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Sparkling gourami death - weird symptoms

Kaliilo

Kaliilo

Member
Joined
13 Jun 2021
Messages
139
Location
Hertfordshire
Hiya guys
So I have 8 sparkling gourami, when I first got them I noticed the big female had a patch of what looked like missing scales but she had been in a tank with a betta in the store so I assumed some kind of fighting. Over the last few months Ive noticed a few of them have these strips of missing scales and this morning one of them died. It was missing most of its fin and looked like it had been chewed on. It also had a red wound on one side of it. I did take pictures but wont post them unless asked. Up until then everything was 100% normal - eating behaviour etc
All my parameters are fine with the exception I seem to have had a bacterial bloom out of nowhere. Assumed I was feeding slightly too much and cut it back. Other than that its all fine. Mix of 70% RO and 30% tap. Regular 30-50% water changes and everyone else including otos are fine.
Ill try and get a picture of the weird scale marks on one of the other gourami. Bit sad as its my birthday and I love my gourami 🙁
 
Do you hear much croaking from them? What size is the tank?
Mine are quite territorial and are often squabbling, which occasionally does result in the odd damaged fin.
 
Yeah they croak but not all the time. Its a 60l tank and very densely planted. It does look like damage to be honest but the pale scales are too uniform for me to be 100% convinced. Unsure what to do.
 
It's not very helpful, and maybe irrelevant, but I do notice that mine are sensitive, vulnerable to water conditions, and liable to deteriorate with age, including rotting fins. Moreso than other species I have.
 
I think sparklers are lovely little fish, especially when they're coloured up & rattling at one another so I can appreciate your disappointment at losing one.
From what you have described it does sound like they have been squabbling, perhaps your male/female ratio needs adjusting. It's also possible the one that died was weaker anyway & it ended up being bullied so nothing to do with your care.
All you can do is keep up with regular water changes & general cleanliness, removing dead leaves & uneaten food promptly.
 
Usually, all that is offered in the LFS is Wild Catch and then you can't determine age and they do not have a very long life span. For the very tough ones maybe 4 years, but in my experience and the 30 + I bought over the years average maybe 2 years for a few the majority dies sooner. Could very well be you buy an adult that is shortly before it's end of life already.

Also with any wild-caught fish some parasite infection could come with them most LFS do not quarantine and function like a drop ship company. I also have a hard time believing that importers quarantine fish, maybe the ones looking sick, but yet not looking sick doesn't mean they are 100% OK. Latently present parasites can play up after the fish's stressful experience of being caught and moving and travelling from the tropics to your tanks at home and become an infection.

Giving wild-caught fish a preventive mild anti-parasitic treatment after you bought them isn't a superfluous luxury in this case... 🙂 It might just extend their lives a tad longer...
 
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