gourami too skinny?

[Chris Palma]

Hi.

Among my honey gouramis, I have one that seems to be *too* skinny. He is
noticeably smaller than the other 8 in my community. I don't see any
signs of disease -- he is eating (well, more on that in a bit), his fins
look to be in good shape, no sign of white spots / fungus, etc. He swims
all over the tank, but he isn't as strong as the others and doesn't move
as fast.

I'm a bit worried that he is in danger, though, because he looks so much
frailer than the others because of his thinness. I try to spot feed him,
and it does look like he gets food, although he isn't the most competitive
at feeding time. The one thing that seems a bit odd is that if there is a
big chunk of food there for him to have all to himself (like a piece of
algae wafer, which all my fish seem to love), he will take a tiny bite and
swim away, leaving most of it untouched.

Am I just being paranoid? If not, is there anything I should think about
doing to try and improve his chances of living a long life?

Thanks...

--chris

[RedForeman ©®]

> Among my honey gouramis, I have one that seems to be *too* skinny.
> He is noticeably smaller than the other 8 in my community. I don't
> see any signs of disease -- he is eating (well, more on that in a
> bit), his fins look to be in good shape, no sign of white spots /
> fungus, etc. He swims all over the tank, but he isn't as strong as
> the others and doesn't move as fast.
>
> I'm a bit worried that he is in danger, though, because he looks so
> much frailer than the others because of his thinness. I try to spot
> feed him, and it does look like he gets food, although he isn't the
> most competitive at feeding time. The one thing that seems a bit odd
> is that if there is a big chunk of food there for him to have all to
> himself (like a piece of algae wafer, which all my fish seem to
> love), he will take a tiny bite and swim away, leaving most of it
> untouched.
>
> Am I just being paranoid? If not, is there anything I should think
> about doing to try and improve his chances of living a long life?
>
> Thanks...
>
> --chris

Can't say, as most of my gouramis were very competitive for food, but then
again, also very picky up to a point... I had to switch their foods and get
them some variety, after a bit, they stayed very interested in a certain
food, so it bacame their staple along with the occasional variety of
spirulina flakes, cichlid crumbles, flake food, bloodworms, etc... the
pearls loved frozen BW....

--
RedForeman ©® future fabricator and creator of a ratbike
streetfighter!!! ==========================
2003 TRX450ES
1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
'98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
==========================
ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø


is that better??

[Graham Broadbridge]

"Chris Palma" > wrote in message
...
> Hi.
>
> Among my honey gouramis, I have one that seems to be *too* skinny. He is
> noticeably smaller than the other 8 in my community. I don't see any

For a long time (maybe 10 years) I kept a gourami only tank. Like people,
these fish come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes I would have a 'sickly'
fish that never gained weight and always looked a little ill. Without fail
they would die in a few years. I think that sometimes you can buy a fish
that is not destined to live a long time. They're perfectly happy while
they live.


Graham.

[NetMax]

"Chris Palma" > wrote in message
...
> Hi.
>
> Among my honey gouramis, I have one that seems to be *too* skinny. He
is
> noticeably smaller than the other 8 in my community. I don't see any
> signs of disease -- he is eating (well, more on that in a bit), his
fins
> look to be in good shape, no sign of white spots / fungus, etc. He
swims
> all over the tank, but he isn't as strong as the others and doesn't
move
> as fast.
>
> I'm a bit worried that he is in danger, though, because he looks so
much
> frailer than the others because of his thinness. I try to spot feed
him,
> and it does look like he gets food, although he isn't the most
competitive
> at feeding time. The one thing that seems a bit odd is that if there
is a
> big chunk of food there for him to have all to himself (like a piece of
> algae wafer, which all my fish seem to love), he will take a tiny bite
and
> swim away, leaving most of it untouched.
>
> Am I just being paranoid? If not, is there anything I should think
about
> doing to try and improve his chances of living a long life?
>
> Thanks...
>
> --chris

Best case scenario is that he lives a shorter than normal life , and you
find and remove the body shortly after death.

