Hi -
My gourami is getting very thin (I think). There is still a slight bit of swelling in his abdomen, but it may be because the rest of him is thin. There is little trace of the fungus. He has not eaten anything since the one nibble of fd bloodworms. Could it be he's stressed about being in the small tank alone?
should i put him back in the 55g? should i put something in that tank in case he still has a trace of something? or, should he be euthanized?
He has been in hospital tank for 13 days.
Thanks, M.C.

If hes ok then the swelling might be caused by eating too much food. And he might be a shy fellow. What size tank is he in? What are his tankmates? Water paraments?

I put a post on my thread on the 16th, and no one responded. I tried this route (starting a new topic) if you go back to the hospital page, you will see a topic thread with my information on the gourami issue.... all of your questions will be answered there...
thanks, mc

You could put him back and see how he does, but make it a slow transition to minimize further stress. If you think he is too far gone, euthanization is an option. Wish we could see a pic.

If he's held out for 13 days, I wouldn't think of euthanizing him just yet. I'm surprised the fungus is still there even after salt and stresscoat has been added. I went back to your original water parameters, and noticed that the water was very hard and alkaline for gouramis. So my next thought would be, since the fungus is pervasive and the water params are not natural for him, try a strong but short bath in potassium permanganate to kill and completely destroy the fungus, and follow it with 100% water changes every day in the hospital tank with distilled or R.O. water if you have an R.O. filter, and watch his condition. I would also offer him some live food if possible, either live bloodworms, or even some brine shrimp. Often times fish will eat live food, even if they are otherwise not interrested in eating. If that doesn't work after about 2 days, then it's probably time to euthanize him (especially since the potassium permanganate will have also eaten away at his gills, but if he doesn't quickly improve, he won't survive anyway).

To answer your question, he shouldn't be stressed from being in a tank by himself. While dither fish can make a tankmate feel safer from predators, if the fish is completely alone in the tank, they will also feel somewhat safe, as their lateral lines will not be picking up anything that could be interpreted as a predator.

:(

This morning, Gourami was lying on his side on the bottom of his tank. His breathing was slower but more labored (looked as if he were gulping for air). He had swollen up so much, that he was "pineconed" this time. He couldn't upright himself and couldn't bring himself to the surface to get air.

I don't understand why his condition deteriorated so greatly overnight. He was in a very sad state of being. I couldn't watch him suffering so I euthanized him (clove oil bath then added vodka per instructions).

I hope I never have to do that again.

Thanks for everyone's comments and advice.

M.C.

Sorry to hear about your fish. You did the right thing EmSeeTee. Sometimes it happens that way.

That stinks. Sorry nothing worked out.

I wish I had the opportunity to autopsy him to find out what was really going on, and why none of the treatments helped.

Maybe it was an internal infection. And when u said he looked like a pinecone it was probably dropsy.