# gourami diseases



## Teale (Apr 9, 2008)

So i have had 4 dwarf gourami in total. I love them ! but they keep dying with in only about a month. are there any secrets to keeping these constantly sick animals alive and healthy? i was told to put a tiny drop of formaldehyde in the water? but it didn't really help. they still kept getting sick. mine got a bacterial infection or something since they looked almost wounded in patches.(large areas of scales started falling off etc) and started to swell. another one just got really bloated in one day and died. he didn't have dropsy or eat all of the other fish! lol 
i have also heard of adding a small amount of salt to the water? mine is a 20 gallon freshwater.
WHAT ARE YOUR TIPS??


----------



## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

what size tank are they in?


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

read up on 'dwarf gourami disease' see if it matches what your fish had. If you can't get healthy fish where you live, don't get more dwarf gouramis. Next quarantine all new fish and consider moving your existing fish to QT and bleaching everything. Once you have a disease in a tank, new fish tend to get it and die even when existing fish have become immune. Of course this mean 're-cycling' the tank which has its own problems. Check your water's pH and hardness. Consider buffering it to make it more like the ideal water for the fish you want. Fish in preferred water condition are less likely to get sick. Do lots of water changes. Clean water is good in so many ways.


----------

