# Gourami Sores



## welchrock (Jan 4, 2008)

Hi all,

On and off for many months I've been having this problem...mostly with my opaline gourami's but also with some blues in the past and some others....all gourami's.

They get small sores...typically around their torso area. They slowly grow..sometimes getting better for a few days but rarely healing fully. They are sometimes fuzzy in appearance and are typically white - although they do fluctuate somewhat in color. It's not an epidemic but typically is the beginning of poor health to come...that ultimately leads to death.

I have 2 opaline's and 2 platinum's, and while the opaline's are very nippy towards everyone (including themselves), they are immaculate. The opalines on the other hand look like they've been through a war.

I know that having varying gourami's is a bad idea...but unfortunately the cat is kinda out of the bag one this one. I always thought the look of a mostly-gouarmi tank with different color variations would look sweet. I have now discovered that it is a recipe for stress and conflict.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Yeah.... mixing gouramis in the same tank usually is a bad idea. Im guessing the dominant ones are just picking on the littler ones. I would return them and get a few more of the less agressive ones.

But to be on the safe side, what size tank is this, and what are your parameters?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

My first guess would be that other gouramis are biting off scales and that the injury gets infected, possibly with fungus (fluffy white). There are diseases that have similar symptons (hole in the head), but I've seen similar wounds on fighting cichlids, so that would be my guess. If you are going to keep a tank full of agressive fish, I think you will need a hospital tank for the losers to take a "time out" and get antiseptic/antifungal/antibacterial treatment. Treating the tank might work in the short term, but most likely the wounds would just get a different infection. Do check your water parameters, dirty water makes infection more likely. You could get more hiding places (plants), but I think your best best is separation. If its warm where you are, you could move some gouramis to a "kiddie pool". They like to have territories with large areas and thats hard to do in a tank.


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## welchrock (Jan 4, 2008)

Ahhhh multiple variations of gourami's in the same tank is just too good to be true!

My parameter-testing is limited; clearly I need to get a full testing kit. Currently the only thing I test is pH, and it is a very consistent 7.0-7.3. I've had tanks in the past with water issues, but thankfully I think I'm finally past those. I think my major issue now is species harmony.

I'm guessing that the platinum gourami's will continue to dominate my tank...so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what to put with them. The opaline's look awesome but are clearly not working out. This leaves me with a tank with a lot of space (my signature should now include the full population), so I'd love to hear what people think would go well with my non-opaline, remaining fish! 

I had no idea gourami's were so aggressive!


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