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Ok,can someone direct me to information about this? I am new to the gourami world.

How does one treat it? How does it differ in appearence to say... fungus or ich?

Thanks!
--yvonne

Ulcers are common in gourami fish. I suspect it may have something to do with the way that they interact, ramming each other occassionally in fights for domination, or whatever. It always seems to be on the side of the fish.

Some ulcers can be difficult to treat. Medicated food is often best, but hard to find in some countries. We have some here in the US, but many countries do not carry medicated food and some don't even allow the sale of antibiotic without a vets script.

There are ways to deal with it by cleaning the wound, but care must be taken to not get chemicals into the gills where they can kill the fish. Tincture of iodine is one such product. You can use something like a q-tip ear cleaner dabbed in iodine and scrub the wound gently. After scrubbing it, you could dab it on daily.

Anyway, is this something you are dealing with personally, or are you just inquiring in general? What kinds of meds can you get in your country? It would be easier to tell you if we know what is available.

In any case, when there is an open wound or ulcer, some freshwater aquarium salt should be in the water. Electrolytes are lost through open wounds and sores. The fish then experience osmotic shock. The salt helps prevent this.

If you have no bottom feeders or scaleless fish, you could dose 0.3% over a three day period. That would be 1 teaspon per gallon daily for three days. It must be predissolved. If there are scaleless fish, I would do 0.1% spread over 3 days, or 1/3 teaspoon per gallon daily.

Here is a good link with pictures of various conditions. Body Fungus (aka columnaris), is generally fuzzy looking like a fungus. However, columnaris can also look like an ulcer. Ulcers are a big red open sore.

http://www.2cah.com/pandora/Disease.html

Last edited by Cory_Di at 06-Mar-2005 11:35

Oh, I LOVE that site! Thanks so much!

As for the ulcer, I was asking in advance. I kind a like to be informed BEFORE things happen that make me worry. Too bad life ain't always helpful with that one.

If anyone has any other good sites with Gourami info, I would appreciate knowing.

--yvonne

If you ever have an ulcer crop up, be sure to make a post in the hospital forum.

Are antibiotics easy or hard to get in your country?

I have had a few gouramis have ulcers. THe first was a male dwarf gourami. The ulcer appeared just in front of his tail fin. In this one I tried many treatments but none were successful. Eventually the wound eroded into his abdominal cavity and killed him.

Recently, my thick lipped gourami developed a similar ulcer. In this fish the wound appeared suddenly. It is just back of the gill plate. I am afraid to try the iodine treatment because of the location. Is there anything else to try?

Fishy - I would strongly encourage medicated food for a minimum of 10 days. Jungle makes a new one that is more widely available now (was only seen in Petsmart for months). It is called Jungle Anti-Bacteria Medicated Food. You feed this exclusively for 7-10 days and I believe it can be repeated.

At the same time, I would add freshwater aquarium salt and the amount would vary depending on your inhabitants. If you have scaleless fish in the tank, I would probably only do the 1 Tbsp/5 gallon, BUT I would predissolve it in a solution that is dribbled in over several days. Scaleless fish can often tolerate salt provided it is added gradually and not too high. Watch how they react. Do it over 3 days, watching the final day for signs of stress.

If you can, it is best to isolate. Still use the salt. Water must be pristine so changes several times weekly would be best. If you remove 1/3 of the water, add back 1/3 of your salt dosage at that time.

Isolation can be in a rubbermaid bin with an airstone, checkvalve to prevent airflow. In the case of an ulcer, I would probably use a heater to keep the fish warm. If you don't have a glass tank, just stick a 25-50w submersible to a glass plate and sink it in the bottom of a 10-14 gallon rubbermaid bin. Always transfer fish with as much original tank water as you can without depleting more then 30% of it. Top both containers off with identical temp water, but transfer fish before toping off. This ensures the least stress as the water makeup and temp are identical.

Sanitize your net in either Net Soak by Jungle or by leaving it in a bucket of shallow water and a good cup or more of aquarium salt predissolved (dissolves well in hot water).

The salt is necessary as the fish can experience osmotic shock when electrolytes leave via the open wound. You can also dose your water with Pimafix while the fish is on medicated food.

I've emailed Jungle to inquire as to whether something like Fungus Clear can be combined with their medicated food. I don't expect an answer back until early next week.

Ulcers are serious and difficult to treat. I would not delay on getting the fish on medicated food. If none of the fish stores carries the medicated food around you, we can give you a gelatin recipe that is much better than simply coating fish food with antibiotic. You can also order it online, but it will take a week or so to get it unless you pay expensive shipping charges.

See the response from Jungle in [link=this post]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/The%20Hospital/56234.html?200503111549" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]