Sick gourami

guys, my blue (hybrid, it has an orange underbelly and the 3 spots are faded) gourami has developed some weird brown colouration on the sides. its behaviour hasn't changed in any way, but the patches have grown big, what disease is this? first time i'm seeing it on any fish.

bit unclear but you can see it- it's impossible to get a clear image of a fish! i'll try getting a clearer picture from my dslr later.





also, i've been having algae problems recently, are the two of them linked?

Hiya K, difficult to say from your photo's but it could be a fungal infection. Have you checked your water stats - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.

I would be temptd to do a decent gravel vac and water change, and then dose your tank for fungal stuff if it were me.

Are the fish all eating and swimming ok?

Have to be honest, I never get a good feeling when fish start getting discolouration . Finally, have a look in the articles section just in case there is anything there that seems like it.

You mention algae? There are several causes for that - over feeding, too much light, not enough water changes.....which could also have an impact on your fishes health.

What is your normal water changing routine? Let us know and post the water stats and then we might have enough info to help

The filter was blocked, I cleaned it up and it's running smoothly.
Now the algae problem is gone and the water's clean again
They had grown all over the inside of the glass and on the plants- which I cleaned (used that magnetic dusting thingy for the glass)

This might come as a shock but there is no way to check my water stats right now because no LFS here sells test kits.
If I were to order one off the internet it would take about a month to arrive (by then the fish will either be cured by its own immune system, or will die.)

My normal water changing routine is about 15% every week. I've done two water changes since the gourami fell sick but its condition hasn't improved.

The gourami is eating properly, swimming around like it used to, but is slightly less active (compared to the other gourami). Also, I read up all the diseases on TFF (and a couple of other sites) but the symptoms don't match. So I still have no idea what the disease is. But since no other fish have been affected, I'm thinking it's something genetic- maybe cancer?

If you can't test the water k, I would increase the amount of water you are changing weekly to about a third of volume. 15% is a wee bit low and if your filter has been blocked it could well have lost a lot of the bacteria it needs to keep the levels of toxic stuff down.

Although it will take a while for you to get it, I would recommend you order a decent water testing kit. Even if it wont help with this situation you will have it for in the future and they last a good while.

Well I did change a third of the water, last 2 weeks, just that I normally don't cross 15-20 %.
I sure will order a test kit- as you say, it'll be of use in the future.

If you saw the fishkeeping scenario here, you'd go into depression...

Never mind k, you do well to keep your fish healthy - we all get the odd sick one now and again

Yeah This is actually my first case in the last one year or so. Let's hope for the best.

Might be worth doing daily changes for a bit because of your filter kausthubh.

Ok I think I know what's happened to the gourami

I saw the angel going crazy today, it was chasing the other gourami around and then went for the rainbow shark.

I transferred the gourami to my old 30L tank- obviously it isn't cycled and all. I had to get some water from the main tank, this is not going to be so good but I don't really have another option at the moment :|

After putting it in the small tank I got a really close look and the fish has some injuries on one side (and a small patch of blood), which seems to have resulted in an infection. Hence it will have to remain in isolation until it gets better. I've put a small dose of methylene blue, let's see if he gets better.
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As for the main tank, it's perfectly all right now. Did another 30% water change today and cleaned the glass again.