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Backstory: I first noticed white spots on my newest flame dwarf gourami. Bigger, flat white spots, almost a discoloration, and defentally not ich.

To treat, with the advice of several people and websites, I added salt to the water (2 tablespoons, 29 gal tank) and started a melafix/pimafix treatment. Today is day 6 of that treatment.


Today I came home to my 'sick' flame dwarf gourami being harrased by the orginal one. The white spots he orginally had are gone, but now it looks like an open sore on his mouth.

Here is the best pic i could get. Is it possible he isnt sick at all, and just getting harrased to death by the other gourami?

You can barely see an open wound (what looks like it anyway) just underneath the white spec by his mouth.

All the other fish (other FDG and 6 zebra danios) show so symptoms at all and are swimming and eating just fine.

Click for pic

Thank you!

Last edited by erik7 at 08-Oct-2005 17:34

Last edited by erik7 at 08-Oct-2005 17:35

Last edited by erik7 at 08-Oct-2005 17:35

Welcome to FishProfiles! Flame dwarf gouramies are usually only sold as males. It sounds to me like you have two males. Males will fight each other espesially in small tanks. What size is your tank? The wound could have been inflicted by the other male or it could be an open sore, often found in the labyrinth(air-breathing) fishes. I would treat it like this.

Thank you for the welcome

I have a 29 gallon. I netted him and put him in a container to get a better look at him, and he doesn't look very bad at all. He looks good. I didnt see the white spot that I orginally saw on him, so im guessing its just water discoloration or the like.

But that sore on his mouth. Is 29 gallon too small for 2 males? I got a good look at his mouth (why oh why didnt i take a picture).. and it just looks like an wound. Really at looking at him, it seems to be the only problem.

But i cant have them fighting or he'll die of stress. Any opinions? Return to LFS maybe?

The white spot probably being injuried scale from attack or maybe stratching. If water conditions are kept in check the injury heals good and no further diesease should come from it

Do you think they will keep fighting?

I can take him back to the LFS.. I would like to keep him if they'll get along

It can be ok to leave them together if the one that gets chased, gets time to rest. if its non stop chased it will likely die from stress or not be a very happy fish. just watch them and make sure he gets some time out during lights on

One look at that fish tells me I would probably quarantine it immediately, give it treatment for whitespot, and do my best to save its life before I considered either recombining it with the existing tank(depending or not if stress was the initial cause rather than the disease itself), putting it in a different aquarium or giving it back to the shop. I would at this point also treat the entire tank for whitespot, as the sick animal will have increased the amount of bacteria in the tank and the other fish may soon start succumbing to it. You could pop the sick fish into a breeding net during treatment if youre gonna treat the tank anyway, especially if you dont have a quarantine tank.The net will protect it from direct aggression and still allow the meds to get to it.

If you take it back to the shop now it will probably die anyway.Chances are that they will bonk it on the head and bin it rather than allow it to contaminate their aquaria.

Isn't salt not good for Dwarf Gouramis? Maybe you could add a feww more Danios once their both healthy again to distract then from each other.

20 Gallon Long:
Aquaclear 300
2 Bolivian Rams, Mikrogeophagus altispinosus: Gumby and Pokey

Salt isnt really good for a whole spectrum of fish, you could try 5-10 minute baths of it in a seperate container rather than add it to your tank directly.