Wounded Dwarf Gourami

[jo.jacques]

Hi fellas

I recently added a new Opaline Gourami in my tank him and my other Dwarf gourami dont seem to get along even if they have plenty of hidding spots.

Anyways, sometimes they seem to fight by turning in small circles very fast and "biting" the ither one.

The dwarg gourami is now wounded, and I am a bit worried because it dosent seem to heal and it starts to look infected? See picture.

Also, his belly seem swollen now, any link to his wound? See picture

Wound


Swollen


What should I do??

[blueknight0303]

i have this experience before. some people probably was able to keep dwarf gourami with opaline/gold/blue gouramis but not me. the best thing i did was separate them. id say quarantine the dwarf gourami and let him heal by himself or use some medication. the wound looks really bad and might take a long time to heal. you dont want other fish to get infected too! i hope he gets well soon! good luck!

[jo.jacques]

Problem is my only other tank is a 6G Fluval edge with some Danios... I doubt this is big enough for him

[sas]

This is when Rubbermaid containers come in handy when we have emergencies like this.

[Dan]

I used to have a large Crayfish and he would love to hunt his fellow tank mates...as such I have dealt with similar wounds.

I have tried many things but what has worked best (fast healing rates and minimal losses) is to dip the injured fish in BIFURAN (I know it's not labeled as being for injuries but it works wonders). I do this once per day for 2 to 3 days and then every second day until the wound shows improvement... (I usually see improvement in a week). I simply take a 1 liter Measuring Cup fill it with Aquarium water and mix in 1/2 capful of BIFURAN - I net the fish and put him in for about a minute (the water will be bright yellow and you will hardly be able to see the fish - FYI - with the water to BIFURAN ratio in the mix, the fish will start showing noticeable signs of distress if you leave him in for more than a minute). Then I usually put him in a hospital tank that I setup for the occasion (I do 50% daily water changes on the hospital tank – and will leave the fish in there until I stop the dipping process) but I have tried a few times simply putting them back in the tank (I prefer the hospital because it reduces the risk of infecting the other fish, and because I like to mix the BIFURAN with frozen foods and feeds as per instructions on bottle to help prevent infection).

FYI – This also works great on fish that get eye infections. In this case 3 days of dipping twice per day will usually save the eye when caught early. 

Good luck!

[jo.jacques]

Some very good info here, thanks fellas!

Unfortunately, the fish condition went worst really fast and yesterday when I got home the fish was dead

I suppose the swolling was due to a illnese    i will keep an eye on other fish to make sure no other one catch this!!