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Iridovirus Dwarf Gourami Disease – Causes and Cures
It is pretty enjoyable to play with your little fish and take part in their growth, right? But sometimes, things do not follow people’s hearts. There is one kind of fetal disease that your fish may suffer. It is critically important to pay attention to the disease because once your fish is infected, it means closer to death. So today, we are going to make an introduction to iridovirus dwarf gourami disease.
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What is gourami disease?
Before getting started, we would like to make an introduction to dwarf gourami. Dwarf gourami is one of the freshwater fishes and a species of gourami. For gourami, here are some common gourami diseases and illnesses, including:
- Dwarf gourami iridovirus disease
- Fungal infections
- Columnaris
- Popeye or exophthalmos
- Hole in the head disease
- Fish lice
- Velvet disease
- Dropsy
- Fin and tail rot
- Red spot disease
As you can see above, dwarf gourami iridovirus disease is one kind of disease that has an impact on gourami fish. Once infected by this disease, gouramis are only able to live for about 20–30 days on average. Besides, the mortality is up to 100 percent. Moreover, there are no cures at present. By the way, if you want to know something about dropsy, you can know more about How to Treat Dropsy or Bloating in Fish.
Symptoms of iridovirus dwarf gourami disease
There are symptoms and signals you should pay attention to. If dwarf gouramis in your fish tanks appear in these things, it is better to separate them from other fish in the tanks. By doing so, it can avoid the fast spreading of the disease to a certain degree. Next, we will show the symptoms and signals.
First, infected fish will swim in a hyperactive way.
Second, it will suffer from eating disorders.
Third, swelling of the belly area.
Fourth, there will be red spots on the fish’s skin.
Fifth, diminishing of color.
Iridovirus dwarf gourami disease causes
As for the causes, the iridovirus dwarf gourami disease is caused by the poor genetics of the dwarf gourami, and it is a consequence of severe inbreeding. Besides, iridovirus is a genus of viruses in the family Iridoviridae. Moreover, iridovirus will lead to necrosis of the kidneys and spleen. On the other hand, studies have proved that iridovirus dwarf disease can be transmitted through direct contact and infected food and water. Among dwarf gourami, skin contact or consuming infected hosts also causes the spreading of iridovirus.
Is dwarf gourami iridovirus contagious?
Dwarf gourami iridovirus is one highly contagious virus. Once one is infected in your tank, others will suffer. But here is one thing you should notice in advance, only gouramis easily get this disease at present. That is to say, except for dwarf gourami, the other gouramis are the most likely ones to be infected. However, it is reported that other species of freshwater fish have been infected. Nevertheless, this is not as common as gourami.
Iridovirus dwarf gourami disease treatment
It is a pity that there are no cures for iridovirus dwarf gourami disease until this second. It means that if a little fish is infected, we can do nothing to save it, but wait for death. But we can keep the fish comfortable in the isolated tank. Or you can choose to euthanize it. However, it is critically crucial to confirm whether the fish is infected or not before making any decision.
How to euthanize a fish?
Before doing so, it is better to confirm the presence of the virus. You can ask professionals for help. They can do a biological examination with proper equipment. And it is a reliable way. After testing, you can know if your fish is infected. If the infection is confirmed, and you want to keep your little fish from the affliction of the virus, euthanasia is one option. There are ways to euthanize a fish.
A Knife – Some people choose to end their fish’s life via a knife, but it is a little gruesome, exactly.
A clove oil bath – Is one kind of anesthetic. The fish will go to sleep before it passes away, and you should add more clove oil when the fish is sleeping.
If you do not want to do this by yourself, it is understandable. If so, you can call a veterinarian for help.
How to diminish the presence of dwarf gourami iridovirus?
For the virus to have no cure, there are two things we can do to reduce injury – on the one hand, prevent fish from infection, and avoid spreading.
- Quarantine tank
Before introducing new fish into established tanks, it is a good option to isolate them. For example, for 30 days. But it depends because some types of fish can not be quarantined for their different requirements.
- Compatibility of tank mates
The iridovirus can affect the skin of dwarf gourami. As a result, fish that may damage or scratch skin tissue should be kept away from tanks with dwarf gourami.
- Keep filter and aerator clean
It is important to keep the fish tank filter and aerator clean. It means that they need cleaning and changing regularly. Because the virus could be transmitted through food and water.
- Water change
Remove and replace water frequently and regularly.
- Stock tanks properly
Do not overstock your tanks, because they may cause outbreaks of disease.
- Isolate infected fish
If one fish is infected, it is important to isolate it to another tank as soon as possible. Because if one dwarf gourami is infected, the other gouramis are most likely to be infected quickly, for instance, the kissing gourami. So it is better to isolate the infected one quickly to avoid fast spreading. By the way, if infected, you should not add any gourami to the tanks for about three months.
Conclusion
Until now, you have finished reading, right? In summary, this article has introduced the iridovirus dwarf gourami disease from four aspects: what is it, the symptoms, the causes, and the cures of it. Besides, it also covers whether the disease is contagious and how to prevent it. Moreover, for no cures, euthanasia fish is also mentioned.
Anyway, keep taking good care of your fish, keep them in the simulated tank, and let them grow up healthy, then you have a much more dramatic effect.
