Corydoras flashing on substrate

[Jwgoff7772]

Parameteters
Ph: 7.0
Kh: 1-2
Gh: 1
Ammonia: 0, maybe .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
Tank size: 40 gallon breeder
Stock: 1 pearl gourami and 9 corydoras
Water change schedule: 30-40% once a week.
Filtration: Aqua clear 50 plus 14inch bubble bar.
I noticed about 2 week ago my oldest and largest panda cory was flashing every once in awhile, not constant but I also didnt know what is was til now and was the only one I noticed doing it. I think it is a female and noticed she may look a little bloated, I do not overfeed. Thought she may have been carrying eggs because it doesnt look extreme. But after a 35% wc last night I noticed all my cories started flashing every 5-10 mins and one of my smaller panda cories wad losing color and was flashing the most. Since my parameters did not shift during my wc I'm wondering if it started with the big cory and just passed it on to the others and maybe it's just gotten worse since I dont think the wc caused it. None of the others lost color like him. But they were flashing up until I went to bed. My gourami and my two albino cories were the only ones not flashing. And it was only on the substrate. Today when I woke up I noticed the color came back on the young panda cory and the flashing has calmed but still noticed it here and there. I purchased some hikari prazi pro but have not used it yet and would like some insight on what to do. My water for my wc was identical to my tank as far as temp, ph and gh and not shift on any parameters. So wondering if it's been ongoing and just gotten worse. Thank you in advance.

 

[Byron]

Additional data will help members advise...how long has this tank been set up with these fish? Any new fish, plants added recently? You are using water conditioner presumably, which one?

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Yes, I use seachem prime for conditioner. The tank had been set up for 7 weeks and was cycled in 10 days with seeding from my 10 gallon and seachem stability. No plants yet, the gourami is a new addition that I quarantined for 2 weeks before adding and had been in the tank for sbout 12 days. The gourami did not show any signs of disease during the quarantine or neither does he now, he isnt flashing, just 7 out of the 9 cities. The flashing on the older cory started before the new gourami.

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Sorry for the typo, I mean only 7 out of the 9 "cories" are flashing, not "cities" the two albino and the gourami are the only ones not flashing. Like I said it has come down since last night but is still occasional and only on the substrate. And the one young Cory that lost his color has got his color back. But none of my parameters changed after the water change and I used the amount of prime only to replace the volume that I changed and not the tank volume but when I noticed the flashing I also did a half dose of api stress coat when I noticed the flashing.

 

[Byron]

I tend to stay out of disease threads due to my very limited experience. But I also know (and have learned the hard way) that adding a substance to treat "A" if "A" is not the issue will make things far worse and possibly lead to fish loss. Fish can fight off most any issue if not stressed, and this is without question the best prevention.

I see the odd flash but not to the extent you describe, and it is most likely due to ich. This can remain in an aquarium for years; fish again fight it off naturally if kept free of stress, but anything causing stress can then trigger it. You never see spots because ich first attacks fish in the gills, hence the flashing, and if they overcome it, end of story. I have had gill flukes once, but it was very obvious from the very red gills and wide open operculum. Ich does not do this unless very severe and by then you would certainly see spots externally. Substances in the water that irritate the gills is another cause of flashing, but from what you've posted I would not think this relevant here.

I would not use API StressCoat. Not only will it not deal with this, whatever it is, it does add more stress. Aloe vera is now known to cause gill issues for fish. A significant partial water change of say 70% of the tank volume will do wonders and that I would recommend. Use Prime only for the volume changed. Again, no point in getting more of these substances into the fish's bloodstream, they will not benefit. Do a good clean into the substrate during the water change, all open areas, which can help remove the cysts.

 

[Colin_T]

Any chance of a picture and short 20 second video of the fish?

If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Sorry for the late reply, had to pull a double shift at work and while I've been home I've been trying to get video of them flashing but at has since come down since last night but it is still happening occasionally so I'm working on trying to get some video but sometimes I'll sit there recording for 20 minutes and not say anything and then turn around few minutes later than see it so I'm working on trying to get a video to you guys. It isn't happening as much as it was the other night but it still happening. I'll post a picture or video as soon as I can get it on camera

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Sorry for the long post but there's a lot to tell ...
An unknown issue with the gourami..
Here is my link to my corydoras flashing, I finally got it on video after a week of trying and was able to figure out how to upload it...if I provided the link correctly. If I didnt please let me know and I'll try again. I have 9 cories. One full grown panda. 3 young pandas that are maybe 1.5 inches, 2 albino, 2 sterbai and one juli or false juil which is the one you see flashing which is about 2- 2 1/2 years old, maybe 3. All the fish in my tank are flashing but the 2 albino and 2 sterbai. 2 of the 3 young pandas black markings are fading. They are all eating normally but acting a little stressed. They seem really sketchy and so what I think is the shimmies... like they are trying to swim straight into the wall really fast but not going anywhere, just in one place but there is a issue I discovered...my 3 inch male pearl gourami has been bullying my corydoras. I watched it happen for the first time 4 days after my OP. So now I'm concerned that the stress my gourami brought into the tank opened my cories up to disease or maybe the flashing and color fading is just a symptom of the stress itself? I could tell my cories were really stressed out by this because when a cory bumped into another cory they would bother take off in opposite directions very fast and they hide, a behavior I've never seen them do because they bump each other constantly before the gourami, which was the newest fish and they never scared each other quite like that. maybe if one cory wasnt expecting another cory to land on him they would maybe do a flick and land a couple inches away. Never before have they done like I described. tried putting the gourami in a breeder box for a timeout two times. once for 2 day and a second time for 3 days and it did not work. Every time I let the gourami out he would b-line for the big panda and charge him and would go and bump anyone he thought had food even after being fed first at the top of the tank in his betta floating square feeder that I feed him at and only feed him at this spot so he knows that's his food. I read they could be territorial and wanted to only feed him at one end of the tank only. Which is the opposite end of the open of where a feed the cories. since the cories don't feed at the top of the tank I figured this would help and maybe not creating a problem to where the gourami felt like he had a 2-guard pellets because it knew its food was up at the square. But as I said this did not work as I was hoping. I've had the panda and false juli for almost 3 years for the gourami lost out because i could support another 30-40 gallon tank so back to the pet store he went. Now I gotta take care of my cories. Any guidance is much appreciated

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Sorry, correction to the end of my post...but I meant I could "not" support another 30 to 40 gallon on top of my current 40b tank for the gourami so I took the gourami back to the pet store because i it was causing to much stress to my cory cats.