Cory Catfish not doing well.

[Aaron Muth]

i had recently performed a water change in my 37 gallon tank. My panda Cory catfish is not doing well and does not seem to want to swim probably, slower than usual, and has a little red thing on his belly. One of my red fire dwarf gouramis also died, I found him stuck to the side of my filter tube when I woke up the next morning. I’m really worried because I do not want to lose another fish. I also checked my water perimeters and everything is fine. Any help?

 

[Jessie J.]

Did you dechlorinate the water before adding it to the aquarium? What are your parameters? A picture would really help.If there's red on is belly he might have scraped it on something- can you post a picture of the tank too so we can see what may have caused it?

 

[Jeremy180]

What test type do you use?

The liquid kits are much better than the strips that you dip in the tank.

The strip kits are notorious for being easily rendered uselessly inaccurate from broken seals, and especially even brief exposure to high humidity or Temps over about 25 Celsius, or 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

Even something as simple as accidentally touching the color changing part of the strip, even with clean hands, can alter the result enough to make that particular Test Strip useless.

Edit: The two Fish You mentioned prefer soft water, and are stressed in hard water which can cause compromised immune systems, and the fish equivalent of kidney stones, among other problems.

What is your water Hardness, PH?

EDIT: Many water suppliers have a recent water quality report that is publicly available.
The usually include carbonate hardness, also written as "ppm of caco3".
They also often have the average and maximum ph for the year, General hardness, and total dissolved solids, and are generally written up using the results of tests of a higher quality than the majority of aquarium test kits.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

Have you checked the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH?
If yes, what are the results in numbers?

How long have you had the catfish for?
Have you added any new fish in the last 2 weeks?

Please post a picture of the sick fish that clearly shows the issue.

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Dwarf Gouramis (Trichogaster lalius) and all of their colour forms carry 2 main diseases, Tuberculosis (TB) and the Iridovirus. Neither can be cured and because of this I do not recommend buying dwarf gouramis from pet shops until the Asian breeders get their act together and clean up their stock.

Your fish might have died from the Iridovirus or something else but we need more info about what the fish did and looked like before it died.

 

[Aaron Muth]

i had recently performed a water change in my 37 gallon tank. My panda Cory catfish is not doing well and does not seem to want to swim probably, slower than usual, and has a little red thing on his belly. One of my red fire dwarf gouramis also died, I found him stuck to the side of my filter tube when I woke up the next morning. I’m really worried because I do not want to lose another fish. I also checked my water perimeters and everything is fine. Any help?

The panda Cory died last night. My ph has always been a 7.6 and never goes up or down, ammonia is at a 0, nitrate is a 0, and nitrite is a 0. I’ve had this tank for 4 weeks and I did a gravel vacccum and drained maybe 10 gallons. I have the water test kits as well.

 

[Jeremy180]

The panda Cory died last night. My ph has always been a 7.6 and never goes up or down, ammonia is at a 0, nitrate is a 0, and nitrite is a 0. I’ve had this tank for 4 weeks and I did a gravel vacccum and drained maybe 10 gallons. I have the water test kits as well.

OK, from this I am guessing that you may well have gotten bad stock on the Dwarf Gourami.

I apologize in advance for all the questions, but I need them to find out what is going on.

7.6 ph may indicate Higher than Ideal hardness, Do you know The carbonate hardness or general hardness of your water? (most water suppliers have this in an online water quality report)

Was the Panda Cory alone, or in a Group?

Panda cories a native to mountain streams, and need under 26 degrees celsius, preferably less.
Warmer than this can accelerate aging and lower the immune system.
What Temperature is the tank?

Many small fish are very frightened of being in an open tank without hiding spots.
Is the tank sparse and open, or does it have heavy cover in the forms of real or fake plants ,and other hiding places?

The red on the belly indicates infection or possible physical damage, are there any decorations with a rough or sharp surfaces?
What type of substrate do you use?
(Brand name is helpful, If you can remember it.)

 

[Aaron Muth]

OK, from this I am guessing that you may well have gotten bad stock on the Dwarf Gourami.

I apologize in advance for all the questions, but I need them to find out what is going on.

7.6 ph may indicate Higher than Ideal hardness, Do you know The carbonate hardness or general hardness of your water? (most water suppliers have this in an online water quality report)

Was the Panda Cory alone, or in a Group?

Panda cories a native to mountain streams, and need under 26 degrees celsius, preferably less.
Warmer than this can accelerate aging and lower the immune system.
What Temperature is the tank?

