Illness, corydoras. 2 vids provided.

[Jwgoff7772]

•Worried about possible velvet.

Ph 7
Kh:1
Gh: 1-2, I have very soft water in tap
Am:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 10

I apologize for the long story but theres alot of variables involved.

I posted on the tropical emergencies form and got good advice from a member but wanted to also post my issue in a catfish thread. And also didnt go into this much detail in the other thread but I didnt see these variables until after alot of research.

I posted because my remaining nine corydoras we're experience symptoms of flashing, having erratic swimming episodes, fading color, and Rapid breathing.

Starting stock
10 corydoras (2 adult, 8 juvenile)
1 juvenile peral gourami

Current stock
9 corydoras
2 adult, 7 juvenile

1 of my juvenile pandas died of what I believe to be a fungus because I saw a cotton looking growth before his fins completed rotted and he died over the course of a very short time of just a week. It happened fast. One days hes just lethargic and then the next day half his tail fin is gone.. I put him in a 5 gal and medicated him with erythromycin but he was too far gone. But there is a variable to this that may be to blame. And it may not have been a fungus.

I had serious situation and I Had to perform a fish in cycle with these fish. And I'm concerned these symptoms are stress symptoms themselves or maybe the stress open them up to disease.

Now for the situation that forced my fish in cycle.

On 02/01/19 i noticed my 20 gallon long was leaking on the back right seam. On 02/04/19 i seeded a new 40 gallon breeder tank with previous cycled media and decor from the 20 gallon but also used seachem stability for bb in a bottle and prime for a detoxifier.

After 2 days I added my old stock to the new tank before the tank was cycled because the leaking tank was going to cause floor damage in my rented house because it went from just being a little wet at the outside corner one day to me losing 1 gallon every 12hrs due to leaking in less that a week.

• During the cycle Ammonia got to (.50). Nitrites got to (.25) And my nitrates got to (20). As soon as my nitrates hit 20ppm my nitrites dropped off and the tank was cycled. During this time I did 50% wc every other day to lower the toxins but also used prime at 2x the dose just to he safe in case of a spike during the night.

Now about the gourami. another possible cause of stress for the corydoras... I had 1 juvenile pearl gorumai ( 1.5 inches long) that was given to me and did great with corydoras at first. Even schooled with them.

But as soon as he reached breeding size (3.5 inches) he started seriously bullying all the corydoras in the tank. But he really focused a lot of his aggression on my adult female panda which is the largest in the tank. And was the first Cory to show a symptom of stress or disease.

I tried the time out method for The Gourami but it just didn't work out and it just got worse so I took him back to the lfs aftet about a week after I noticed him being aggressive. I tried time out 3 times for 2 days at a time in a breeder box.

As I said my oldest adult female panda was the most picked on by the gourami was also the first to show any symptoms of anything which was fading Color and flashing about a week after I noticed the bullying but it just so happens it was also shortly after the tank cycled so there may been 2 things at work causing my corys stress at the same time.

2 weeks after I noticed my adult panda flashing I noticed all my Cory's were flashing and one juvenile panda was losing color and breathing rapidly. This had now been going on for a 6 weeks. Will all one by one all starting to flash and act erratically. Some will lose color and then gain it back. And one cory has been breathing rapidly. I have 2 albinos and now they both show signs of possible fin rot that just appeared in the last week. And one of them has stopped eating.

I keep water water very clean with 40% WC weekly and I check my parameters 3 times a week since my yank is still new and never let nitrate get above 20ppm. I dont believe the fin rot was from the gourami nipping their fins because i was inspecting them daily for ammonia burns during the cycle and never noticed it til last week.

The tank was cycled for a full month before any of my cories starting showing symptoms. But I'm curious if my fish could have had a delayed reaction to being in a tank that was cycling or if my fish are still stressed from the gourami bullying them even though it's been removed from the tank for about a month now. Between the cycle and the gourami my cories were hit with a double whammy of stress. However the bullying wasn't too intense but anytime the gourami thought one of the cories had food he would bump them on their side and get to whatever he thought they had. He wasn't ferociously chasing them around the tank but it was enough for me to remove him since the cories can't defend themselves. And I've had my female adult Panda for almost 3 years and wasn't going to have her stressed out by a new fish.

I raise the temperature in my tank to 86° for two weeks as per recommendation of a longtime fishlore member. I did not see any results from this.

The only symptoms they are having is what I mentioned above. They have no white spots or any other obvious signs of any one disease. The signs they are showing now I've learned are symptoms of atleast 2 or 3 different diseases but I haven't seen any other symptoms that pinpoint an exact one. And the only thing I've noticed physically is possibly the Gold, fading color, flashing, rapid breathing, erratic swimming and now fin deterioration on the 2 albinos..But I've also never looked at them under flashlight before this so the gold could have always been there and that's another reason for me posting in this catfish form so I can ask people to look at corydoras all the time so see if this is a normal look for cories. Because maybe they always just had a gold shine to them and I just never noticed it until now since I've been inspecting them so closely then ever before.

Since the heat method did not work I got desperate and used API General cure for the recommended time. But I did not notice any effect of this working. I also have a few other medications on hand: Prazi pro, seachem paraguard, kordon rid ich plus and erythromycin. I have not used any of them meds but the general cure for a fear of putting more stress on my fish but at this point I believe all of them were going to succumb to this one by one. I've been doing water changes every other day for the last 2 weeks to keep the water clean but have not any improvements.

