i have a dwarf gourami female and a male in a 10 g .anyway i got the male and female about a week ago and the female had a few scales missing but she acted perfectly normal anyway i looked a few minutes ago and it was huge a red patch and kindof whiteish around it i cant post any pics b/c i cant find my camera. i salted the tank to .1% and i will gradually build it up to .3%(oh yea i took her out of that tank for now) anyway could the male have done it b/c she is fuuulll of eggs and he does kind of pester her but never chases or nips or anything. do you think maybe it is an ulcer? how else should i treat her? i havnt done any reasent water checks but i did them when i did a water change about 3 days ago and they were all zero except nitrates? were about 15(whitchever one doesnt have to be zero b/c the #`s arent right in front of me) and ph was 7.6. ill try to find my camera and take some pics.

It does sound like an ulcer. Its not growing any fungus (cotton wool like stuff) on it?

it doesnt look cottony but it is white fuzzy stuff on it. i found my camera but the pics arent very good and by camera ran out of batteries(grrr) i post them in a second

here are the pics

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j260/ash...902sick0042.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j260/ash...902sick0041.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j260/ash...902sick0040.jpg

does it look like an ulcer?

Poor girl
Its a strange shape, its not really inflamed either (correct me if I'm wrong and its just the camera light).. so it doesnt appear infected. It looks more like a wound from something, as if she got caught and ripped some skin off. Which seems likely as there where scales missing already.
I dont know..
I think salt is best for now, I'd keep it at 0.1% until someone more experienced can help

thanks and yea it doesnt look inflamed to me either it seems to actually go in(concave) i thought the shape was weird too. i supose she could have gotton it caught on one of the plastic plants in the tank.

I'd watch both fish quite carefully for and flashing or scratching as they may have a parasite.. which is how she could have hurt herself, scratching on something.

Any other fish in the tank? It looks like its been rubbed off to me as well.
Dont salt to .3 as they arent a fish that tolerate high levels of salt, .1 should be enough.

If it was an ulcer i would have expected a more ragged appearance and a deeper hole. Could she be able to wedge herself behind a heater?

The shape of it would definatly fit with a heater burn.

there is no heater b/c the tank stays about 78 degrees all year around an the only other fish in there is a kuli loach but he used to be in with guppies and a platie(but they are no longer in that tank) and was fine he only comes out when the food sinks to the bottom and then goes back under his rock i have never seen him messing with them or anything nor have i seen any flaching and the pics dont make it look deep but it is pretty deep about an 8th of an inch deep.

i just noticed she also has ick but the boy and kuhli loach dont i think she got it from the stress of the wound will the salt take care of that or should i put some ick guard in there. ill also keep an eye on the other tank to make sure they dont get ick either. i hate when my fish get sick.

As she is on her own add a heater and get the tamp to a steady 84f, the gourami wont mind that and it will get rid of the ick, just add an airpump and airstone to keep oxygen levels up.
If its deeper than it looks then i would think its bacterial so find something that treats ulcers.

ok ill look at the petstore to find something for ulcers if it doesnt look any better by tommorow. she seemed better today it wasnt as red and seemed to be healing over so ill keep an eye on it. i went to the store today(not a petstore b/c the heaters are too expensive) anyway meijiers only had a heater for a 50 gallon tank and that is way to big so ill have to look later on in the week. the tank is only 2 gallons b/c i dont have a hospital tank and also our petstores dont sell them for under 10 gallons.

looks like her scales are missing to me