dwarf gourami disease

klw

Member
Aug 7, 2011
36
0
6
sydney
hello,i just took out of my tank a dwarf gourami with these sores on it and ive read its incurable and most of these fish have this disease.my worry is i have had it in with other tropicals and more importantly my l333's.im worried this bacteria may infect them,although it is a species specific but very contagious disease.would this mean my other fish would be affected ? does anyone know a bit more about cross infection with this.should i add something to the water ?
appreciate any opinions on this.
thankyou
 

Rob-T

Member
Aug 21, 2011
16
0
1
Ayrshire
i had dwarf gouramis which eventualy died of the iridovirus, they were in the same tank as some plec's that i was growing out and none of it transferred. the thing that did surprise me was that i thought that if my fish had the disease they would fall to it sooner rather than later, mine were with me for probably a year (and had spawned several times) before they showed any signs of illness.

one thing i was carefull to make sure was that if one of the fish died i removed it before it could be nibbled on by others.

hope that helps a bit
 

klw

Member
Aug 7, 2011
36
0
6
sydney
hi rob-t, thats made me feel much better,ive had that gourami about 2 mths and i do have another in the tank still that i got from a different source,its a brilliant red dwarf flame.im gonna be checking this fish everyday for these sores coming up.its so terrible these fish are being sold through suppliers with that.i think youre very lucky to have yours as long as you did.
 

bigbird

Pleco Profiles Moderator - RIP FRIEND
Sep 9, 2010
6,306
1
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Sydney, AUSTRALIA
i would still treat the tank as a precaution with the twins fix - mela and pima. Keep and eye on the other fish and do a water change. also add an airstone of you have. good luck cheers jk :thumbup:
 

dw1305

Global Moderators
Staff member
May 5, 2009
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Wiltshire nr. Bath, UK
Hi all,
i had dwarf gouramis which eventualy died of the iridovirus, ......the thing that did surprise me was that i thought that if my fish had the disease they would fall to it sooner rather than later, mine were with me for probably a year (and had spawned several times) before they showed any signs of illness.
I think a lot of the commercial stock of Gourami, Rainbow fish etc. is riddled with Mycobacterium, and for Dwarf Gourami you have the added risk of "Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus (DGIV)". I've also read that similar Iridoviruses are now being blamed for the poor quality of some Rams and Angel Fish.

I think with all these viral infections they will kill the fish eventually, but if the fish are in tip-top condition, aren't stressed, have a good diet etc the onset of the disease may be delayed. However as soon as they lose a little bit of condition (possibly just from the efforts of spawning) the disease takes hold, and death is inevitable.

cheers Darrel
 

tutters187

Member
Jul 5, 2010
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Caboolture QLD AUS
I agree with Darrel on the FishMB, sounds like a bacterial infection.

I work with gourami's and some suppliers gourami are more prone to infection.
A lot of suppliers have been changed to virus free farms but until something is done with biosecurity gourami can come from any source I believe, virus certified free or not.
I don't think it's viral, mostly just heavily infected cases of mycobacterium or FishMB.

Doxycycline is pretty good if early detection, correct disease diagnosis and using right drugs for right disease.

Gourami also can encounter Tetrahymena which may resemble a bacterial infection but is caused by a parasite eating a creator into the tissue.

Probably best to move your L's out of that tank altogether.