I'm considering starting at a quarter dose of the paraguard and working up to full dose if they dont shoe signs of addihsince it treats multiple diseases. And then working my way up to a full dose if they don't show any extra signs of stress. But just in case this is just stress on its own I do not want to put another Med in the tank since I've already tried General cure. But at this point I fear that I'm going to lose my fish either way because it's only gotten worse as the days have gone by especially with the albinos. The albinos arent flashing as much as they other cories but physically they look the worst.

All of my other cories are eating except for one of my albinos who has not eaten in 3 days. And at this point I fear if I don't do anything then one by one they will all stop eating. All of the symptoms that I've talked about have all gotten worse as the days have gone on and I'm not showing any signs of getting better. So right now I'm stuck on whether I should just keep the water clean and wait it out or if I should attempt to use another Med.

I made some garlic extract juice with raw garlic that I've been soaking their pellets in. I've been doing this daily for 1 week now and the one ablino cory is still not eating.

Again sorry for the book long post but there was so much possibly at play here.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Colin_T]

API General Cure only treats tape worm and internal protozoan infections. It does nothing to external protozoan infections.

PraziPro is only used for tapeworm.

SeaChem, Paraguard contains Malachite Green, which should kill white spot (Ichthyophthirius), velvet (Oodinium), Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina (external protozoan parasites).

Kordon Rid Ich Plus has Malachite Green. It's the same as SeaChem Paraguard.

Erythromycin is an anti-biotic that should only be used to treat known bacterial infections that have not responded to normal fish medications. Improper use or misuse of anti-biotics can lead to drug resistant bacteria that can kill people, animals, birds and fish.

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Using a quarter dose of any medication and slowly increasing it does not treat diseases. It simply makes the disease organisms immune to the medication. That is how drug resistant bacteria are formed.

If you treat the fish, use the recommended dose.

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Fish that are rubbing on objects in the tank can be infected with external parasites like protozoans, or there could be something in the water that is irritating their skin.

Try filtering the tap water through carbon before using it in the tank. Dechlorinate the water first then put it through a carbon filter or hold the water in a large container and run a carbon filter in the water for 48 hours before using it.

A gold sheen on the body and rubbing is usually velvet (Oodinium). Heat normally kills this but there are heat tolerant and chemical resistant strains of Oodinium, and the only way to treat these is with a 2 week course of copper.

 

[Jwgoff7772]

The reason for starting at 1/4 to 1/2 dose of paraguard was because it says for more sensitive (scaleless fish such as corydoras) to start at a quarter to a half a dose and work your way up to a full dose as long as the fish don't seem stress at the lower doses. So my plan was start at 1/4 and work my way up to a full dose within a few days if I go this route. The reason for the general cure was because they were matching symptoms of gill flukes and since the heat method didnt work I thought it could have been flukes which it said it treats. But I do have a back up filter so I will run 60% worth of water change through carbon before adding to my tank and I'll do so every other day to try and flush my tank of anything that may be irritating their skin. I'll hold off on the paraguard until I feel my tank is rid of any irritants. I checked my water quality report and they use chlorine and a few other chemicals but no metals of any kind and no chloramine that i can see. But on a side note I live in a house that was built in the 1950s so maybe my pipes are very corroded and there are a more than normal amount of metals that maybe my water conditioner is not detoxifying. I also have a ph of 6.8-7.0, sometimes even 6.6 so maybe my acidic water is causing even more corrosion to my aged pipes. I use prime and let sit for 10mins before using but maybe it's not enough. I dont run carbon in my tank so maybe that's been a mistake just in case my tap dose have other irritants in the water that traditional water conditioner just isnt treating . I ordered a heavy metal test kit that will be here in a few days. I maybe pulling at straws here but I'll test my water and I'll post my results.

 

[Colin_T]

If you want to use the Paraguard, just do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for 4 or 5 days, then start treating at half dose. Alternatively look for something with copper in. Waterlife Cuprazin is one I have used and it works well on resistant strains of Oodinium.

 

[Jwgoff7772]

I added another video to see if this other behavior can help pinpoint it. Other than the behavior you'll see in the video the fish sometimes will also surface for air multiple times within just a few minutes but they will do this for a couple hours and then it will stop.

You'll see a couple of my fish are missing parts of fins and are also having fin rot. The flashing will be really intense for a couple days and then it will slow down but then it'll pick back up again andbe worse.

A couple of the fish are being extremely antisocial in hiding in the corner most the day. But another symptom I've been noticing is sometimes they'll contort their bodies. You can definitely tell something to rotating them by the flashing and the contorting that I'm talking about but I just can't figure out what

Their gills also look a little red at times. The fin rot on one of my albinos is getting worse day by day and the two fish that aren't eating at meal time will sometimes scavenge for food and while they're moving around but really don't go after food like the others.

I appreciate you help and not sure if this other video will help.

Every day for the past month I spend at least four hours online trying to research what they might have but I don't see anything that really pinpoints one thing or another because there are so many diseases that have similar symptoms and without white spots or any other physical type symptoms that other diseases have I can't pinpoint exactly what it is.

My fish seemed stressed when i use the paragard but at this point I fear I may lose them anyway so I may just continue with the paragard. If it doesn't work then I will try the copper