What is wrong with my dwarf/honey gourami?

Question

Hi, I have a fairly new tank (about 2 months old) and I got a honey dwarf gourami about three weeks ago. It was doing fine but it stopped eating about a week ago. It hides in the decorations all the time now. It's loosing color and appears bloated. I looked up some fish illnesses but it doesn't seem to fit any. It just looks really fat. That is the only observable symptom. Nitrites are really high in my tank (it's cycling)....I added bio-spira about 3 weeks ago. I also have some nitrates with a reading of about 20ppm. Anyone know what is wrong with this fish or what I can do to help it? Oh yeah, it's tank mates are 3 neon tetras and one swordtail. No one appears to be picking on it.

Answer 1

Nitrites should be dropping fairly quickly now that nitrates are showing up. You should do a 25-30% water chance to help keep the nitrates low.

It kind of sounds like your gourami has dropsy, which is a symptom of a bacterial infection. There are meds available, they work pretty well but are not always guaranteed.

I would suggest going to you local fish store and telling them about your fish's behavior and looks. They will be able to tell you exactly what medicine to use.

Hope this helps.