Cory Emergency Please Help!

[joselaz5780]

Today i noticed my female bronze cory wasn't out and when i removed decor to clean, i noticed that her head was white, here are pics: Please i'm so scared i really love her i'm almost crying its like i can feel her pain.

http/desmond.imageshack.us/Himg864/scaled.php?server=864&filename=p1000531w.jpg&res=medium


http/desmond.imageshack.us/Himg864/scaled.php?server=864&filename=p1000531w.jpg&res=medium

I'm so scared

 

[Keeper Of Cichlids]

Looks like a heater burn or a bite.
I'm not sure what medicine you would use to treat that.
I know water changes are the key though, keep doing them regularly and keep the parameters pristine and it should heal in no time!

 

[joselaz5780]

I really hope it does, i'm sure it isn't a bite since my fish aren't that big and they aren't aggressive towards each other either i still feel like crying and she seems to swim to side and all she is doing is hiding

 

[Keeper Of Cichlids]

Text from a website on this -

Introduction
Heater burns are generally quite rare but they do occur from time to time. Sometimes a fish will get trapped between the aquarium wall and the heater, or a fairly sedentary fish will choose the heater to rest on. In all cases a heater guard will prevent accidents or better still use an inline or heater/filer.

Initial burn
Initially the burn may not look to bad. The fish will be sulking a little and the scales in the area of the burn will look opaque and possibly a little white. This is a little deceiving because if the burn has gone quite deep in to the tissue things will look much worse in a day or two.

The full extent
After a few days the full extent of the damage will be apparent because the damaged tissue will eventually slough away and leave a deep wound behind. This is the most dangerous time for the fish due to the risk of secondary infections and the loss of vital salts through osmosis.

Deep wounds like this require very careful management especially in the early days if the fish is going to pull through. At the same time it is important not to stress the fish further.

 

[joselaz5780]

My heater has a rubber cap that doesn't let the fish touch the hot part so i am starting to think that it wasn't a burn because the holes the cap has are very small and the head of the cory is like half way white as in the pic... i'm also worried about its eye.

 

[Keeper Of Cichlids]

I would've suggested aquarium salt but since it cories (DO NOT ADD AQ SALT)

My heater has a rubber cap that doesn't let the fish touch the hot part so i am starting to think that it wasn't a burn because the holes the cap has are very small and the head of the cory is like half way white as in the pic... i'm also worried about its eye.

What about the part above the cap, that bit still gets pretty hot to.

 

[joselaz5780]

it is protected by a plastic clear tube that only gets a little bit warm(almost impossible to tell when touched since it is at water temperature) i just checked it now and i am scared to move my cory girl now because it is 10 at night so it is a little late. I also don't want to stress her anymore and right now she is hiding in her cave while the other corys are outside. I would have been in bed by now but i can't go to bed with her like that because i am scared she might be dead tomorrow

 

[Rummynose]

Jose, have you checked your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Whenever something is not right in your tank it's a good idea to check those just to get that covered.

In the picture I've noticed a few items that don't look like they were made for the aquarium, especially that bear that seems to be having peeling paint. Could the water have gotten contaminated with properties of those plastics/paint?

When the water is not up to par the fish's immunesystem lowers and it is more susceptible to diseases.

 

[Keeper Of Cichlids]

There is not much you can do right now, go to bed and rest.
It could be some type of fungus growth, can't really tell from the pics.
The fish could of scratched it self or hurt its self on anything sharp in the tank.

 

[joselaz5780]

All the items have been there for a really long time.... they were made for an aquarium they are just really old because about a year ago that tank had guppies and such(in total this tank is about 4 years old and it has had the same decorations) The fish have been living there for about 8 months and no problems....until now all my parameters are fine since i checked them yesterday, but i am going to stick to doing daily 10% water changes to try to help my cory out and maybe adding some itch medicine along with a conditioner might help her? Hopefully she lives she was my first cory and i don't want her to go so quickly.

 

[Keeper Of Cichlids]

What are your parameters exactly?
And I wouldn't add any ich medicine as the cory does not have ich.

 

[Rummynose]

All the items have been there for a really long time.... they were made for an aquarium they are just really old because about a year ago that tank had guppies and such(in total this tank is about 4 years old and it has had the same decorations) The fish have been living there for about 8 months and no problems....until now all my parameters are fine since i checked them yesterday, but i am going to stick to doing daily 10% water changes to try to help my cory out and maybe adding some itch medicine along with a conditioner might help her? Hopefully she lives she was my first cory and i don't want her to go so quickly.

You shouldn't add meds if you don't know what you're dealing with, you very possibly could do more harm than good! Changing the water daily is a really good thing you can do for her!

 

[joselaz5780]

OK, so changing the water should be good...should the water be warm or cold? Which would help? I'm thinking warm water would be better even though i have been doing cold water changes in order for them to mate i can stop that if it means saving her life.

 

[Rummynose]

When adding water try to get it somewhat the same temperature as in the tank!

 

[Keeper Of Cichlids]

I would stick to warm water for now, roughly matched to the tanks temp.
Also do you have any stress coat?
If so, I would add that.