Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => The Emergency Room => Topic started by: Lynne W on December 03, 2018, 08:04:25 PM
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Hi guys, I feel as if I'm just working my way through fish issues with my Pearl Gourami's. I'm down to 4 now three girls and one guy.
My current issue is although the guys is eating, and still very active when food goes in, a lot of the time he stays near the bottom, and he's really skinny, and I don't think I'm imagining that he's skinner than he was.
My concern as you might imagine is that the last two I put in the quarantine tank died, albeit the first one was really ill and died pretty much immediately, and the 2nd one had the fight wounds which I think I left too long, thinking it might heal, so I'm really worried about moving the wee guy over in case I just speed up his demise.
I do weekly water changes now at 50% and the water quality readings are always OK.
So not sure what it could be, read that it could be internal parasites? And not sure what the best solution is but on one of the links here saw that Sera Nematol, eHSa-ndx or Sterazin, might work.
As always any advice or reassurance would be great.
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The first question to ask is - when the fish stays motionless for a couple of seconds, is there anything protruding from the anus?
Sera Nematol and eSHa ndx are for intestinal worms such as camallanus worms and these show as red threads hanging from the anus when the fish stops swimming, though they go back inside when the fish is swimming.
Sterazin is for flukes, and similar parasites of the skin (according to Waterlife's website)
Skinny fish could also be due to bacterial, viral and protozoan gut infections - does the fish show any signs of stringy poo, or mucus-looking poo?
The problem is working out the cause so we know which med to use.
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OK, just got the magnifying glass out, and I can't see anything protruding when he stops swimming so don't think it's the worms. Not seen him poo yet so I'll keep a look out for that and report back, assume I should just leave him where he is for the time being?
Ta