my gourami is swelling up!

help! i dont have a camera but i will try to explain it to you. ok, my female blue gouramis swelling starts at the gills and ends at the middle 'dot' that this species has. i know what fat looks like! and she is beyond fat! she is acting really weird too, the other gouramis she used to school with she is now chasing around. i don't think its dropsy, i hope not, anyway.

Is this the tank with the cloudy water? If not, has anything else unusual happened. You said she was acting aggressive. Could she be about to lay eggs? How quickly did her appearance change? Any additional info would be a big help.

Move or open the aquarium hood and look straight down at the fish. If the scales are protruding sort of like a pine cone, she has dropsy. The Blog section of this forum has an article about fish diseases and their treatment. Gouramis are pretty sensitive to water conditions, and if she's in the cloudy tank where the kitten was, the dropsy is probably caused by an ammonia spike. The water change thing will give her the best chance of getting healthy again. Dumping in a bunch of medications will, no matter what the pet store says, likely make the problem worse.

Keep us posted, and may all your aquarium cooties be good ones.

i checked but her scales were'nt like a pine cone. i noticed the water was a little foggy last week but i thought it was just the lighting, i'm sure all my fish are females, i got her about a month ago and she started swelling about a week after i bought her. oh and the kitten fell in my 10gal, he would have drowned in my 55gal.

Have you considered internal parasites? You might think about reading up on gouramis specificaly. Some fish are prone to specific types of ailments. I have not kept gouramis in years so I am afraid I can't be of much help in that area.

Sorry about getting the cat aquarium confused with the gourami aquarium.

Like Megan said, you may have a parasite problem, because a gravid female usually does not look like you described. The bulge is usually farther back. In addition, she should reabsorb the eggs if there is no male around to spawn with. Somewhere I read that most aquarium environments contain parasites and diseases, but the immune systems of healthy fish can usually fight them off. Cloudy water can be indicative of an ammonia spike, which in turn can weaken a fish's immune system.

thanx, i did some surfing but i could'nt find anything about fish parasites. could anyone tell me what she might have? or send me a link to a website or something? i cleared up the water and added aquarium salt, but she is still big.

Gouramigirl...
I recently added to the BLOGs... information regarding various diseases..and their treatment.
You may want to check it out.
With bloat/constipation/dropsy..if you are going to use any SALT treatment for those symptoms..make sure it is EPSOM SALT rather than AQ. Salt. Epsom will EXTRACT..while Aq.salt~ absorbs.
Aq. salt is best used for healing of torn fins, wounds...but not for this type of illness.
We all want to help you. Have you been able to get a test kit? What are your water parameters reading? It is VERY important to "know" this..in order to have a better idea as HOW to get things in balance. Are you still experiencing the cloudy water?

hi thank you so much for all your help. ok i tested the wter(finally)and ph is 7.5 to 8.0, nitrites are .5 and nitrAtes are around 10. the water is not cloudy anymore but i notices the gourami's poo is clear and it floats.(gross)i will totally check out that blog!

The nitrites are still a bit high, which means the ammonia probably is too. You should keep up the frequent water changes until things settle down, and don't let anyone else feed the fish. Everybody who is new at this thing tends to over feed. The white stringy excrement usually indicates parasites, but with less than ideal aquarium conditions it could just be the fish's reaction to a tough environment. At least you're improving the situation, so you're headed in the right direction. Right now, you just need patience and persistence; aquarium problems are seldom solved over night.

If you have never looked into one of the on line vendors for aquarium supplies, maybe you should. Most of them have lower prices and larger selections than you can find locally. The only down side is shipping cost, but if you buy enough the low prices make up for it.

Don't forget to keep us up to date.

my gourami is schooling and eating as normal, so im not too worried. i am still doing water changes. and the water is clearer too. my dad took my aquarium supplies to his house for his new fishtank, he has a bunch of mollies and platies in a 47 gal. its really pretty. my little sisters like it too! it really helps them learn their colors.

I'm happy to hear you have things under control now. Is your dad the one who got you interested in the aquarium hobby? Neither of my daughters nor any of my grandchildren have much interest in the hobby; I think it's because they all see what a nut I am about it.

i dunno, my dad just saw how pretty my aquarium was and wanted one too, or maybe im giving myself too much credit. anyway, i just thought of somthing, i live on a farm and we get all our water from a spring in our backyard, i used that water in my aquarium, its really hard and alkaline, but i used ph decrease to make it neutral. but anyway, could the water be making my fish sick? im sure its pretty clean,(exept for a few bullfrogs)could that be why my gourami is sick?

Most aquarium fish can tolerate hard water and water with a high pH. However, a sudden change in hardness, pH or other water parameters can put them into shock and compromise their immune systems. Probably the pH lowering stuff did it's job too quickly. A better way to lower pH and hardness gradually is to add some Malaysian driftwood or Indian almond leaves to the aquarium. Well seasoned, under gravel filters also lower the pH. At least that's been my experience. Most people use the more modern filtering systems, and I may get around to trying one some time. For now, the under gravel filter hooked to a small air pump works just fine so long as i keep up with water changes and don't crowd the fish.

As for spring water, you could always have it tested for chemical content and to make sure it has no contaminants. Chances are that it's better than city water, but in this industrial/chemical age there is always a chance the the aquifer is polluted with some exotic solvent. If the frogs like it, though, and if they don't have genetic defects, the water is probably good.

John's right. You are far better off with a high pH than messing with it chemically. The most important factor where pH is concerned is STABILITY. The pH decrease products only work short term. As your water ages, it will naturally creep back to it's more stable reading. This kind of fluctuation is very hard on fish. The natural means of slightly lowering pH that John mentioned, are a far better alternative, but leaving it alone will work too.

The fact that you are showing any nitrites suggest that your biofilter is not stable as well, or not fully established to deal with your bioload. I'm also guessing that your ammonia is not at zero either. This instability is why your water is clouding as the bacteria have yet to colonize and are currently blooming in the water column.

All of these stressors can and will lower the effectiveness of your fishes immune system, leaving an open door to pathogens. The clear poop could definitely be an indication of internal parasites, so treatment may be required.

I agree...100%.
Glad your gourami is swimming around
& eating...but seriously...
what Leah & JohnA shared....it is the gospel truth.
Having "stability" with your PH is far more important to your fish.
Using chemicals will cause it to go UP & DOWN..putting waaay too much stress on them.
If I were you..I would quit using any PH balancers.
Keep up on frequent water changes.
Also..as Leah said..the fact you "still" show signs of nitrites..your tank is NOT done "cycling". Your readings should say ZERO. ( If there are nirites..there is a sure bet of ammonia too).
Bottom line..Your fish are still at risk, sweetie.
We only want to help you
....hoping to get you to where you have a healthy tank environment..and not lose any of your beloved little fishies.