Red Abdominal Spot On Dwarf Gourami

[Tiggle]

I bought Monty, the powder blue dwarf gourami on the 19/7/06, i kept him on his own for two weeks, all was good so i added him to the community tank on the 3/8/06. Yesterday i noticed this red sore on his abdomen. its only on one side of his body and is just above his fin

Does it look like the abdominal sore mentioned in this post? http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=153493&hl= if so, is there anything i can do about it? ive become quite attached to Monty in the weeks that ive had him, i dont want him to die.

The community tank is a planted two foot that holds about 60L of water, temperature has been holding at 25 degrees C, with no ammonia or nitrite readings for months, nitrate last week read 10ppm and pH 7.2.
Tank mates are:
1x bristlenose plec
5x neon tetra
1x small male platy
1x Monty, dwarf gourami

There is no agression in the tank, but i do think Monty gets bothered by the platy who tends to follow him around the tank alot.

Has anyone got any suggestions what i should do? My quaranteen tank currently has 5 neon tetras who have been there for two weeks and im of two minds as to wether i should put them into the community tank and tank monty out or leave as is for now.

 

[sylvia]

Are the five neons in the quarantine tank the five you've listed as being in the tank with the dwarf? Just keep in mind that having 10 neons in that tank will render it a little over-stocked as it's only about 15 gallons. Other than that, I have to say I'm very relieved to see that your combination of fish is excellent so you won't have any problems with respect to that.

Unfortunately, Monty does have the sort of sore mentioned in that post you linked to. As you'll have read, this is unfortunately extremely common in dwarf gouramies. It's also rather difficult to treat.

I personaly would reccomend you quarantine him immediately. Provided the neons are healthy and have been since you first got them, it should prove better to add the neons to the main tank than to keep Monty there. I am, of course, assuming this quarantine tank is also cycled.

Having moved him into a tank by himself, start treating with an antibiotic. What's available to you depends on where you live and your LFS but most are clearly labelled as being 'anti-internal bacteria'. If you can find some, get an antibiotic food. If there is none available, it's alright to soak food in the antibiotic yourself. Make shure you dose the tank correctly and fully regardless though. If you don't provide the right dose and treat for the full length of time reccomended, you'll be causing far more harm than good. You need to also be very careful to maintain water quality so do very regular water changes with dechlorinated water, replacing the correct dose each time. A temperature of 25 deg C is fine and I wouldn't suggest making that any higher or lower.

As long as he is eating, his chances are quite good. If the treatment doesn't stop the ulcer from growing, you'll need to find a different antibiotic to try instead. HOWEVER, treat for the full length of time in the instructions with the first medication before you switch to anything new and remember to do a large water change before you begin the new treatment or you risk over-dosing.