Sap leaking and can't find the problem and desperate.

[Psychocybin]

I brought a Cox's Orange Pippin last year from our local garden centre. It was healthy and since planting has shot up. I brought this tree in memory of my Mother who died several years back, so it's very special to me. Around 3 months ago I noticed it seemed to be bleeding and leaving papery sap type stuff at the base. I have no idea what this. I have googled various keywords and looked through hundreds of images to no avail. Just around the part where it seems to be leaking it appears to be going rotten underneath. I can press this lightly and juice comes out the tree where the hole is. I have included an image. My Uncle who is a gardener has not seen this before. He said it's drastic, but to cut the dead/rotten part out and see what is there and maybe duct tape it up? I suspect a kind of fungus or beetle.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks.

[Outback Orchard]

Just wrote a long explination of your problem but lost it trying to attach a picture. You have apple tree borers of some sort. Google that and read up on them.

Prevention is the best medicine in the future. Paint base of trees with a deluted latex, use window screen stapled around base from ground up to 1st scaffold, or keep bases sprayed regularly from June-July to keep borers at bay!