Why is my dawrf gourami almost sitting at the bottom? ?

Question

I have 2 other emerald blue dwarf gouramies and they seem fine. The one at the bottom is usually at the top. I'm also pretty sure that she's pregnant. I just made a 50% water change yesterday because of nitrite and nitrate problems and I also added some freshwater aquarium salt. I also have a molly with pop eye but I am treating her with some pop eye medication. I also have a batman platy with ripped fins but I'm pretty sure that's just because my other one is beating him up. What should I do about this??

Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer 1

How can you be sure she's pregnant?

It sounds like a mild case of dropsy to me. Infact, my dwarf gourami has dropsy right now and I thought it was pregnant too before both of it's eyes started to bulge.  Dropsy is caused by.. bad nitrite and bad water conditions. There is actually no treatment for pop eye, they say Maracyn 2 which has been known to work, but that's because it looks like a fish has pop eye when it has dropsy, because the fluid build up in it's body pushes their eyes out of their sockets. What I'm saying is, msot medications that say they treat "Pop Eye" were originally used to treat Dropsy. These are just companies trying to make more money. Anyway, the Maracyn seems to be working. Also, if a fish is pregnant, I don't think that it lays on the bottom.. That also sounds like dropsy.

Dropsy is bloatedness, lethargicness, distancing oneself from the group/school because it can't keep up and lack of appetite.

I say add some aquarium salt to your tank. The sodium will help absorb and excrete the extra fluid build up in your fish.

If it's eyes aren't bulging, like I said, it's probably because you're technically already treating dropsy with the medication you're using for your fishes pop eye. It's probably very mild. Do a 15% water change in your tank every other day, and take the carbon out of the filter.

You might also want to consider buying some Aqueon fish vitamin water conditioner, this will help your other fish build better "immune systems" (slime coat) against infections of your other fish, and the slowly lowering bad water conditions of your tank.