Fin Rot on giant Gourami (the trouble with Melafix!)
Hi Bob,
Ii have written you before but not for a while. I gave up on Gourami's a year ago when I could not keep them alive. I finally have two big blue Gourami's that have lived quite well for 2 years. I have been treating one of them for fin rot for several weeks now with now improvement.
I have been using Melafix in a 55 gallon tank, about 20 total fish. The other Gourami is fine. Water quality, nitrate 20ppm, nitrite 0, chlorine 0.
I have been treating for 7 days then doing a water change with vacuum. Also have removed the carbon from the filters.
I'm not sure what else to do. Pondering moving the fish to a hospital tank and continuing treatment. This all started with his front left fin starting to wear away a little bit, I noticed some flaking of his scales and what appeared to be some rot on his tail. His left fin almost entirely wore away, it appears to have healed slightly, but his color is off. He still feeds voraciously.
Suggestions? Fungus perhaps? No other fish seem to be affected. Other treatments for fin rot?
Thanks for your help.
Jason
<Jason, the short answer here is not to use Melafix. The problem with Melafix (and tea-tree oil generally) is that it is unreliable. While some aquarists have success with it, many don't. In my opinion, a useful medication is one that works consistently. So, stop with the Melafix.
Switch to something else. In the UK, I'd recommend eSHa 2000, in the US, Maracyn seems to be the drug of choice for Finrot. But wherever you are, look for a medication that is either a relevant antibiotic (such as erythromycin) or proven antibacterial (typically copper and formalin).
Remember to keep carbon out of the filter while treating, and when using copper/formalin medications especially, take care not to overdose. Giant Gouramis (Osphronemus spp.) grow rapidly, and at two years of age, they're going to be getting too big for the 55 gallon system. Water quality is likely less consistently good than you imagine, for example there may well
be ammonia/nitrite peaks after feeding time. Adult Osphronemus are around 50 cm (20 inches) in length, plus or minus, depending on the species, and even singletons are extremely messy animals. Finrot tends to follow on from either poor water quality or physical damage. Since Osphronemus are territorial and potentially aggressive, I'd also be looking at how they
interact, just in case one of them is damaging the other, allowing Finrot to get established. Either way, males rarely end up coexisting in home aquaria, so besides needing a bigger tank, you will in all probability need two tanks, unless by some miracle both of yours are females. Cheers, Neale.>