# Sore patch on Dwarf Gourami



## Harry H (20 Jan 2019)

This sore patch appeared on my dwarf gourami, within last week or so, and it is getting bigger. Any suggestions on what it is, if it needs to be treated?


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## Tim Harrison (20 Jan 2019)

Definitely needs treating, use eSHa 2000 https://www.eshalabs.eu/english/products/esha-2000supregsup.html


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## akwarium (20 Jan 2019)

Dwarf gouramis are often infected with an iridovirus,  the appearance of sores is a known symptom.  There is no treatment.  

eSHa 2000 is a combination of a gram positive antibiotic, some antiseptics and copper.  The last will kill any shrimp and snails. 
Personally I think you should never ad antibiotics to an aquarium, never. antibiotics in water are a great way to create antibiotic resistant bacteria, for our own health and the health of all other people we all have a responsibility to use antibiotics wisely.


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## Andrew Butler (20 Jan 2019)

akwarium said:


> eSHa 2000 is a combination of a gram positive antibiotic, some antiseptics and copper. The last will kill any shrimp and snails.


Used Esha 2000 and Esha Exit with snails and shrimp quite a few times without any harm to them as I think you will find @Tim Harrison has.
Esha Gastroex is the one that will harm your snails which is it's intention.

Check out the extended product information for products on the below link which they tell me is all current and upto date.
https://www.eshalabs.eu/english/products.html


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## Tim Harrison (20 Jan 2019)

I've used it myself without loosing any shrimp or snails; that is pest snails.
I don't think eSHa 2000 contains antibiotics rather just a couple of topical antiseptic agents. So perhaps we need not worry about the misuse of antibiotics and microbial resistance in this case.


akwarium said:


> Dwarf gouramis are often infected with an iridovirus


We don't know that for sure, so my advice would be to go ahead and treat and hopefully Harry's Gourami will make a full recovery.


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## alto (20 Jan 2019)

By all means treat - a hospital tank is generally more beneficial (& effective) than treating within the community tank

OTOH I suspect this skin lesion reflects internal bacterial infection in this fish (dwarf gourami’s are notorious for these sorts of issues, recovery is uncommon, though life can often be extended with supportive treatments)

Baytril injections have shown significant efficacy in fish, though it’s more generally (easily) applied to fish sized “small goldfish” and upwards

A recent case study

https://www.researchgate.net/public...n_in_the_Treatment_of_Piscine_Mycobacteriosis



> Abstract
> Mycobacteriosis is a common cause of chronic ulcerative skin disease in aquarium fish that can be difficult to treat. This case report describes the use of injectable enrofloxacin (0.23 mg intraperitoneally three times weekly) in the treatment of mycobacterial infection in three aquarium fish (two angelfish and one gourami). The fish were treated for a total of 12 to 14 weeks. One fish initially improved, then died after 12 weeks of therapy from presumptive central nervous system mycobacteriosis. The other two fish were cured of infection after 14 weeks, suggesting that enrofloxacin may be a useful treatment for piscine mycobacteriosis.



Bath treatments are also listed for Enroflaxin (Baytril) so if you can obtain some from your vet, you might try this (only suited to a hospital tank situation - very important to read guidelines before trying)

http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.co...d-surgery-proceedings?id=&sk=&date=&pageID=13



> *3. *Enrofloxacin (Baytril®). A quinolone compound that appears to be safe and effective in fishes. May be used IM, ICe and PO at a dose of 5-10 mg/kg/ Q 48 hours for 7-21 days. May be diluted with sterile saline since the concentrated form (2.27%) may be irritating. May also be used as a bath at a concentration of 2.5 mg/L for 5 hours Q 24 hours. Recent work (Lewbart et al., 2005) indicates 10 mg/kg ICe Q 5 days for koi at 20 degrees C.



Note if fish is actively eating, food laced antibiotic is much more effective than any bath solution, Seachem product Focus is a proven effective binder for use under aquarium conditions (stops antibiotic from just “falling” off food)
Downside is most antibiotics are not terribly palatable so it usually requires some trial and error to sort out best food route


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## Andrew Butler (20 Jan 2019)

Found it......................To quote Esha
_
Dear Andrew, 
Thank you for your interest in our products! You can use eSHa 2000 and eSHa EXIT at the same time. eSHa 2000 contains a little bit of copper and although we do not have any negative results with shrimps (even in overdose), we have heard that shrimps can not tollerate a lot of copper. Since we only use a bit, we do not think that it will be a problem. Please read the leaflets of both products very carefully before use and follow all instructions. (do not use waterconditioner, water parameters must be fine before use, siphon the gravel if you have used waterconditioners etc.) Please dose at a time where you can check your aquarium regularly and perform a waterchange if you think something is wrong. EXIT does not contain copper and is safe for shrimps if instructions are followed. After treatment you can use eSHa Optima to speed up recovery.
Kind regards, 
Nikki Boumans 
Team eSHa Labs_


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## Harry H (20 Jan 2019)

Thank you all for the information, I will get eSHa 2000 from LFS tomorrow, and treat him.



akwarium said:


> Dwarf gouramis are often infected with an iridovirus, the appearance of sores is a known symptom. There is no treatment.



I bought the fish with the assurance that it has already been treated for that virus, not sure now even if that is possible or accurate but I hope it is not the virus but something else.


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## alto (20 Jan 2019)

Sorry but that’s for the person who said they’d “treated” for the virus

Of course it it were successful, there’s a load of scientists and aquafarmers would be interested 

As I intimated in my post, I suspect this is skin ulceration associated with fish “Tb” - which for whatever reason is more prevalent in certain fish species, among them various gourami (& domestic Betta splendens!) and rainbow fish


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## Harry H (24 Jan 2019)

I have been treating the tank with esha 2000, but unfortunately little guy was already dead when I came home tonight. My six year old cried his eyes out when he saw it 

Completed the treatment of the tank with the last dose, I will repeat it next week just in case.


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## Tim Harrison (24 Jan 2019)

That's a shame, sorry to hear that. Hopefully, it's an isolated case and having treated the tank you won't get a reoccurrence.


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