Cory In Trouble

[Tarrasque]

I was planting and changing water the other day and noticed one of my cories seems to have cotton stuffed in the left side gills. I have quarantined the poor thing and don't know what else to do. The water quality is 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and about 10ppm nitates. PH stays steady at 7.3.
Cory is with five others and two angels three swordtails and a plec in a 29 gal.
any help would be appriciated thank you.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

I've never experienced columnaris but I'll throw this out there and perhaps someone else can confirm or deny it? Typically I think the cotton-like substance is present in the mouth but I know the infection can enter through the gills so I'm not sure.

 

[Tarrasque]

Thank you for your reply, I will look into the columnaris, what would be an effective treatment?

 

[Tarrasque]

I'm a little more worried now.
The cory is swimming from top to bottom the the Isolation tank and it looks as though its trying to jump out. I will do a water change and see how it is in the morning. Maybe I'll cover the top of the tank with a shirt or extra cloth.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

Thank you for your reply, I will look into the columnaris, what would be an effective treatment?

I don't know as I've never dealt with it but a google search should provide some results for treatment. My guessed diagnosis may not be sound as it was just as much of an educated guess as possible. I'm afraid I'm of little further use. Someone with more of an idea than me hopefully will come along and confirm or issue a better diagnosis of the situation.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If its columnaris, you need to get the tamp below 24C pronto.

Waterlife's Myxazin (to treat the bacteria) and Pimafix (to help the fish's immune system, as septicemia is a major health risk from columnaris) should help, if you have caught it in time.

There's no doubt plenty of threads on the subject, but here's the first one that came up on google...
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=285498&st=0

 

[Tarrasque]

Thank you for your frankness and advice, I will get the antibiotics tomorrow when I have more money. There has been a development since last night that I hope is positive. I was unaware that my wife had taken the liberty of adding Kordon Ich Attack to the hospital water shortly after moving the cory there. Her reasoning was that it was the only thing we had right now and till we got more money anything was better than nothing. This morning she drew my attention to the fact that the cotton was no long in the gills of the cory. When I went to look I could see that this was true and a little tuft of cotton was indeed floating around the tank. The cory seems to be breating faster today, but is still swimming and seems not to be too distressed. Is it possible that this was a simple fungus infection or is fungus always a symptom of something else?

 

[Tarrasque]

Was treating cory in quarantine, saw that others were getting the same stuff on them. Decided to put the baby back and treat the tank. All the fish seem to be active and eating fine with out sings of shimmy or flashing. Decided it is probably a simple fungus instead of a bacteria as none of the fish have died after over a week and the areas where the white fuzz come on is where there is a lot of friction on the fish, between fins mostly. Was rearranging some plants to day and discovered what may have been the source of the original fungus infection. I was clearing the plants and moss from filter intake when I was something white and fuzzy float around. I netted it and discovered it was a dead fly. Don't know how it got there or how long its been there but there was enough fuzz on it to contaminate the whole tank. Seems weird to me, I don't know how often this happens to others. I usually leave the tank topless because my fish don't seem interested in jumping and I have some plants that grow above the water line. I guess this should not be such a surprise, but it seems so improbable.
Thank you all for your help, is nice to know you are out there.