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Hi

I have a dwarf gourama (my favourite fish in my tank) that has a lump just in front of its tail. The lump protrudes evenly from both sides (laterally) and is darkish under the skin. On one side, a 1mm open wound has appeared.

Apart from the lump, he seems perfectly healthy. His behavour, colour and appetite are normal. I have isolated him now, and he is a bit stressed, but I'm sure this is because of the move.

I am concerned that this is a parasite (Anchor??), but also think it could be a wound inflicted by another fish. I don't know. If it is a parasite, it is definitely internal.

The dwarf gourama is about 5cm long.

Tank stats:

Capacity: 235 litres (62 US Gallons)
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: Unknown till tomorrow. No test kit.
PH: 7.2 (which it has always been since setup)

Last water change was a week ago. 20-30% change every two weeks.

The tank has been established for 8 months. No parasites experienced before. Lost some tetras to mouth fungus a few months ago, but that is it for disease so far.

Very worried for this fish, and concerned that the stress of the move to the much smaller isolation is possibly more damaging than this lump currently is.

Thanks for any help.


bdelphan

I just had a similar parasite worry in my tank....on a gold barb. After talking with a vet @the LFS she explaind that parasites are often on more than one fish, and in more than one location @a time. I'm not saying you don't have parasites, just that it might be something else.

For the open wound I'd suggest treating with melafix...it's not strong enough to really be considered a medication, but it will aid in healing. It took care of a red sore on my gold barb in under a week.

^_^

he might have just hurt himself somehow and got a minor subdermal bleeding (a "blue spot". such bleeding in a tight place might puncture the skin a little.
can you describe thewound better? are the edges sharp or jagged? what color is it? where is it compared to the bulge?
is the bulge growing? is it changing color?

if it is such bleeding, it should be ok in a week or two.

The melafix as babel said should work quite well on your Dwarf Gourami, I used it on mine when his tail was picked on from other dwarfs at the pet store. Make sure you remove any carbon in the tank before dosage though. And to be on the safe side, you might want to dose your whole tank. G/L

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I have dosed my quarantine tank with Melafix as suggested (thanks Babelfish and FeretFanatic). My LFS believes that the lump is an ulser, which dwarfs are apparently known for. This is bad news, because they rarely survive. I'm still giving it a go though.

Fry. The lump hasn't grown, but looks darker in colour. The wound is still the same, positioned on the bottom edge of the right lump facing down and is jagged and black inside. I'm hopeful that its an injury - I have a pearl gourami in the same tank that sometimes chases the dwarf away from food. Maybe he got him.

Thanks for the advice

bdelphan

afaik, ulcers are not internal.
also, i don't think any parasite would blacken the bulge that way (i had troubles with gouramis in the past, but it never looked like this one).
i did notice that gouramis fight by ramming each other. it might be the case.
also gouramis are pretty slow unless agrrevated. if your gouramis chase each other too violently (they shouldn't act like danilos or barbs), then maybe that tank is too small for both of them. seeing that your tank is huge, i'd like to know whether they seem to hang out in the same areas, or can you see some kind of territoriality among the gouramis?

Fry. All academic now. The gourami died a few days ago and cos of work haven't got back here. I really don't know what it was, but luckily no other fix are showing any signs - looks like I got it out in time. Keeping a nervious eye on other fish.

No other dwarfs in tank, but two Pearls that did pick on him a bit, so maybe it was a bashing after all.

I have a dwarf in a small 20 litre tank at work who lives by himself and is very healthy and happy, so maybe they aren't good in a large community.

Thanks for the help.

bdelphan