Dwarf Gouramis and Iridovirus

[pdl1251]

At the beginning of the month, I got two gorgeous cobalt blue DGs. They were active, beautiful and with good appetite. But suddenly, after 5 days, one of them stopped eating, started twitching, stayed at the bottom and died the next day. The other gourami lived 8 days then died the same way. The symptoms were identical.

I started researching and found out about DGs from southeast Asia arriving infected with Iridovirus and I believe that's what killed my fish.

Iridovirus (http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/blog.php?blogid=66)

Has anyone here experienced sudden deaths in DGs? And does anyone know where domestically bred DGs might be obtained?

[Melody]

I haven't seen it in my tanks, but I know the big issue isn't necessarily in where they come from. Other fish can be carriers of the disease without showing symptoms (Livebearers, for one) and central water systems in stores mean that the disease can be active in their tanks. No matter where they get the fish, they can be infected when they arrive.

You could try going to the smaller stores and first, find out where they come in from. The store owners know about this problem too so I'm sure the reputable ones are choosing alternate suppliers. Second, find out how long they've been in the store. They sell ok but they don't fly out of the tanks so it should be reasonably easy to find one that has been in the store for longer than the typical incubation period. A smaller store is more likely to tell you if they have seen any symptoms of disease in the tank.

This risk also isn't eliminated with private breeders as they may own carrier fish, but if they've raised the Gourami themselves chances are it would have died long before if the disease was in their tanks. They're relatively easy to breed but it doesn't seem to be a common practice... maybe because healthy breeding stock isn't available - a catch 22. Hopefully you can find some and maybe you'll be a local source someday. :smile:

[pdl1251]

I did enquire how long these particular gouramis had been at the store, and it was 26 days. But I"ve read of people having sudden deaths after 3 months, or 6.

It was very distressing watching mine die for no apparent reason, so I guess I'll hold off on getting any more for now.:(

12 hours before he died, the second one looked like this - perfect, and gobbling down bloodworms. I really thought he would survive.

[CACAdmin]

So pretty. I sorry you lost them.

[Melody]

That's such a shame. If it was indeed the 'Gourami Disease', you would probably have to disinfect the tanks & put down the remaining fish to get rid of it. Maybe you could try them in a separate tank to see if it's in your other tank or not?

I'll definitly keep my eye out for private breeders.