Honey Gourami Help

[Hanan214]

Hi everyone,

I have a honey gourami that’s not doing well. We have had the honey gouramis since around Thanksgiving, they went through about a month of quarantine and I followed the Aquarium CoOp quarantine protocol, they even got a 2nd dose of ParaCleanse two weeks after the 1st dose and another week of monitoring before placing them into the main tank.

We went away for 3 days and came home to our yellow dude looking quite pale and laying on its side at the bottom of the tank. 

The fish was in a 29 gallon tank with seven panda corys, a group of harlequin rasboras, 2 amano shrimp, bladder snails, and a female honey gourami, with a Seachem Tidal 35 filter. 

The panda corys and harlequin rasboras seem just fine, the other honey gourami seems kind of pale, but eating and swimming normally. 

I tested the water today (also see photos). 

pH: between 7.2 -7.4

Nitrite: 0

NitrATE: between 0-5 ppm

Ammonia: between 0-0.25 ppm

I isolated the fish in a holding tank with an air stone. He swims, but not well, here’s a video:

https://imgur.com/a/IPtI4fB

Any suggestions as to how to help the fish?

Thank you in advance for being kind.

Edited August 27 by Hanan214
Added photo

[CoryWithAKatana]

@Colu Any Ideas? 

[JE47]

I couldn't quite tell but is the fish swollen? Or pineconing?

[Colu]

Any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy lose of appetite what are you feeding and how often looks weak in the video I think it would be worthwhile doing a full course of maracyn following instructions on the box and a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 10 gallons that will aid Gill function and add essential electrolytes @Hanan214

[Hanan214]

Hi all,

Thank you for replying to my post.

I'll do my best to answer your questions ...

To @JE47 : He does appear to be a little swollen. I don't see any pineconing on his scales; they still look smooth.

To @Colu : No rapid breathing or hanging out near the surface, and is still interested in food. 

I went to my LFS, where I got the gouramis and all my other aquarium fish, and showed them the video of the fish swimming around and the photos of the water testing results. It wasn't shown in the video, but I did notice that he spins around while swimming. They suggested adding aquarium salt and some catappa leaves to his hospital tank. They also suggested Epsom salt because it may be a swim bladder issue, and they also suggested Seachem KanaPlex if it's dropsy. 

 

What I've done so far:

• He's in a 10-gallon tank with an internal filter and only a sponge pad inside.
• Added 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt yesterday to his hospital tank
• frequent monitoring
• I did not feed him yesterday

What I've been feeding:

• I have been feeding the tank Repashy Community Plus gel once a day, and every couple of days, I feed them frozen blood worms and less Repashy gel.

 

Edited August 28 by Hanan214
I wanted to Tag the users I am replying to.

[Colu]

On 8/28/2024 at 3:12 PM, Hanan214 said:

Hi all,

Thank you for replying to my post.

I'll do my best to answer your questions ...

To @JE47 : He does appear to be a little swollen. I don't see any pineconing on his scales; they still look smooth.

To @Colu : No rapid breathing or hanging out near the surface, and is still interested in food. 

I went to my LFS, where I got the gouramis and all my other aquarium fish, and showed them the video of the fish swimming around and the photos of the water testing results. It wasn't shown in the video, but I did notice that he spins around while swimming. They suggested adding aquarium salt and some catappa leaves to his hospital tank. They also suggested Epsom salt because it may be a swim bladder issue, and they also suggested Seachem KanaPlex if it's dropsy. 

 

What I've done so far:

• He's in a 10-gallon tank with an internal filter and only a sponge pad inside.
• Added 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt yesterday to his hospital tank
• frequent monitoring
• I did not feed him yesterday

What I've been feeding:

• I have been feeding the tank Repashy Community Plus gel once a day, and every couple of days, I feed them frozen blood worms and less Repashy gel.

 

I would increase the  salt to 1 table spoon for 3 gallons just remember to only put back in what you take out so if you do a 3 gallon water change put 1 table spoon of salt back in as salt only removed though water changes if your adding Indian almond leaves you might have to add one leaf per gallon to get a beneficial effect if your seeing no improvement after a couple of days or he get worse then I would do a course of kanaplex 

[Hanan214]

@Colu, thank you for getting back to me, I appreciate it!

I talked to my LFS earlier this morning and they suggested just what you said. I did a 3 gal water change and increased the salinity to 1TBSP per 3-gallons and added 9 more Indian almond leaves and monitored him all day. 

 

It has been a very long time since I’ve had aquariums, and I’ve been teaching my 3-year old what I do remember about fish care. So she’s been involved in this evolution of the aquarium since day 1, and has been following me along with trying to help this fish. 
 

Unfortunately, he ended up not making it 😢 - we found him no longer breathing or responding to stimuli earlier today. So we had a little funeral and we buried him next to our beloved dog who passed last fall. I think by the time we got back from a long weekend away, it was already too late, but we had to try to do what we could. 
 

Again, thank you for your kind advice - I will keep it in mind if any of our other fish start showing similar symptoms. 

[Colu]

Sorry for your loss