Worst case scenario is that he has an internal parasite or bacteria,
which after death, spreads to the other fish, either by ingestion or
through the water column. Spread by ingestion, you will see the pattern
repeat, possibly with 2 fish next time. Spread by water, it's effects
are more random and widespread, either the contagion is unable to find
new hosts, or you first start to see only certain species of fish
becoming affected.

In between the best & worst case scenarios, are internal dysfunctions or
deformations which might not be contagious, but will prevent the fish
from obtaining full size, resulting in a varying life expectancy. Note
that the weakened fish will be an ideal host for various diseases to
prosper and spread to a healthy tank. In nature he would have been
removed from the big picture.

If you wanted to medicate, you need a quarantine tank, and medicated food
(for bacteria and parasites). The expense will be more than the fish,
and I don't find Dwarf gouramis respond particularly well for their size,
ymmv.

NetMax

[Chris Palma]

On Fri, 16 Apr 2004, NetMax wrote:

>
> "Chris Palma" > wrote in message
> ...

<snip>

> >
> > Am I just being paranoid? If not, is there anything I should think
> about
> > doing to try and improve his chances of living a long life?

<snip>

> If you wanted to medicate, you need a quarantine tank, and medicated food
> (for bacteria and parasites). The expense will be more than the fish,
> and I don't find Dwarf gouramis respond particularly well for their size,
> ymmv.
>

Sounds like you're leading up to recommending euthanasia. This is
certainly something I've considered, but I have been planning to start a
quarantine tank and already have a lot of the equipment for one (heater,
filter, hood). The tank I was going to use has a crack, so I've been
planning on buying a new one anyway, so this sounds like a good excuse to
go ahead and buy one and get it set up. Even if I wind up euthanizing
him, I would like to have a quarantine tank set up, so I think I'm going
to at least try quarantining him to see if he improves.

I know there is another thread going on right now suggesting that
regularly dosing aquari-sol as a preventative is a bad idea, but do you
think I should dose my tank with aquari-sol until I can get the gourami
quarantined?

Thanks.

--chris

[NetMax]

"Chris Palma" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 16 Apr 2004, NetMax wrote:
>
> >
> > "Chris Palma" > wrote in message
> >
...
>
> <snip>
>
> > >
> > > Am I just being paranoid? If not, is there anything I should think
> > about
> > > doing to try and improve his chances of living a long life?
>
> <snip>
>
> > If you wanted to medicate, you need a quarantine tank, and medicated
food
> > (for bacteria and parasites). The expense will be more than the
fish,
> > and I don't find Dwarf gouramis respond particularly well for their
size,
> > ymmv.
> >
>
> Sounds like you're leading up to recommending euthanasia. This is
> certainly something I've considered, but I have been planning to start
a
> quarantine tank and already have a lot of the equipment for one
(heater,
> filter, hood). The tank I was going to use has a crack, so I've been
> planning on buying a new one anyway, so this sounds like a good excuse
to
> go ahead and buy one and get it set up. Even if I wind up euthanizing
> him, I would like to have a quarantine tank set up, so I think I'm
going
> to at least try quarantining him to see if he improves.
>
> I know there is another thread going on right now suggesting that
> regularly dosing aquari-sol as a preventative is a bad idea, but do you
> think I should dose my tank with aquari-sol until I can get the gourami
> quarantined?
>
> Thanks.
>
> --chris

Regarding euthanasia, I'd rather you decide what course of action best
suits your application. I've seen people treat their favourite Molly
with a reverence approaching what breeders do to treat their top
performing Discus. Life is more than 'current market value', so I leave
that in your hands.

I think that Aquari-sol is pretty mild stuff, whose effectiveness is
limited to whatever was in the water column. A persistent and worsening
case of wasting away and loss of appetite points to an internal problem
(in my untrained layman opinion), especially if there is only one fish
afflicted. Aquari-sol, and other medications which sit in the water
column would have negligible effect. About the only thing the Aquari-sol
would do is destroy any gill flukes which could conceivable be a problem,
though this would be doubtful, as the fish would show respiratory
distress and bright gill color (which you didn't mention).

A dosage of Aquari-sol would not hurt anything, but quarantine would imo
be a sage move.(sorry, I have a penchant for infrequently used words, -
the bombast, like the advice is free to ignore ;~).

NetMax