Corys Being Bullied Leading To Fin Rot/fungus

[mundrew]

I had 6 corys with 12 tiger barbs for three months in my 55 gallon tank. On sunday I found a cory with half his tail missing. I assume that my barbs had bullied him and he had got fin rot because of the injuries. I separated all the corys from the barbs and medicated the entire tank with API's Melafix on a recommendation from my LFS.(my first mistake) I moved around the plants in the tank and added a cave for the corys. The Injured cory died on Tuesday night so I took out the tank divider. This morning I found two larger corys with small white growths at the base of their tails (fungus?) and what appears to be fin rot. frayed fins with a white outline on the tips

my PH is close to 7 Nitrite and ammonia are at zero and my nitrate is somewhere below 50 ppm

I dont know what I can do since 'Mardel Maracyn II' is the only other antibiotic I can get my hands on at my LFS.
Ordering online is an option but I doubt it would arrive in time.

would the maracyn stuff treat the fin rot and fungus? or should I stick it out with the melafix?
any tips or recommendations will be appreciated .

Thank you

 

[theshadowinc]

Doesn't sound like the Melafix will work in this situation you need a really good fungus treatment from the sounds of it.

Whats the stats of your tank, what filter you using for it etc, because if I don't know this I can't help you treat it you might do more harm, especially if you are using a bio-wheel and you treat it with mardel a bio-wheel needs to be removed! . Mardel i have no complaints on its a very strong medication just follow the instructions. Really I am looking to see if its an underfiltered tank! Also from my experience with these little dudes is they are sensitve to changes in water chemestry. Stress I find is the biggest thing with these, they get stressed very easy. How long have you had them for?

Mardel Maracyn II

This is a tablet I think not sure on it, but the mardel i am talking about is a liquid hope it helps

 

[mundrew]

Doesn't sound like the Melafix will work in this situation you need a really good fungus treatment from the sounds of it.

Whats the stats of your tank, what filter you using for it etc, because if I don't know this I can't help you treat it you might do more harm, especially if you are using a bio-wheel and you treat it with mardel a bio-wheel needs to be removed! . Mardel i have no complaints on its a very strong medication just follow the instructions. Really I am looking to see if its an underfiltered tank! Also from my experience with these little dudes is they are sensitve to changes in water chemestry. Stress I find is the biggest thing with these, they get stressed very easy. How long have you had them for?

Mardel Maracyn II

This is a tablet I think not sure on it, but the mardel i am talking about is a liquid hope it helps

I've had it set up since the middle November with the barbs, I bought the Corys the first week of December. I have a hang on back filter rated for 55 gallons and I've removed the carbon from the filter cartridges since I started medicating.

My CO2 yeast bomb ran out last week so my tank was with out its small amount of CO2 injection for a couple days but after testing my PH did not change from the norm.
I can’t think of anything else that might have changed my water stats. I've been careful to treat and warm up the new water I add to the tank.
I will be making a trip to a bigger/better fish store with a tomorrow. I will look for an antifungal treatment and probably a cheap hospital tank set up.
I've read a few places that raising the water temperature while treating the fish will help. How high and how long could I raise the temperature w\o harming the barbs?
I have my tank at 24 C (76 ish F I think) currently.

Thank you for the advice.
The more I read about fungal infections the more it sounds like what the Corys have. I hope I can get the correct treatment before there are any more casualties.

 

[theshadowinc]

I've had it set up since the middle November with the barbs, I bought the Corys the first week of December. I have a hang on back filter rated for 55 gallons and I've removed the carbon from the filter cartridges since I started medicating.

Why CO2 injection is it a planted tank. If it is your filtration is to low for the tank, 4x on paper is what you want for fish only tank! Plants give waste too! What are your test resaults. Immidiate water change if any signs of ammo and nitrite!!!!! Planted tank you want something in the area of 10x Flow at least and better to have massive filtration!!!! Dying plant matter gives off waste to and I have found can give off more if heavily planted and not done right!

My CO2 yeast bomb ran out last week so my tank was with out its small amount of CO2 injection for a couple days but after testing my PH did not change from the norm.

PH didn't change cause you are not actually disolving the co2 in the water very effectivly from the sounds of it. Is it compressed CO2 did you have end of tank tump?

I can't think of anything else that might have changed my water stats. I've been careful to treat and warm up the new water I add to the tank.
I will be making a trip to a bigger/better fish store with a tomorrow. I will look for an antifungal treatment and probably a cheap hospital tank set up.

Should always have a hospital tank even if its a cheap 5 gal tank with a sponge filter and a needle valve that can help you control the bubble rate! Its better to treat fish in a hospital tank so that way you don't stress out the other fish that are not sick.

I've read a few places that raising the water temperature while treating the fish will help. How high and how long could I raise the temperature w\o harming the barbs?

See above and look for a heater for hospital tank.

I have my tank at 24 C (76 ish F I think) currently.

We have our planted tank at 83.5F I think they can live up to 86F, I would go max on them to help kill off the parasites(or help it from reproducing) it is a good recomendation. The warmer the better! But not to hot to kill the fish!

Thank you for the advice.
The more I read about fungal infections the more it sounds like what the Corys have. I hope I can get the correct treatment before there are any more casualties.

Look for Antifungal/internal parasite med, for internal use! A food might work for this issue you feed it to them. Tetris makes it, but only use if they are feeding normally. Go to google and type in (antifungal medication for fish) You will see in the second link a type of medication that you could use for antifungal.

Make sure you follow the directions on the bottle for dosing!

Let us know how it works out!