Depressed Gourami

I have a male and a female gourami. My male just mopes around in his part of the tank. The female can't even get a rise out of him anymore. I stopped doing daily water changes... Could this be the cause or maybe something else. He is still eating, but he does not get excited and greedy as he used to. Any thoughts?
caj1968

 

Refresh my memory. You where having fluctuating pH, right? Did you ever get that straightened out?

What are your ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte readings?

-Chelle

 

Does the fish eat at all? Does he show any other symptoms of something being wrong?

In my experience within the last year and a half all the dwarf gouramis I have been seeing are not healthy. Talking with other members on another forum I have found out that this is a problem all over the country. The dwarfs are dropping like flies to various diseases but especially dropsy.

Hope yours turns out ok

 

Yes, I have fluctuating PH. I thought I would just let it be for a while to see how the fish did with the raising PH. I hadn't done a water change for 10 days. The PH is steady at 8.5. All the fish seem OK and still eating (Even my cardnial tetras...go figure) but my male Gourami eats alittle then goes back behind driftwood I have in the tank. I have put out algae waffers and he does the same thing. He used to be much more active in the tank too. I did a 60 % water change last night but that didn't get him overly excited either. He's not growing at the same rate he was before. Oh, I did notice last night that he had a long white stringy thing coming out of his anal. So did one of my Platys. Maybe that means something?The Gouramis are my favorite fish in this tank. I hope nothing is wrong.
caj1968

 

Sounds like it could be either an internal parasite or an internal bacterial infection. Was it actually a worm, or just white stringy feces?

-Chelle

 

It is not a worm but a long stringy feces. How do you suggest I treat this or could I just do more water changes without using meds.
caj1968

 

White stringy feces is a sign of an internal infection. Chances are it's not going to clear up on its own so I'd try metronidazole.

-Chelle

 

Thanks for the info chelle. Can I get that a my lfs?
caj1968

 

I know Seachem makes pure metronidazole and I've been able to find it at one LFS here (but only one and it's now out of business ). Jungle Parasite Clear also contains some metronidazole.

-Chelle

 

Wonderful, thanks a bunch t_chelle.
caj1968