kissing gourami

Question
QUESTION: i lost a gourami i have one left had high nitrates did about a 60% watetr change left fish for weekend and were overfeed. i was treating with maracyn plus fish had eye cloud and runs into thing sits on the bottom mostly and wont eat i put filter back in cause water was cloudy still is

ANSWER: Hi Leah,
Sounds like the best thing for you to do is lots of big (50%) water changes to battle the high nitrates and pollution. Water changes will actually help reverse the eye cloud as well.

Keep in mind the medication usage will destroy the biological filtration and therefore ammonia can be building up-- Furthermore for the importance of big water changes. Testing the water would be good at this time for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

Always make sure when doing water changes to use water conditioner with new water and make sure the temp is equal to or just a bit warmer than your tank temp.

I hope this helps!
Karen~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i am doing small one but not helping for 2 days now hes been laying on the bottom not moving all my counts are good nitrates at about 60 using salt  dont think he will recover i put son meds in the water hoping it will help he doest eat or move hes on his side how long will he be like this i dont want him to suffer anymore

ANSWER: Hi Leah,
Small water changes wont have much of an impact on high nitrate levels and larger ones (around 50%) will make a much bigger dent. A nitrate level of 60 is very high and the tank might be overstocked.

Sounds like the poor fella may be too far gone. He may pass awau in a matter of a day or two now.

Im very sorry you are having to deal with this.

Best wishes,
Karen~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hes still not gone yet? i dosed with meds the eye cloud cleared up on one eye? he swam around a bit and sits upright sometimes but the white round spot on his head its around his mouth. it keeps getting bigger hes the only fish i ahve in the tank its not overstocked. he just keeps going what should i do?

Answer
So he's still hanging in there? wow. He's a fighter!

The fact that he sits upright sometimes is a little promising but I'd be leery to get any hopes up just yet.

So he has a white round spot on his head? Sounds like its a fungal infection. I've always used "Fungus Clear" made by Jungle brand. You can find it easily at most petstores and even Wal-Mart.

The best fungal treatment I have developed is this routine-

*Change 50% of the water every day
*Redose Fungus Clear after each water change

*Treat for as long as fish has symptoms.

This goes against medication directions but I've never seen ill effects from it. And it has worked wonderfully well.

Best of luck and I do hope all goes well!
Karen~