Chocolate Gourami "Seizure"

[satisfiedghost]

I've had a group of 6 chocolate gouramis for about 4 months now.

I was sitting near the tank and a sudden movement caught my eye. One of the gouramis was near the bottom of the tank and was making very sudden jolts forward then stopping. It would also spin rapidly in place and then stop, and sort of fall on its side through the water then repeat. It then went near the top of the tank and was still, facing up, for about 20 minutes. During this time I checked and its fins seemed a bit ragged. All the others have neat and healthy fins and this one just doesn't look "as nice". Then it went through another "seizure" and is now laying on its side on the bottom of the tank. Unsure if it's still alive.

I'm going to fish it out shortly and move it to an isolation tank but I'm not hopeful; it looks pretty far gone. Wondering if there is any cause I should check for. All other gouramis and fish are behaving normally. I have never noticed any fighting between the gouramis after the first week or so when I got them (establishing pecking order?). None of the other fish pick on them and they also mind their own business in a loose group.

I recently started a ParaCleanse treatment because my rams were having those typical "stringy" looking poops after introducing a couple new ones. So I was worried that might be causing an issue but I've checked the params.

• Everything is standard to what the tank has been for a year now.
• 0/0/20
• I have 2 sponge filters generating plenty of surface agitation, and the tank is well-planted. O2 should be plentiful.
• My CO2 ironically ran out a few days ago (I think I bumped it and the tank leaked, I have a 2-stage converter so it should've have tank dumped or anything) and I haven't replaced it yet, so maybe that did cause some issues?

Today is the 25% water change day on the treatment schedule but I'm wondering if the medication had anything to do with it. No mini cycle or anything but I know it can reduce O2 in the water a bit and changes surface tension... iirc gouramis have labyrinth lungs maybe the medication caused some issue there?

[Guppysnail]

It is possible from ragged fins it may have had a bacterial infection so was stressed. It is also possible for fish though rare to have adverse reactions to paraguard. The behavior sounds like toxicity and inability to receive oxygen. I’m not a med person though so wait for those folks to respond. 

[Torrey]

On 1/19/2022 at 11:47 AM, satisfiedghost said:

I've had a group of 6 chocolate gouramis for about 4 months now.

I was sitting near the tank and a sudden movement caught my eye. One of the gouramis was near the bottom of the tank and was making very sudden jolts forward then stopping. It would also spin rapidly in place and then stop, and sort of fall on its side through the water then repeat. It then went near the top of the tank and was still, facing up, for about 20 minutes. During this time I checked and its fins seemed a bit ragged. All the others have neat and healthy fins and this one just doesn't look "as nice". Then it went through another "seizure" and is now laying on its side on the bottom of the tank. Unsure if it's still alive.

I'm going to fish it out shortly and move it to an isolation tank but I'm not hopeful; it looks pretty far gone. Wondering if there is any cause I should check for. All other gouramis and fish are behaving normally. I have never noticed any fighting between the gouramis after the first week or so when I got them (establishing pecking order?). None of the other fish pick on them and they also mind their own business in a loose group.

I recently started a ParaCleanse treatment because my rams were having those typical "stringy" looking poops after introducing a couple new ones. So I was worried that might be causing an issue but I've checked the params.

• Everything is standard to what the tank has been for a year now.
• 0/0/20
• I have 2 sponge filters generating plenty of surface agitation, and the tank is well-planted. O2 should be plentiful.
• My CO2 ironically ran out a few days ago (I think I bumped it and the tank leaked, I have a 2-stage converter so it should've have tank dumped or anything) and I haven't replaced it yet, so maybe that did cause some issues?

Today is the 25% water change day on the treatment schedule but I'm wondering if the medication had anything to do with it. No mini cycle or anything but I know it can reduce O2 in the water a bit and changes surface tension... iirc gouramis have labyrinth lungs maybe the medication caused some issue there?

How long between the possible CO2 overflow into the tank and the gourami looking like it was having seizures?

I don't know as much about chocolate gouramis, not a fish I have kept.

I do know (from personal experience which sparked research) that some of my breeding danios carry a fainting gene, because 25% of the offspring fainted when I tried to catch them to take to my lfs.🤷‍♂️

It was similar: tight spiral swimming which ended with affected fish belly up... either on the substrate or at the surface. 

After 10 minutes, couldn't tell anything happened. 

[satisfiedghost]

On 1/19/2022 at 4:48 PM, Guppysnail said:

It is possible from ragged fins it may have had a bacterial infection so was stressed. It is also possible for fish though rare to have adverse reactions to paraguard. The behavior sounds like toxicity and inability to receive oxygen. I’m not a med person though so wait for those folks to respond. 

Yeah I had similar thoughts as well.

On 1/19/2022 at 10:04 PM, Torrey said:

How long between the possible CO2 overflow into the tank and the gourami looking like it was having seizures?

I don't know as much about chocolate gouramis, not a fish I have kept.

I do know (from personal experience which sparked research) that some of my breeding danios carry a fainting gene, because 25% of the offspring fainted when I tried to catch them to take to my lfs.🤷‍♂️

It was similar: tight spiral swimming which ended with affected fish belly up... either on the substrate or at the surface. 

After 10 minutes, couldn't tell anything happened. 

CO2 overflow would've occurred well over a week ago, maybe even 2 weeks. I've been lazy about running out for a new tank. With the amount that was left in the tank... I honestly imagine everything in there would've kicked the bucket if it'd dumped. I'm thinking it's more likely I bumped the regulator when rummaging around below the tank and it had a slow leak after that.

Unfortunately was not a faint here. I fished it out into a hospital tank and it never moved again, stiff as a board as well. Gave it several hours before deciding it was 100% gone. Seems like seizure, hung out near surface without moving for a while, seizure, death.

[Torrey]

I'm so sorry.