Many small fish are very frightened of being in an open tank without hiding spots.
Is the tank sparse and open, or does it have heavy cover in the forms of real or fake plants ,and other hiding places?

The red on the belly indicates infection or possible physical damage, are there any decorations with a rough or sharp surfaces?
What type of substrate do you use?
(Brand name is helpful, If you can remember it.)

I now have 4 Cory catfish left, I do not know the carbonate hardness, I keep the tank temperature at 76-80 (80 being the highest which it usually never is), I have two structures, one wood and one is a rock cave, three live plants and one plastic plant. The substrate is top fin aquarium gravel.

 

[Aaron Muth]

So how do I find this, I am also confused how they died, I had the panda Cory for 3 months and the gourami for three weeks and never noticed any problems with them. I think I did something wrong with the water change.

 

[Jeremy180]

While aquarium gravel is not as good as sand for cories, if rounded enough, it should be relatively safe, as long as it is well vacuumed each water change.
Definitely not a space issue, 37 gallons should be plenty for the fish you listed.
Beyond the low numbers and slightly, but not very high temperature, I am not sure what it could be. I will defer to other, more knowledgeable members.

 

[Aaron Muth]

While aquarium gravel is not as good as sand for cories, if rounded enough, it should be relatively safe, as long as it is well vacuumed each water change.
Definitely not a space issue, 37 gallons should be plenty for the fish you listed.
Beyond the low numbers and slightly, but not very high temperature, I am not sure what it could be. I will defer to other, more knowledgeable members.

Well thank you for giving me some new advice.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

and the gourami for three weeks

Was the Gourami quarantined before being added to the tank?

It's a good idea, if possible to quarantine new fish before adding them into your aquarium. Give them time to recover from the stress of the pet shop and possibly display signs of illness of disease before they get added. I tend to quarantine my fish for about 4-6 weeks before adding to an established tank.

 

[Aaron Muth]

Was the Gourami quarantined before being added to the tank?

It's a good idea, if possible to quarantine new fish before adding them into your aquarium. Give them time to recover from the stress of the pet shop and possibly display signs of illness of disease before they get added. I tend to quarantine my fish for about 4-6 weeks before adding to an established tank.

I should set up my old tank for quarantining fish, but no the gourami was not quarantined.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

Dwarf Gouramis (Trichogaster lalius) and all of their colour forms carry 2 main diseases, Tuberculosis (TB) and the Iridovirus. Neither can be cured and because of this I do not recommend buying dwarf gouramis from pet shops until the Asian breeders get their act together and clean up their stock.

As Colin said, this is quite a common issue with Gouramis. it is quite possibly the reason for this, but without more information pictures are best we wont know for sure.

I should set up my old tank for quarantining fish, but no the gourami was not quarantined.

I don't have it running all the time, only when I need it, but it is a very useful tool when bringing fish into your tanks.

 

[Aaron Muth]

As Colin said, this is quite a common issue with Gouramis. it is quite possibly the reason for this, but without more information pictures are best we wont know for sure.



I don't have it running all the time, only when I need it, but it is a very useful tool when bringing fish into your tanks.

Sadly I did not keep either of the fish. They both had their colors, the only weird thing was with the panda Cory catfish who looked like he was scraped since he had some minor cuts, like two st the most.

 

[Colin_T]

Corydoras that get red patches on their bellies either have a bacterial infection or have physical damage from the substrate. If the tank is only 4 weeks old and the fish have been in there while the filters were developing, that would put stress on them and make them more susceptible to diseases and infections.

Was the aquarium cycled before you added the fish?

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A pH of 7.6 is not going to be an issue for captive bred Corydoras especially if it is stable.

The general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) can usually be found on your water company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and see if they can test it for you. Write the results down in numbers when they do the test and find out if the test is in ppm or dGH.

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You want to change about 75% of the tank water every week to help keep nutrients and disease organisms down. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If you ever lose a fish or the fish get sick, the best thing to do is wipe the inside of the glass down and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the problem is identified and or resolved. The cleaning and big water changes dilute nutrients and disease organisms and buy you time while you try to figure out what is going on.

Established filters should also be cleaned but do not clean the filter if it is less than 6 weeks old because you can wash the beneficial bacteria out of it. However, once a filter is more than 8 weeks old, you can clean it every 2 weeks without any problems.

If you have a power filter, wash the filter materials in a bucket of tank water. Wash the filter case and impellor assembly under tap water. Then set it back up again.

The following link has some more info on what to do if your fish get sick. It is pretty long and boring but worth knowing. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help you fall asleep.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/