More corydora problems 🤦‍♂️ (internal bacteria/parasite again?)

[Rocky998]

So all my corydoras have fully recovered since the last incident! (Yay!) They have all been very healthy for the past few months now. But now I have one singular corydora that is starting to show some weird symptoms like laying on its side and it almost looks like there is some minor curvature of the spine going down. Making me believe it could be internal parasites or bacteria. Yesterday they were all fine. So it literally happened overnight
My parameters:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: N/A

I just put in a dose of paraguard as well as an air stone to increase oxygen levels. Also unplugged the heater just in case.
I have not added anything new, however, 1-2 weeks ago I turned the heater back as we enter into the cooler season and also yesterday during my waterchange I did a deep clean of the glass, scraping off all the algae and what-not. It looks really good now, but now I'm wondering if I kicked up some bad stuff along with it.

 

[Rocky998]

Pic of the whole tank if it helps

 

[GaryE]

It's very hard to know. I always suspect Mycobacteriosis when the fish twists like that, even with a Corydoras, but it's suspicion, not proof. If so, it's been percolating for a long time, probably since before you got the fish.

Beautiful tank.

 

[Colin_T]

Once they bend like that they are usually dead within 24 hours. It's normally from an internal problem. You can monitor it but chances are you will be removing the body tomorrow.

 

[Rocky998]

It's very hard to know. I always suspect Mycobacteriosis when the fish twists like that, even with a Corydoras, but it's suspicion, not proof. If so, it's been percolating for a long time, probably since before you got the fish.

Yikes... that would really suck if it's Fish TB. One of the few diseases that can spread to people lol. Hopefully it's just internal parasites, and maybe with a little luck and some work I can help this little guy recover even if there's a low chance.

Beautiful tank.

Thank you!

Once they bend like that they are usually dead within 24 hours. It's normally from an internal problem. You can monitor it but chances are you will be removing the body tomorrow.

Yeah, that is what I'm thinking as well, sadly. Although I'm still going to try and see if I can help him get better despite the chances not being in my favor.

I'll keep the thread updated on what happens.
I would like to figure out a way to know for sure if it's fish TB though, because if it is, I won't be able to add any other fish to the tank later. That would mean this tank is permanently contaminated.
Also, if the fish is dead, should I still continue the medication for the next 4-5 days as a precaution?

 

[Colin_T]

The only way to find out if the fish is carrying Mycobacteria (Fish TB) is to have it necropsied (animal autopsy) by a fish vet or a vet who is willing to look for Mycobacteria or send samples off to a lab for culturing.

If the fish dies, it depends on what medication you are using as to whether you finish the course. If you are using something like an antibiotic in a community tank then you should finish the course of treatment. However, if you are treating the fish in a separate quarantine tank, you can stop the treatment when the fish dies and flush the tank out and let it dry to kill off most things that are/ were in it.

If you are using a liquid medication that doesn't contain antibiotics (say you use something that has methylene blue, malachite green & formaldehyde in) then you can stop treating when the fish dies and do water changes to remove the chemicals.

 

[GaryE]

Fish tb is everywhere. I assume it's in every tank and carry on.

 

[Magnum Man]

@GaryE ... I assume the statement above is likely true... so how do we combat that??? fish immune systems... but one would think heavy, regular, water changes would reduce bacteria counts in the aquarium ( assuming there are not high levels of bacteria in the water change water ), so this seems to indicate that the more we can change water out with clean safe water, the better it is for our fish.

 

[GaryE]

If tb is everywhere in the supply chain, we can't combat it. The better we care for the fish, the longer they can encyst and hold off the pathogen. They can live a couple of years with it.
Treat them badly and they can live a couple of weeks with it.

Before we had treatments for human tb, it was the poor living in unsanitary, poorly fed and overworked conditions who died the quickest. We can see that with our fish.

It is a hard disease to prove though. I'm a tank half empty guy with it.

 

[Rocky998]

The only way to find out if the fish is carrying Mycobacteria (Fish TB) is to have it necropsied (animal autopsy) by a fish vet or a vet who is willing to look for Mycobacteria or send samples off to a lab for culturing.

Dang... I don't know of anyone who would do that here, so I'm kinda at a loss for that...

If the fish dies, it depends on what medication you are using as to whether you finish the course. If you are using something like an antibiotic in a community tank then you should finish the course of treatment. However, if you are treating the fish in a separate quarantine tank, you can stop the treatment when the fish dies and flush the tank out and let it dry to kill off most things that are/ were in it.

I'm using seachem paraguard which on the bottle says it uses a "blend of aldehydes, malachite green, and fish protective polymers"

If you are using a liquid medication that doesn't contain antibiotics (say you use something that has methylene blue, malachite green & formaldehyde in) then you can stop treating when the fish dies and do water changes to remove the chemicals.

Sounds like I can stop it whenever then, although I'm going to keep it going because the fish is still alive (and ALMOST looks like it might be doing a bit better?)

If tb is everywhere in the supply chain, we can't combat it. The better we care for the fish, the longer they can encyst and hold off the pathogen. They can live a couple of years with it.
Treat them badly and they can live a couple of weeks with it.

Alright, so basically just kinda take it as it comes type of thing since it's hard to know where it is and how to properly combat it.

Before we had treatments for human tb, it was the poor living in unsanitary, poorly fed and overworked conditions who died the quickest. We can see that with our fish.

So I just gotta treat them the best I can so they don't die a painful death early

It is a hard disease to prove though. I'm a tank half empty guy with it.

Yeah, seems to be that way. I'm hoping it's not, and maybe it isn't, because, update, the fish is still alive today and actually (in my opinion) seems to be doing a little better as well. I'll see if this hopefully continues to be the case. I'll do a 75% water change today and add more of the medication

 

[Rocky998]

Sadly it died. I'm going to continue the meds for 2 days more and then stop fully.