ER9

i have a gourami with a red sore under his chin. from everything iv'e read it appears it could be a bacterial infection.

i went a span of two weeks without changing my water and hadn't noticed my filter was clogged with debris and wasn't filtering properly, so if it is an infection i suppose it could be attributed to poor water quality.

i did a 25% water change two days ago and fixed the filter. i have been watching the sore closly and it appears that it has not gotten any worse. my gourami is very active as usual and shows no other signs of illness other than the small sore.

i went and picked upsome maracyn-two tonight just in case i need to treat him but i really hate to dose my entire tank with meds if i can avoid it. getting the gourami out of the tank is not an option without dismantelling and disrupting the entire tank. its heavily planted with real plants and lots of lava rock at the moment. i think geting the gourami out would be extremely traumatic for the entire tank of fish. so its not a reasonable option in my opinion. i could treat the entire tank if i absolutely have to but prefer not to stress any of my other fish and my shrimp unless absolutelly necessary.

so my question is i wonder if fish can safely heal themselves of bacterial infections. especially if iv'e remedied the probable cause?

my tank currently holds my gourami...several danios, three cloud minnows, three gallaxy raspborra and a cherry shrimp.

angelfish220

you could try feeding him some medicated food, but the danios might get it, maybe you could sprinkle some food in to get the fish to come out, and then put the special food really close to the gourami?

ER9

hmmm...that might actually work pretty well. the other fish stay away from him when he eats because if they dont he will charge them. he is a very aggresive eater and will actually almost completely jump out of the water sometimes when i open the lid.

good suggestion....thanks. my only other concern i just thought of is if any medication...fish food or maracyn will hurt my cherry shrimp? i searched but have not found an answer yet.