Cory having difficulty breathing

[javajo]

29 gallon cycled planted community tank with mostly Tetras. Have also Corys, a swordtail, Dwarf Guarami, small catfish, White Fancy tail Molly.

PH - 6.0 or slightly below
Amonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm
KH - 1 DKH ?
GH - 13 DGH
Temp - about 72 degress Farenheit


External Whisper filter
Bubble wand
hanging heater
20 watt all purpose aquarium bulb

Try to do water changes 15% (5 gallons) per week with water that has sat for at least three days. Usually add 1 tbsp of aquarium salt and 6 or less tsps of Stress Coat after each water change


Hello - I'm new to this forum and I'm hoping I can get some advice for my sick Cory.

I've never used plant fertilizer in the past, but I went out and purchased a 20 watt 360 degree plant bulb, First Layer pure Laterite, Leaf Zone & Root Tabs. The only thing I have added though so far is the pure Laterite.

Yesterday, while doing a water change before adding the new water, with all my fish in the tank, I added the Laterite. I did this by moving gravel on the bottom, pouring down the Laterite, and covering the Laterite with the gravel I had just moved. During this time, the filter was not working due to the lack of water in the tank. The filter intake was still submerged but there was not enough water pressure to allow the water to travel up it.

After all my excavation in the tank, the water was filthy with food debris, etc.

When I noticed the filter wasn't working, I added the new water to the tank. Afterwards, my filter started to work again.

Gradually the water cleared up and all my fish appear healthy thank God except one of my favorite Corys. He's having problems breathing, having difficultly swimming (he can't swim to the top of the tank) and sometimes he lays on his back. He also appears red around his gills.

Please help! I feel he has debis from the dirty water caught in his gills!

What can I do to make this fish healthy again?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[StiX]

Your pH is a little low, and also the temp is slightly low.

Why are you adding salt to the water ? there is no reason todo this (unless treating for ich/white spot) and also that seems alot of stress coat to be adding every week, maybe u should cut that in half or more.

Do you have any Co2 units on the tank at all ?

Are any of the other fish gasping at the water surface ?

 

[javajo]

Thanks for the response!

I add salt just as a general tonic. I heard it prevents disease and is not harfull to the fish if added in small quantities.

I do not have any CO2 units in the tank.

None of my other fish are gasping for air.

By the way, I forgot to mention that I've had my tank since March of this year.

 

[StiX]

There is really no reaso to add salt, all of those fish, excepy the molly, come from 100% freshwater.

My first thort was lack of dissolved oxygen in the water, but as theres no c02 going in and therea a bubble wand and the other fish are fone, we can rule that one out.

hmmm are there any visable signs of injury to the fish ?

It could possibly be an internal paresite or a problem with its swim bladder

 

[javajo]

There's no sign of injury to my Cory aside from redness around his head & gills. I think he was fine before I was excavating my substate. All my fish were subjected to dirty watter while I was doing this. It's almost like my Cory has debris caught in his gills - can the gills become blocked with debris? I can think of nothing else. He's very inactive and when he tries to swim, it does not look as normal as usual. He can't swim to the top of the tank due to what appears as a lack of energy and sometimes he lays on his back or on his side. His equilibrium appears off.

Is there any way to flush out his gills and rid them of debris if this is the case.

 

[StiX]

Well i guess its possible for it to have something stuck, if that is the case then theres really nothing u can do, just keep an eye on it and hope for the best.

 

[javajo]

I know this sounds stupid but is there any way to manually rid this debris? Is there any way to get the fish in a stream of water and force the water to pass over the gills, thereby loosening and freeing the debris? I am not that familiar with gill anatomy but aren't fish gills pretty much like human lungs? The water comes into the fishes mouth and from the mouth it passes over the gills.

Any ideas?

 

[StiX]

I guess if u have a powerful filter u could direct the outlet towards the fish, but i doubt it would work, and will probably do more damage than good by stressing the fish.

 

[javajo]

After reading some other questions in the Catfish section, I've come to realize that Corys take air from the air, not the water. My Corys sometimes shoot to the top of the tank and back down again - I thought this was for food. If they do this, does that mean that there is not enough oxygen in the water?

 

[StiX]

To the best of my knowlege, corys take most of their oxygen from the water, all fish take a gulp of air from the surfce from time to time to fill their swim bladder.

As i said before, i dont think its a lack of oxygen in the water as the other fish are ok, and u have a bubble wand running in the tank.

 

[StiX]

P.s. If u would like me to move this topic and its posts over to catfish cradle and delete the other one, then i will

 

[javajo]

Please - that would be great! I already posted the question there just to get as much feedback as possible - I hate to double post. Thank you for doing that if you would!

 

[StiX]

There ya go

Good luck!

 

[javajo]

Thank you so much!

 

[javajo]

Does anyone have any ideas as to what I can do?

Any feedback would be much appreciated!