gourami wounds - will pectoral fins grow back?

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angyles

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Nov 4, 2002
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I got a pearl gourami a while back. unfortunately, the LFS had about 8 of them in a tank with about 20 cherry barbs. All of the gouramis had damage due to pecking. in the time it took me to get mine bagged, I watched a cherry barb take a chunk out of it's back.

I brought it home and tried to baby it. Unfortunately, the wound wouldn't heal. it started looking white and fungusy, and it started getting fungussy tufts on it's 'feelers' so I took it out and started a maracyn treatment in a 10G. it's on day 10 today. I've been doing water changes every couple days, adding a bit of aquarium salt and increasing the heat.

I jsut found that the back wound is still jsut as bad as every. The right feeler is in tact but where it had fat cottony segments before, they've now turned red. The left feeler apparently fell off today. It's about 1" long now, if that.

Can this grow back? what should I do at this point? Should I jsut stop all meds and keep him in pristine water for a few weeks, doing daily water changes and hope he gets better?
 

kanvas

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i just've bought 2 dwarf gourami myself, and one only has 1/2 of his pelvic/feeler thread fin. Did some research and find out that they should grow back quickly.

Although i also found my mistake: for gourami, QT is a MUST because they are sensitive fish and likely to be already sick at the store...

So now, no use crying on what's done, just keep up the clean water and feed them good food so they recover faster. Just my opinion, correct me if i'm wrong:

If it's not going away try dabbing Maracyn, Maracyn II directly on the wound with a Q-tip.
I don't think if it's a fungus increasing the heat would do you any good it might even stress you fish out unnecessarily (although, gourami can handle 80s degree water no problem)
 

angyles

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I don't think it's true fungus. I think it's actually bacterial, that's why I treated with the maracyn. I raised the heat to about 78-80 because I know that's more within the optimum range for a gourami instead of the 75-6 I usually keep my tank at.

It's very reassuring to know that'll grow back. it's one of the things I love the most about gouramis! I think the pristine water and good food and time will need to be my method of treatment for now.

any other thoughts out there?
 

mel_20_20

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Sep 1, 2008
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I just recently treated my Brochis for septicemia. He was so seriously sick he was unaware of me when I took him out of my tank.

He had fire engine red blotches behind his gills, on his body, and a thin red streak ran across his side from one blotch.

His skin around the pectorals was red and inflamed and at the base of his dorsal fin on his back the skin was red all the way from front to back. His vent was bright red as well.

Being familiar with septicemia in humans, I feared that I might be too late, and all was lost, but I quickly set up a 5 gallon hospital tank with conditioned water, temp matched, and with a HOB without carbon.

I got maracy and maracy II, because between the two they address both gram negative and gram positive bacteria. Since we can't do a culture to see what the bacteria is then this is the best way to be sure you cover the bases.

I dosed the tank and then the next morning I did an 80 to 90% water change. I then dosed the tank again right after the change.

I did this every day. Big water change in the morning and then dose the tank. Next day big water change in morning and dose the tank.

I about 24 hours or a little more, I could see improvement. He was alert to my presence and would move to hide. He was swimming around a little.

By the 5th day he looked completely well, but I continued the treatment: water change and dose, for another week.

He has fully recovered. I think you need to dose with both meds, but also do huge water changes every day to keep the water pristine. This will give your gourami the optimum conditions to recover. I know they are labyrinth fish and not as sensitive to water quality as other fish, but I still believe that the cleanest possible water will improve the chances of full recovery and regrowth of lost tissue/finnage.

EDIT: Additional thought. Bacteria loves warmer water, so I'd go with the coolest temperature that is appropriate for gouramis. He needs to be comfortable, but keep it on the cooler side of his comfort range.

Also, IMHO I don't think Id apply anything to his wounds. Seems that would add stress and possibly impact negatively his immune system. I think that dosing the tank with the appropriate dose of each med and his own immune system are your best shot.
 
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