Gourami - Open Wounds - Now With Pics

My dwarf gourami has developed some open sore's. i have no idea what they could be.

He is fine otherwise, not bloated, still eating well, swimming fine, but his poo is white and stringy too.

Tank is the 57G as per signature.

Stats are: 0/0/10ppm for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate.

Ph has dropped recently from 7.0 to 6.4 - not sure why. He is being fed frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp and flake (no change in diet for some time). Last water change was 2 weeks ago, and they are getting another one this week.

I have been treating the tank with melafix and pimafix. Not sure if i should isolate him though, or is it something I need to treat the whole tank for. I'll try and get photos, but with my camera skills, not likely yo thappen anytime soon.

Thanks.

EDIT: only recent change was the addition of a fluval 4+ underwater filter.

His wounds are two spots near his front fins on one side of his body, and a small spot at the base of his tail. (Brown water is from large piece of driftwood in the tank).

Anyone? Some advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

Hi! I've just had exactly the same problem with my two dwarf gouramis. It seems they are particularly prone to this and quite difficult to cure. I was advised to treat them with an Anti Internal Bacteria treatment, but I got them too late I think and neither survived. It does not apparently transfer to other fish, and this seems true so far, although I one danio in the same tank with some signs - although I'm not sure its the same thing - looks more like physical damage. Not much help, but I wouldn't worry too much about your other fish.

Misterfish said:

Hi! I've just had exactly the same problem with my two dwarf gouramis. It seems they are particularly prone to this and quite difficult to cure. I was advised to treat them with an Anti Internal Bacteria treatment, but I got them too late I think and neither survived. It does not apparently transfer to other fish, and this seems true so far, although I one danio in the same tank with some signs - although I'm not sure its the same thing - looks more like physical damage. Not much help, but I wouldn't worry too much about your other fish.

Click to expand...

Thanks misterfish. I recently lost my other dwarf to either this or dropsy - not sure, may have been a combination of both.

I am treating with a combinatin of pimafix and melafix, (and have been for 2 days now). It's not getting worse, if anything, it seems to be getting better.

I did a large (40%) water change tonight before re-dosing. Stats are now : ph 7.0, AM 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, kh 3, gh 10.

I'd still ike advice on what may have cousd the drop in PH. Tap water is 7ish, and last water change was 2 weeks ago. It has always been around 7-7.4 in the past few months.

Your KH is low, min. 5deg. usu. recommended to keep pH steady. This should help explain. I'm guessing the tannins from the wood (acidic) prob. tipped the scales.

Filtering over crushed coral works for me. Check the tap's KH, tho...perhaps water change is all that's needed.

Not the writer of this information below.
Ulcer Disease



Symptoms:

Fishes presenting with large red open lesions, ulcers or sores on the body have ulcer disease. Other symptoms may also include eroding flesh, reddening at the base of the fins and vent, and the fish may also experience a loss of appetite and darkening of color.



Cause:

Internal bacterial infection caused by Aeromonas and Pseudomonas. This disease is most often seen in fish that have been kept under poor conditions or recently imported.



Treatment:

Check your water conditions to ensure that they are within the optimal ranges for the type of fish you are keeping. If not, perform an immediate water change. Ulcer Disease is highly contagious, therefore the entire tank and all fish, even those not yet showing symptoms, should be treated. Treatment with Kanacyn, Furacyn, or Nitrofura-G are recommended.

Thanks req2k2 and wilder.

I have never heard of those meds before, but will try and source them. We don't have any fish specialists locally who have a wide range of meds. I'll continue the melafix.pimafix treatent until I can do something to get these other meds.

I did a water change last night before posting, and this morning, the gourami is still eating well, and no symptoms are present on any other fish.

Wilder - do you know off the top of your head if any of these meds will nbot be OK for a bristlenose?

Plecs are funny with meds, is there anyway you can issolate the fish with the ulcer, you could try half dose first to see how the plec goes on, and if he's ok then put the whole dose in, add extra aeration as meds reduce 02 in the water, and plecs hate that.

Always run an airstone in my tank, and the in hood filter should be doing a fair job of adding oxygen too (as it technically increases the surface area for oxygen exchange).

I could isolate him, but if this is a disease in the tank, i'd like to treat the whole tank. Would you still recommend isolating him? He's been in the main tank for a couple of days now with this.

On the plus side, the wounds don't look as bad as they did a couple of days ago. I'll see how he's doing tonight when I get home from work.

I am going to get more food/meds tomorrow morning, unfortunately, I can't get to a shop before then.

I could isolate the plec though while treating....

The plec has been through meds in the past. When I got him, he had a large open infected sore on his belly from a heater burn. He pulled through that while being dosed with meds for an outbreak of columnaris that came with the tank when I bought it second hand. I only lost one fish to that.

He might be ok then, best thing with bacterial infections is plenty of water changes, you just add the amount of meds back to the water removed, also the sick fish you could give it some salt baths to help heal it, gouramis need excellent water quality as they are very prone to bacterial infections, good luck.

http/ukdiscus.com/ken_thomson_salt.htm

Thanks wilder

Oddly enough my Gourami had exactly the same thing. He passed away this morning

Good luck with yours, I'd be interested if the med works for future reference

Picture Here

Dwarf gouramies are extremely prone to internal bacterial infections (someone mentioned dropsy - that's another example). Isolate your dwarf and treat with the strongest antibiotic you can get. Melafix and pimafix are not good enough. This sort of disease is not highly contagious but his tankmates could still get it. In particular, if he were to die in the tank and they nibbled on him, there is a high chance of them getting it. Note that rapid changes in pH often cause problems for gouramies. Be very careful when you move him to the isolation tank - acclimate him very slowly. I'd also suggest having a slightly lower temp. than normal and doing daily water changes as antibiotics - especialy strong ones - are likely to mess with any biological filtration in the small tank and cause water quality to deteriorate rapidly - that's the last thing your dwarf needs to deal with right now. because he is still eating, he may still recover. However, ulcers are difficult to treat and there's no guarantee. if you manage to hault the ulcers' growth, also treat for secondary bacterial infections (eg: like finrot) as ulcers often result in these once treated. The same applies to fungus infections. Excellent water quality is a must.

edit: I just looked at the previous poster's pic. that's a perfect example of a gourami with a secondary infection over the ulcer.

Thanks. I haven't had a chance to keep up with my regular water changes because I was away over christmas.

I think a large temperature swing, and a longer than usual wait between water changes is what may have triggered this. I came home to temperatures of 40+ degrees Celcius, and tank temperatures at 32. Temperatures are back to normal (well, cooler than last week), and I did a large water change last night. I'll probably do another one on Sunday.

I have been adding botlles of ice to the tank to try and control the temperatures when it does get hot, but this is now a case of shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

I'll take all of your advice on board, and hopefully he'll pull through.

An update - the gourami is still alive, still active and eating, but his wounds are getting bigger. Has a secondary infection too now I think. THe wounds look a little whiter than this morning, and it looks as though some finrot has set in on his tail.

I have treated him with tetracycline - it's the only antibiotic I can get my hands on until tomorrow (hopefully). A local vet is doing some research for me, and ill see what else we can get at short notice. Hopefully though he'll respond to the tetracycline.

Thanks all for the advice so far, I guess it's now a wait and see how he responds.