# need help with wounded gourami, possibly fight injury?



## neb123 (Feb 3, 2005)

i have a 30 gal community tank with two angel fish, two gouramis, and a few tetras
one of my gouramis recently developed a large lesion along its jaw line under its eye, it also has another smaller lesion between its anal fin and caudal fin, besides this there are a few knicks on his anal fin, to me it looks like fight wounds but im not sure 
the other gourami has one knick on the dorsal fin, but otherwise looks fine
i think the two gouramis are fighting but im not positive,
i put them in the tank at the same time about four months ago and they were fine, then about two weeks ago i did a 50% water change and the two act like they are trying to claim territory, they flash theyre sides at eachother and do a little dance and then chase eachother around the tank, this whole process only lasts about 30 seconds and honestly it doesnt look like they are doing it that much and it doesnt look that violent so i dont know where these lesions are coming from on the one gourami. 
My tank is in good condition, amonia is 0, nitrites 0, nitrates about 2, ph is about 6.7-6.8, water temp is stable 79 degrees
anyone have suggestions on what might be the cause of these wounds?


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## tungsram (Mar 1, 2005)

If they are both male then I would bet they are fighting for dominance/territory. Certainly the Tetra's didn't do it, and I highly doubt the Angels did either.


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## Gracie6363 (Mar 13, 2005)

I just had the same problem today... I am pretty upset as well, but I didn't want to risk loosing my fish, so I opted to take one back to the store.

I have only had the 2 dwarf powder blue gourami's for 1 week. They were showing signs of aggression towards each other even in the bag before entering the tank, I just assumed it was the close quarters.

I moved them to the 40 gallon tank with plenty of space and hiding places. The chasing continued and occassional nipping, but no damage.

Today I returned from work to look in the tank, I didnt see one of the gourami's at first, then found him in the corner of the tank, hiding in a plant. They are both very friendly fish and he swam to the front of the tank to see me, I noticed he had scales that were damaged. Dark spots where it looked like a layer was peeled off. His top fin was cut up pretty badly and so were his side fins. (sorry I am bad with all the official names of the fins). 

He was still active, wanted food and seemed well enough, but I was concerned. I called the store and they recommended returning him and letting him heal in their isolation tank and selecting something else or getting a refund. I wish I had something else to do for him, but with me leaving to go out of town on monday I didnt think that it would be fair for him and he needed out of that tank quickly. 

Bad news, but hopefuly he'll have a happy ending.


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## neb123 (Feb 3, 2005)

hmmm yours sound much more aggressive than mine, i agree with tungsram obviously my other fish arnt fighting him, im just not sure what it is because i never see them fighting violently they just chase eachother around, the one thats beat up is a male powder blue, ther other is a female dwarf, and the female seems to be the aggresive one, the problem is the fish store i bought her from just recently went out of business because theyre store was falling apart, the ceiling was caving in and such from weather damage, i dunno i hope he gets better, hopefully yours do too


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## Gracie6363 (Mar 13, 2005)

sounds like she wants to spawn and he's not responding. lol. I had a female betta like that once. 

I will be calling the pet store I think to periodically check on the male powder blue that I took back. Both of mine were males. I kept the more aggressive of the two, I was afraid the injured one may be sick as well. But I am very sad that I couldn't just move him to another tank or something. :-( 

I hate when these problems arise. I was completely paniced last night when I found mine injured!


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## boroughmal (May 1, 2005)

Just add a little salt to your aquarium 0.03% for 3-5 days with a substancial water change over the next 5 days.
Should controll the wounds.
You allready have good advice on the community aspect.
Regards
www.fishkeepingsupplies.com
Aquarium and Fish Supply Tropical


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