Red honey gourami's body becoming thin and pale

[nerdyaquarist]

Hi everyone, I got 4 “red honey” gouramis (yes I know they’re probably a hybrid of thick lips and honeys) and recently I’ve noticed that one of them has a body that is less “full” looking (for lack of a better word) than the others. The belly looks full when she eats, it’s the rest of her body that’s weird. The fish is eating, swimming, and pooping fine but it does look like she's clamping her fins on occasion, paler than before, and thin in comparison to the others. Comparing her now with pictures when I first got her, I can see a noticeable difference. This fish likes to hide a bit more than the others but I attributed that and the occasional fin clamping to being chased by one of the other gouramis.
I’m worried it’s some latent bacterial infection slowly killing my fish and want to take steps ASAP. I bought another gourami with them that died of a mysterious bacterial illness a bit over a month ago and I worry it might be the same thing.

Does she look normal to you? Should I preventively treat her with erythromycin? First two pics are her and the last one is an example of how the another one looks like for comparison.

Obligatory info: Heavily planted 29 gal, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate

[nerdyaquarist]

Bump? 

[Colu]

If it's eating ok and still losing weight it could be wasting disease recommended treatment is levamisole that the active ingredient in fritz Expel p I add  it to food it more effective  feed the medicated food  it for 7 days

[nerdyaquarist]

On 7/5/2022 at 2:43 PM, Colu said:

If it's eating ok and still losing weight it could be wasting disease recommended treatment is levamisole that the active ingredient in fritz Expel p I add  it to food it more effective  feed the medicated food  it for 7 days

Thank you so much for your response, this is very helpful, I'll get the meds ASAP! Getting ahead of myself, what would be the next step of action if this doesn't help?

[Colu]

On 7/5/2022 at 11:57 PM, nerdyaquarist said:

Thank you so much for your response, this is very helpful, I'll get the meds ASAP! Getting ahead of myself, what would be the next step of action if this doesn't help?

What I would do is the treatment I recommended if you see no improvement or it develops any other symptoms update this thread and we can discuss another treatment options Frist I would see if the levamisole works before recommending any other treatment 

[nerdyaquarist]

On 7/5/2022 at 4:05 PM, Colu said:

What I would do is the treatment I recommended if you see no improvement or it develops any other symptoms update this thread and we can discuss another treatment options Frist I would see if the levamisole works before recommending any other treatment 

Sounds good! Can you treat both the water and give medicated food at the same time, or just stick to the medicated food?

[Colu]

On 7/6/2022 at 2:46 AM, nerdyaquarist said:

Sounds good! Can you treat both the water and give medicated food at the same time, or just stick to the medicated food?

Medication in food is more effective at treating internal parasites I would just use in food if he won't eat the medicated food then I would dose the tank following the instructions on the box 

[nerdyaquarist]

On 7/6/2022 at 7:02 PM, Colu said:

Medication in food is more effective at treating internal parasites I would just use in food if he won't eat the medicated food then I would dose the tank following the instructions on the box 

Got Expel-P today! One question I have about the medicated food is, how much should I feed the her? The instructions say "as needed" but how can I make sure she has the right amount of medication each time? I typically feed Hikari Fancy Guppy Pellets. 

[Colu]

On 7/7/2022 at 6:07 AM, nerdyaquarist said:

Got Expel-P today! One question I have about the medicated food is, how much should I feed the her? The instructions say "as needed" but how can I make sure she has the right amount of medication each time? I typically feed Hikari Fancy Guppy Pellets. 

Feed a small amount twice   a day 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Colu

[nerdyaquarist]

Alright so it's been about 2 weeks. She is much more active and her color is great. She is opening her fins again too which is nice to see! So by all regards she seems better except one thing, despite her abdomen seeming big due to the extra food I've been feeding, her actual body looks around the same. I try comparing her to my other gouramis and her head and body is still straighter looking than the rounded heads and bodies from the other fish. Don't know what's up with that. Will it take a while for her to plump up again?

[Colu]

It can take a while before you will notice significant weight gain you can try feeding small meals several times a day of live or frozen baby brine shrimp blood worms black worms daphnia and good quality flake or pellet if after a week or two your noticing no improvement in her weight then I would do another course of levamisole