Indian Gourami / Banded Gourami

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Ditto to the other replies. Is probably for the best. Last thing you need is an outbreak of anything in your tank.
I will say it would be worth having a small tank you can use to quarrantine fish either new or ill. I run an extra filter (Just a small internal) in one of the tanks so there's always a mature filter that can be popped into it. And a small heater is generally pretty cheap.
Hugs,
P.

 

[nmonks]

Looks like a bacterial ulcer to me. Difficult to treat without antibiotics, and even with the treatment hardly a sure-fire cure. As I understand it, the bacteria is ubiquitous among South East Asian gouramis. Some are more sensitive to it than others. The dwarf gourami, for example, seems to be very prone to it and has become rather a dicey, short-lived fish in my opinion. Blue gouramis, on the other hand, can carry the bacteria (and pass it onto other fish) but don't themselves seem particularly susceptible.

The X factor is probably water chemistry: dwarf, chocolate, and honey gouramis are nitrate sensitive and need soft, acid water to do well, and hence in many aquaria are already under physiological stress. Add the bacteria, and you push them into sickness. Blue gouramis, by contrast, are hard water tolerant and indifferent to nitrate, and so their immune systems are probably well able to deal with the pathogenic bacteria.

Cheers,

Neale