Dwarf Gourami Disease

[south14]

Well, it looks like my dwarf gourami's have got the DGD. Been doing a lot of reading online, and I sounds like that's what's going on. Bought them online through liveaquaria.com about 3 months ago. They've been doing great, but the bottom seems to have fallen out on them in the last couple of weeks. Distented abdomen, lethargy, then death. At first I thought it might be dropsy, but the other gourami's are exhibiting the same symptoms now. My water quality is excellent and I do 10% to 20% water changes every couple of weeks.

Question though: I have read that the disease will not transfer to other species, but I've also lost two angels to the same type of symptoms in the last week. Could it be something else? I've read about a DNA level disease called iridovirus that can affect angels as well as gouramis? Thoughts? Opinions? Experiences? Don't guess it really matters because there's nothing that can be done to heal the fish, but it's at least worth some discussion.

Thanks,
Lyn

[pinkrblu]

I'm not the one to offer info or advice here, but wanted you to know someone read the post...
Hey guys, help!!!

[mewickham]

I know that they've identified an iridovirus that infects dwarf gouramies, but I know little about it or how contagious it might be to other species. When I was a dealer (about 10 years ago), it was only the dwarf gouramies coming out of the Far East that had the problem. (We didn't know it was an iridovirus then.) That meant the flames and neon blues were problematic. The normal, wild-type dwarf gouramies were all coming out of Florida and were fine.

It is probably also a factor that the Asian fish farms dose the gouramies with hormones to make them color up to the max for sale. This undoubtedly stresses the fish and makes them even more susceptible to the virus.

[Douglas]

Problems with dwarf gouramies, as you've said, seem to crop up on the board all the time and this could make a huge difference for many prospective dwarf owners.

There are only a few little things I want to add.

First, just to avoid any misunderstandings, the powder blue/red flame etc color morphs that were mentioned are not hybrids but simply selectively bred varieties. People may read that sentence and think they are hybrids. As you know, of course, there are some fish sold as Colisa lalia that may well be hybrids so mentioning that there is still a good idea. I just think it may be better to make the point clearly seperate - a simple re-wording is all I'm suggesting . BTW, the hybrids are typicaly with honey gouramies (Colisa chuna/sota). I appreciate this first suggestion is a major nitpick

Another little thing I'd like to point out is that people should learn the scientific name for the dwarf gourami before going and buying one as the common names can be confusing. they are often named according to color but these names are not standardised so you might find yourself looking at a 'rainbow' gourami or a 'dwarf honey' gourami. Note that the names used for some dwarf color morphs are very similar to the names used for other Colisa species (eg: the honey example I just gave).

In terms of the diseases - the symptoms not only resemble fish TB, dwarfs also often carry this disease. A hollowed out appearance can often be the first symptom - as can open sores as described. Fish TB can have a devastating effect on a tank and, arguably (it seems to be the marine form that's realy problematic), can affect people too. This further highlights the importance of quarantine.

It may also be an idea to add bloating/pineconing of scales (ie: dropsy) on the list. dropsy is a symptom, not an actual disease and often presents itself, alongside lethardy and loss of appetite in stressed dwarf gouramies. It also signifies an internal bacterial infection.

In terms of choosing your dwarf (or any gourami for that matter) it's important to also avoid fish that are constantly gasping at the surface or always 'resting' on the bottom. It's normal for a dwarf to go up for air every few minutes and this is healthy behaviour but sticking to it, or worse, staying on the bottom, are often the first signs of trouble at the LFS.

When it comes to keeping dwarfs, I'm realy against keeping them as pairs though I appreciate the difficulty that may be involved in obtaining a trio. As has been clearly said, these fish are very prone to disease and any form of stress (including fluctuating water conditions or bullying from other fish) can trigger serious illness so it's important to try to minimise stress as much as possible - keeping pairs tends to have the opposite effect though heavily planting and providing a large tank certainly helps.

This is the last point (I promise ) - the reason dwarf gouramies are so fragile isn't limmited to their treatment with antibiotics that means that even weaker fish, that would otherwise have died, are bred and produce equaly unhealthy offspring that can't survive under normal tank conditions - their inbreeding is also an issue and the way they are mass-bred for superficial traits (ie: color - not health) doesn't help either. Leading on from this, when you buy dwarf gouramies, it's best to only buy apparently healthy individuals that have been at the LFS for at least a week (two is even better). As harsh as it might sound, this allows the weaker individuals to die before you come along and buy the hardier, surviving, fish.

[mewickham]

Hi, Douglas. Welcome to the forum! It's good to see new faces, especially when they are willing to type detailed answers. Where are you from?