Sick Blue Dwarf Gourami

[Klane]

I have 3 Dwarf Gourami's and only one is sick. A few weeks ago I
noticed that his fins were ripped and he had some red spots on his
body. My LFS told me to try Mardel's Meracyn-2. After a week there was
no change. Next they suggested I used Melafix (Tea tree extract). After
a week he is looking even worse.

My tank is a 20 gallon long, has the 3 Dwarf Gouramis, 6 Zebra Danios
and 2 Otos. I have some real plants but not many, mainly Moneywort.

The water is fine except for the Nitrates, which were measuring about a
5.0 I've been doing water changes every other day since his last
Melafix treatment.

None of the other fish are sick, so far.

Thanks for any help you can give.
Klane

[IDzine01]

Hmm. I'm figuring the LFS probably thought your gourami has septicemia,
which I would have guessed as well. Maracyn-two is generally a good
treatment and I have treated septicemia successfully with it. Perhaps
he has some sort of gram-positive bacterial infection instead (which
Maracyn would treat if it's not too advanced)

Personally I don't recommend Melafix, especially not on anabantids.
There is not scientific proof that I know of but more and more
aquarists have been complaining of reactions to Melafix. There is
speculation that it may cause liver damage and possibly harm the
labyrinth organ on fish like gouramis, bettas and paradise fish. It
does seem to work pretty well to heal fin damage and open soars but it
hasn't got any antibacterial properties so it couldn't treat a
bacterial infection.