Hey all. I have a couple of corys in one of my tank which has been set up for about a month and a half, all cycled water levels fine, and last night I noticed one of the corys (Corydoras.Ambiacus) was sitting on top of the internal filters which is quite high up. Ive never seen him do that before, and this morning I noticed he was on his side at the bottom of the tank, and his back fin seems to be detoriating pretty badly. He is still breathing,but if I put my hand near him he doesnt move as they normally should, nor does he go towards the food when its dropped in like they would most of the time plus you can notice is belly has shrunk a bit too,slightly going inwards rather than the nice bloated shape they have. I dno what to do because it was one of my favourites, and dont know what could have caused it. I really dont want to have to put it to sleep because that would be pretty hard, but it is looking in pretty bad shape in a very short amount of time. Hope to have any ideas and suggestions,

(All other fish are fine, its just him thats experiencing these symptoms)

Thanks,

Ravi

This post has been edited by Ravi007: May 7 2008, 01:18 PM

How did you cycle your tank? 1 month and a half to me does not sound like long enough for a cycle with fish. Some corys are more sensative than others. He could have fin rot or some parasites.... can you get a pic?

No it is cycled, I ran an external with one of my previous tanks for a while,and then moved it over to the new tank before fish were put in. There has never been any traces of ammonia or nitrites so its not that. As for fin rot..it could be but he isnt moving which means his skins shedding a bit,and other fish are picking on him. I just want to know what can be done at this stage..if its possible to save him.

Thanks!

Do you have a quarantine tank to put him in? You should really treat the whole tank, but if he is sick - the other fish will definitely pick on him.

hi Ravi007

its really hard to say what it is without a pic as a guess like Cooper2085 says id say it is fin rot or a internal bactarial infection.

its would be best to post in the emergancy section

Thanks for all your replies. Unfortunately it doesnt look like hes going to make it, his breathing is now really faint and isnt showing any activity at all. It wasnt really a case of the picture,as from the outside he looks fine apart from his fin,its just he wasnt moving at all, and kept rolling on his side.

Thanks again.

Sorry, Ravi. The sunken belly doesn't really go along with the loss of fin. It is very difficult to diagnose sometimes. I believe you should go see if you can get aWilder to dialog with you a bit. I am concerned about the rest of the tank. If they have been picking on him they could get what he has. He needs to be out of that tank.

If you have a really good local fish store they may be able to tell something from the body. Whatever you do, do keep an eye on the tank and the other fish for any sign of odd behavior.

How many fish in the tank and how often do yo change the water?

Frankly guys, columnaris is much more common than fin rot with Corys, I think, and much more deadly. Columnaris can take a fish down overnight and can appear most noticable on the fin--dorsal usually.

This post has been edited by jollysue: May 7 2008, 05:11 PM