Swollen lifeless Gouramis

[mark30]

My female Dwarf Gouramis is extreemly swollen. Not only that she has become very lethargic and has problems swimming. Am i right in thinking she is about to lay eggs or is it something more worrying.

Cheers


Mark

[CrazieEddie]

Welcome to the Forum! :)

Looking swollen and swimming strangely looks like a sign of Swim Bladder Disease. Unfortunately, this can have many causes, from Kidney failure to bacterial. It is hard to determine the cause.

The only thing that can be done is to isolate it into another cycled tank and treat it with bacterial medication. Hopefully it will recover, but if it does not then you may need to euthanize the fish, if it doesn't die first.

Sorry for the bad news.

First of all, we need to look at why it may be ill...

Do you test your water for ammonia and nitrITEs/nitrATEs? If so, what are the readings?

What is the pH?

If you do not have a test kit, you can bring a sample of your water to your LFS/LPS. They should be able to test for free.

How often do you perform maintenance (filter clean/change, water clean/change, etc.)?

How much do you feed your fish?

How long have you had the tank?

How long have you had this dwarf gourami?

One thing is, it may not be a female dwarf gourami. If you bought the fish from an LFS/LPS, then it is more likely a male. Females dwarf gouramis are hard to find at LFS/LPS, though it can for some dedicated shops. Also, females are normally dull or gray in color. The males are the more colorful ones.

[mark30]

Thanks for your reply Crazie Eddie.

In answer to your questions

Done all the water checks, seems ok

Maintenance is carried out every 2 weeks

I think its a female by the dull colour and rounded shape

The fish are fed twice a day

Had the Gouramis for about 6months

The tanks been going for a year

Not to sure on the Ph level

The only problem i'm having is there seems to be an incredable amount of filementous algae which i cant seem to get rid of.