Neon Blue Dwarf Gourami problem

Could someone help me diagnose this and tell me what is the best course of treatment. Assuming a bacteria infection and started treating with API Melafix. Water is clean, ammonia and nitrate is at 0ppm, nitrate 10ppm.

Started as a small lump a few days ago and now scales have fell off.

Please stop using Melafix

Your fish is a labrynth fish, it surface breathes and the unrefined Tee Tree oil in Melafix will destroy the labrynth organ that your fix needs to be able to surface breathe. It will suffocate and die.

Can you give your full aquarium details, water chemistry, size and volume please

20 gallon
78°F
Ph 7.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10ppm

That mark is very symetrical...what other fish have you got in the aquarium please (species, sex and number of)?
Can you post a full frontal photo of the aquarium too as that might also indicate potential tankmate and/or decor issues that could have caused the problem.

How long has the aquarium been running from end of cycle, how long was it cycled for and when did you get the fish that has the damage?

I know it seems like alot of questions but it is an elimination process to find the cause.

5 neon tetra
1 Bolivian ram, male (young and small)
2 albino Cory
4 glo tetra
1 guppy
A few different snails
1 amano shrimp
1 dwarf gourami
Tank was cycled for a month, has been running for 4 months now after the cycle.
I have had the dwarf gourami for 3 months.
I do have a shell in there that has sharp edges, could this have caused it?
I will post picture

Nice looking aquarium

I would suggest more tall planting at the back since Gourami do enjoy the security of plants to hide behind and within. Stocking is not entirely the best if I am honest (Cories like a larger group for security as do shrimp)

Have you noticed any aggressive behaviours tween any of the fish or timidity with anyone?

The damage to the Gourami could have been done by the shell or the rocks if the fish was spooked or felt unsafe for any reason, that is a real possibility and quite common.

If you find anything with sharp edges to you, then it will feel significantly sharper to a fish since they have a more sensitive body than a human and can be more prone to injury as a result.

What is your maintenance routine?

You shouldn't need medications unless you have an absolute 100% diagnoses of a medical issue, using medications without proper diagnoses usually does more harm than good, daily water changes can be more beneficial whilst sores are healing

One of our other members @Colin_T can steer you in the right direction regarding the treatment of the sore patch. In the meantime you might want to file down any obvious sharp parts in the decor to prevent further issues later on and until Colin gets online to guide you further, daily water changes of around 50% will certainly help.

there are No aggressive fish, the Bolivian ram is quite timid though. I change around 25/30% of the water every 5-7 days.

If you have some carbon to remove the Melafix that would be beneficial, otherwise its big water changes to dilute it right down before it does fatal damage to the Gourami

Never use any medications with "fix" in the name, they are made with Tee Tree and they will suffocate any surface breather such as the Gourami. There are no if's or but's sadly, Melafix will kill your fish, not cure anything wrong with it.

thank you for your help, I added the carbon when you sent your first message saying it was bad. Luckily I’d only dosed for 1 day. So you’re saying it’s probably just a wound from something sharp and then the scales fell off.

Actually you do have fish known for their nippiness - the glo tetras. They are genetically modified skirt/widow tetras. You have 4 while 6 to 8 is the recommended number to keep the nippiness within their own group. It's not that the tetras have necessarily caused the wound, but something to be aware of.

Although it has a reputation as a bit of a fin nipper, this behaviour can usually be rectified by keeping it in a small shoal of at least 6-8 specimens. When maintained in these kind of numbers any squabbling is generally contained within the group.

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From https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/gymnocorymbus-ternetzi/

Ryan_98 said:

thank you for your help, I added the carbon when you sent your first message saying it was bad. Luckily I’d only dosed for 1 day. So you’re saying it’s probably just a wound from something sharp and then the scales fell off.

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It "looks" like a wound but not 100% sure so am going to leave that side of things to the more experienced members like @Colin_T @Slaphppy7 @GaryE to decide and advise on.

I'm no expert on fish diseases, but I do know that one of the common symptoms of Dwarf Gourami Disease (DGD) is lesions on the skin of the fish...this looks more like a lesion or ulcer than damage, IMO

Read more about DGD here: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-15-dwarf-gourami-disease/

DGD is very common with these fish, unfortunately, and there is no cure

Slaphppy7 said:

I'm no expert on fish diseases, but I do know that one of the common symptoms of Dwarf Gourami Disease (DGD) is lesions on the skin of the fish...this looks more like a lesion or ulcer than damage, IMO

Read more about DGD here: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-15-dwarf-gourami-disease/

DGD is very common with these fish, unfortunately, and there is no cure

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Agree

Either an ulcer or a wound from a parasite that chewed its way out of the body.

Did you get pictures of the lump before it fell off?

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You probably need antibiotics, which are hard to get in some countries. As to which medication, no idea. Ideally you would swab the wound and culture the swab, then identify the species of bacteria. This is not something the average person does.