Sorry to hear your gourami has died (though I think it’s very unlikely that any intervention at this stage would’ve made much difference - including taking the fish to an experienced fish vet ... you certainly could contact local vets/vet colleges to find someone that might intervene with suitable medications etc going forwards)
As I mentioned above, at this stage I’d just do daily 50% (minimum) water changes for 10-14 days, if you can only do alternate day water changes, then do that - very “clean” water is one of the most effective fish medications we all have access to
(While planted tanks often have excellent “water quality”, active plant growth won’t effectively reduce (potential) pathogen levels in the water, only dilution/removal by water changes will accomplish this)
If your local shops don’t have much in the way of medications, I suggest having a fish “first aid kit” on hand - you can find various opinions on this online
My suggestions
- reference text such as the Manual of Fish Health
https://www.fireflybooks.com/catalo...fish-their-environment-and-disease-prevention (l like this link as you can see author bios)
This book is very important and not very expensive
I’ve never understood why local shops don’t sell this rather than test kits, and elixirs such as Melatix, Pimafix etc
As you already have an eSHa product, I’d invest in more of their range
Welcome to eSHa Aquarium Products
- eSHa 2000
- eSHa EXIT
- eSHa ndx
These three will allow you to treat most common ailments that CAN be treated by OTC remedies
- for internal bacterial infections, you might track down some Sera Baktopur (both products)
Hochwertige Produkte für Aquaristik, Terraristik & Gartenteich: ✔Fischfutter ✔Aquarienzubehör ✔Gartenteichzubehör ✔Terrarien. ▶ Jetzt entdecken!
www.sera.de
Internal bacterial infections respond best to medicated food (which can be prepared using a Sera product, note at one time, medicated flakes were available from various companies but palatability was a significant issue - and when trade regulations looked to increase costs, they just disappeared from the market)
You also need to begin treating early on while fish are still actively eating (fish will usually exhibit fairly minor symptoms that are easily overlooked/rationalized away) and fish are predominantly ill from some primary pathogen and not already suffering considerable secondary infections
Seachem also has some very helpful directions, FAQ, discussion board posts on treating fish and preparing medicated foods (at the hobbyist level, it’s pretty much get as much product as possible bound to the food (cause it won’t be much) and try to get your fish to eat sufficient amounts (you’ll need to feed only medicated food, and with limited frequency to get fish to eat any)
Seachem’s Focus product is also well worth obtaining IF you think you might create a medicated food (eSHa ndx is also a good candidate for a medicated food, depending upon what sort of internal parasites are involved) as this facilitates binding of medication to the food, and prevents the food~medication complex from beginning to fall apart as soon as it hits the water