Fish sometimes take a few days to figure out a feeding routine, and he looks so healthy otherwise that I don't think it's a problem.

The only way I've been successful is to manually pick out duckweed as I see it. If you have a lot, you can try skimming them off with a skimmer or a fine mesh scoop, then throughout the following weeks carefully pick out whatever remains. I only have one tank with duckweed (that I left on purpose) and I've managed to be able to keep it that way.

My son has gotten incredibly into it with me! He even says he loves fish and aquatic animals best of all when he used to love bugs. His favorites are inverts and “unusual” fish, and now his betta, Moonler. He chose the plants and the decorations, and he’s a big fan of lily-type plants. It’s really nice to see him get excited about small things like baby snails with me. He’s excited to get to feed him (with supervision) every day, too! he will be turning seven in March. He’s a smart kid, very verbal and a good reader. He understands quite a bit and likes to help pick out specific fish to take home (though I guide him toward a species or a “genre” to pick from).

He's a very inquisitive and thoughtful guy @Patrick_G! I observed him for about an hour to see if he was okay and he's pretty relaxed. He looks at the snails like 'what the heck are you' and swims on, examining every nook and cranny of the floating plants. He might have tried to chew on a few bladder snails, but that's okay. A little reserved, but I figure once he settles more he'll show his sparkling personality.

Thanks! My son picked a good one (but really, there are no 'bad' choices, bettas are gorgeous fish!). My only ask was that he choose a plakat/short-finned fish, even if he was attracted to the showy halfmoons.

“Moonler..” which is… unique? 😅 surprised me, too, because he usually picks very generic names like John or Jason! But here he is, hope we have good luck with him! I’m definitely turning his tank into tea.

Ehhhhhh.... The thing is, my male is really terrible at bubble nesting. He blows like 10 bubbles, all fired up, like WHOA I'M NESTING CHECK ME OUT then lets it break up on its own and he forgets about it and continues as he's been. I choose to just leave it and let him get it out of his system, because he never builds a large one. Worst comes to worst, if you ever have eggs in a nest (...or... not in a nest, as sometimes happens), you can scoop them out. Labyrinth fry are really quite difficult to raise past the wiggler stage and there's a high mortality rate, so chances are, if you have a hatch or two, you might not notice it.

Honestly, this is standard honey gourami (and all gourami) behavior. They are not schooling fish. They are not shoaling fish. They are social fish and appreciate having one another for company. Males are wired, with their hormones, to be the 'tank boss' and patrol the tank; you'll usually see him in the upper corner of his territory, swimming around, chasing away females and resting around plants near the surface. Usually the breeding and courtship dance goes like this: Male displays throat Female ignores him Male chases female away Male builds bubble nest Female doesn't pay him any mind Male chases female away Male finally entices the female to swim halfway to the nest Female changes her mind and tries to swim away to nibble Male chases female away Eventually she'll cave, lol. It sounds to me like your little harem of honey gouramis is behaving exactly as expected. They are not stressed, I promise you. If the two females are pottering about nibbling on plants, occasionally feelering each other, it's fine. If the male is seemingly constantly chasing the females, that's also fine. This is all completely normal behavior and what they do in nature.

All zero? Do you have plants in the tank? Either way, keep that ammonia and nitrite down, that'll help immensely. Frozen food doesn't necessarily have more nutrients but it can be a part of a healthy diet. It might help him build his strength up and improve his healing. Frozen bloodworms or frozen daphnia in place of his typical pellets twice a week is a nice treat. I hope the salt, clean water, and good diet will help.

Oof, okay. Thank you for clarifying. I think the ammonia in the water is pretty concerning and might be exacerbating his condition. I agree that you can try laying off the meds for a little while and just do frequent (every-other-day) water changes until that's under control. Spoil him with some high-quality food, frozen if you can. Try adding a little salt. Start on the low end and add a little more over time. I'd probably start with a tablespoon or two in a 10 gallon tank, and add it one tablespoon at a time. Don't overcompensate when you add back some salt after a water change. You already went through two antibiotic treatments so I wouldn't try another antibiotic at this point. I hope the fins heal up. This sounds so stressful!

Which photo is the current one? Is it the one with the shredded anal fin?

In the postmortem the scales look a little pineconed to me, so it might have been dropsy -- in such a short amount of time it is absolutely not your fault. You did everything right and provided a safe, clean home for this little betta. I'm so sorry it ended this way. It's always horrible to lose a pet, even one that hasn't been with you for very long. 😞 I agree with @xXInkedPhoenixX and leave the tank empty for awhile. I'm a little bit nutty and probably would medicate the tank to be absolutely safe, then ensure the cycle is still going by adding ammonia and water testing. I'm so sorry this happened to you as your first experience with fish. I hope you try again with another fish and have better luck with them.

You can also just float a rooibos (pure rooibos) tea bag in his tank for the tannins if you want a quick fix. I'm so sorry that his health is failing, James, and enjoy the time you have left with him.

You would think.... 🤷‍♀️ All i know is anecdotally there's Some Guy that insists that many rounds of gill fluke treatment increases longevity for Dwarf Gouramis. There's only so much stock I can put into one guy's ideas without rigorous testing to back it up. For what it's worth, I think you're best of just making sure the tank is nicely seasoned and the water is pristine, but we all already know that, I think! 😉 I will absolutely warn you, though, that in most LFSs, when I look into the dwarf gourami tanks, up to half of them are clearly showing signs of illness. It's rough, rough, rough. I try to avoid buying any fish in the tanks with the dwarf gouramis for that reason (my LFS uses sponge filters for a stretch of tanks and it's and not a fully connected system).