sick grami???

donk18 · 10-03-2007, 11:06 PM

i have a powder blue grami and it is getting a lump on it side just behind it fin. could this be a some sort of fish cancer or something. i had one other grami and it had the same lump and it died about two weeks after i bought it. any help would be great. thanks

Tommy Gun · 10-04-2007, 09:29 PM

Hello again donk18! Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Please don't feel as though I am trying to 'talk down' on your or pick on you in anyway, but I want to point out that it is my very strong opinion that before we bring home any 'replacement fish' after the earlier fish dies until we do at least a little bit of research and/or take time to figure out why that original fish died and then, address the issue or take actions to prevent a recurrence. IMHO, this is especially good advice when there is some sort of abnormality that would indicate a premature death - which it sounds to be your current situation since you state that another gourami had the same sort of lump. Again, not trying to insult your intelligence, but I feel it is an important aspect of the hobby.

Quote:

could this be a some sort of fish cancer

Yes, this could be some sort of cancer or tumor - in which case, I cannot really help you a lot, if at all. However, for all those naysayers out there, I do know that it is relatively easy to explain why you were unlucky enough to bring home two fish who may have developed the exact same tumor in the exact same place because they can occur in the form of a birth defect due to over breeding and/or inbreeding; meaning this could be a genetic sort of issue and you have simply bought two gouramis which came from the exact same breeder or vendor. If this sounds like it might be a good possibility, and have ruled out any other, I might suggest picking up your next gourami from a different LFS and preferably one which does not use the same supplier, Obviously, if the problem stops completely, a genetic related issue may be something to look into further.

That being said, I have to admit that I am leery to start making any wild guesses as to what is going on with your gouramis based upon the information you have provided thus far. To remedy that somewhat, click HERE to view a sticky that lists a few questions which, if you can answer them, would help us help you much more rapidly and accurately. In the meantime, I would strongly suggest placing this fish in quarantine as soon as you can (and if you can) just in case this is something which could put your other fishes' health in jeopardy any longer.

donk18 · 10-05-2007, 12:14 AM

i don't feel that you are talking down to me but, i did not go any buy a replacement. i bought them both at the same time so i am thinking that they were from the same breeder. as far as my tank peramiters. everything is all good. levels check out great. i did have a nitrite issue there for a while but with a lot of water changes and stoping my kids from feeding the fish everything came back to normal. the first one that died my daughter noticed that it had a lump as soon as we brought it home. as i am a rookie i didn't think anything about it but now i would just take it back to the store and try another store. thanks for the help. but i think i may be losing him by tomorrow. he has just been hanging out in one spot for the last two days and now he is starting to breath heavily. my wife will be sad because they were the fish she picked out.

Tommy Gun · 10-05-2007, 09:40 PM

Quote:

i did not go any buy a replacement. i bought them both at the same time

Ahhhh, I am really sorry for misunderstanding your true situation - I must have read a bit too fast because, on second glance, I have no idea how I got the idea that you had bought another gourami. Again, sorry about that.

Although it does seem somewhat likely that your two gouramis could have come from the same supplier and could be too closely related, which could lead to birth defects, you may want to research a little bit about Lymphocystis since this could be the cause of your two fishes' lumps. However, I will point out that if this is really the case, the prognosis does seem rather grim but learning a little more about it may help you prevent a recurrence or to do whatever you can to ensure your other fish do not follow the same path. Again, not really trying to imply that this is your problem for sure...just trying to cover another base.