ill gourami
 

blue 3-spot gourami, young, 2-3 inches long, very thin

1. Size of tank: hospital tank, 2 shallow gallons

2. Water parameters
a. Ammonia? <.05ppm
b. Nitrite? idk
c. Nitrate? idk
d. pH, KH and GH? ph7.4
e. Test kit? API

3. Temperature? 75

4. FW (fresh water) or BW (brackish)? fw

5. How long the aquarium has been set up? 1 day/reset daily

6. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them? none, hospital tank

7. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)? yes, right now

8. a. Any live plants? Fake plants? none
b. Sand, gravel, barebottom? barebottom
c. Rocks, woods, fancy decors? Any hollow decors? nothing

9. a. Filtration? na
b. Heater? na

10. a. Lighting schedule? What lights are used? fluorescent, 8-10 hrs
b. Any sunlight exposure? How long? early sun, 1-2 hrs

11. a. Water change schedule? daily 100%
b. Volume of water changed? 100%
c. Well water, tap water, RO water? tap
d. Water conditioner used? jungle
e. Frequency of gravel/sand (if any) vacuumed? na

12. Foods? top fin flakes
How often are they fed? 2x/day

13. a. Any abnormal signs/symptoms? white poo like spider silk, not eating, not growing, not swimming, resting on bottom, beaten badly, missing scales, possible internal hemmoraging
b. Appearance of poop? spider silk-ish, white strings that do not detach
c. Appearance of gills? gills look okay, no different

14. a. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? yes
b. What meds were used? melafix (I know, but no other options), and tetra parasite guard

15. Insert photos of fish in question and full tank shot if necessary. none now - left camera at work. looked worse yesterday, acts worse today

Would consider euthanizing the fish and read up on starting a new aquarium. Bad thing's happen when fish are added same day as tank is set up.
Gourami needs at least 20 gal cycled tank, with heater and filter.
No fish suitable for Two gal tank.
Water in this small of volume is too unstable difficult to maintain= stressed,sick,fish.

If this is but quarantine tank and you have a cycled tank for the fish to go to, then borrowing some filter material from the cycled tank and placing it in a filter for quarantine tank would be helpful along with daily water change with dechlorinator such as PRIME or Amquel Plus, which will detoxify ammonia and nitrite's between daily water changes.
Many conditioner's only remove chlorine, and do little to remove or detoxify ammonia that may be present in tapwater if chloramines are present,and the ammonia produced by fish as by -product of respiration, and poop.
Would feed fish in quarantine sparingly perhap's once every other day, or every two day's, especially in small two gal bowl,tank.
A cheap rubbermaid tub of 20 gal or more would be option over the two gal container.
A small sponge filter and heater could be used on the tub and perhap's som artificial floating plant's,and very little to no light would prove less stessful than bare bottom two gal bowl or whatever.IMHO

I did consider euthanizing him, but I couldn't get past the clove oil.

He lived in a 30gal cycled tank with other fish.

The no light is easy to take care of, but the 20 gal rubber maid isn't. Technically he's in a 5gal tank, but since he's moving so poorly, I want him to be able to reach the surface and breathe. I fear that if the water is too deep, he'll drown. Also, I am out of space and money :(

What do you mean by filter material. I still have ammonia and bacteria conditioners left...

In a cycled tank, the biological filter will house beneficial bacteria that feed on ammonia and nitrites eventually rendering much less harmful nitrates.
By borrowing some filter material from a cycled tank,you will be transporting a fair amount of this beneficial bacteria to your quarantine tank, and with careful monitoring (test kit),, and feeding sparingly, water changes may not be needed as often and bacteria could build a colony on the filter of quarantine tank.
Without good bacteria on filter, and or no filter in quarantine tank,, daily water changes will be needed to prevent ammonia levels from reaching toxic to lethal levels between water changes.

He's a fish he can't drown lol.
It sounds like your hospital tank is going through the nitrogen cycle. Using some of the filter medium from the main cycled tank will reduce the need for alot of water changes. You have to be careful in ammonia spikes as it can lead to your fish developing swim bladder problems. The shallow water also makes the ammonia problem worse as there isn't much space. If he has swim bladder problems then shallow water will greatly help him though. The best thing you can do is use something to combat the ammonia and a product that has live benefical bacteria in it to eat the ammonia and nitrite that will follow the ammonia. This and water changes will reduce the problem. Keep monitoring it though.

anabantids can drown if they can't get to air, with their labyrinth organ. they need both oxygen in the water and surface air to survive. it was a valid fear.

I never knew that. It is good that i know now as i have gourami's myself.

OMG I've typed the reply five times now :(

I'll continue keeping the water shallow.

I understand the concept behind the filter media, but how do I "borrow" it? It's all pretty well stuck inside the filter itself, and since there's no filter in the HT, what am I supposed to do with it?

Fish looks better, but still has illness and death looming. Honestly, I do not hold my breath for recovery, but I will still try. He has no interest in food - he hasn't eaten since Sunday. I even tried blood worms to stimulate some interest in food.

Here are two pictures from Sunday, and to from last night, respectively.

what kind of filter do you have? most filters are designed to have the filter material replaced occasionally, so it should be able to come out fairly easily.

I have the Tetra Whisper 10i and 20i in the tank. I'm not questioning you, I just never read that the sponges and such had to be changed; I just thought the bio-bag got replaced every 2-4 weeks.