Something wrong with my cory HELP !!

[Nichola_C]

Hi Everyone,
Looking for some advice. Ive just noticed one of my Cory has a few furry patches. Sorry to ask, you probably hear this regularly but im starting to panic alittle, im quite new to this, ive had my tank about 6 months. I have a fluval 123ltr

I do weekly/fortnightly 20lt water changes (using berkey filtered water, so no chlorine or fluoride) and vacuum the bottom every other water change, I wash out the filters in the water removed on alternative water changes.

The last fish I put in the tank was 3 new cory (I already had 2, who were very frisky and mating after water changes but then turned a little shy so I got more to help)

I've just tested the water and nitrite and ammonia is zero, water ph is about 8? (See picture)

I have 5 zebra snails, 2 koi angels, a tiger pleco, an albino bristlenose, 15 neon, 10 phantom and 5 rosy tetra and 5 cory.

What should I do, im worried ill harm the other fish if I treat the water?? Or that whatever it is the cory has will spread.

He seems fine in himself, with all the others and feeding etc.

Please try not to be to technical with me, im fairly new to this and its been a steep learning curve. My dad had tropical fish when I was little but its all changed alot since I remember 25 years ago

Thank you in advance.

Nichola

 

[Naughts]

What should I do, im worried ill harm the other fish if I treat the water?? Or that whatever it is the cory has will spread.

The simplest/ safest way to dilute pathogens is large daily water changes. @Colin_T may recommend treating with aquarium salt too?

 

[Astronomiii]

The simplest/ safest way to dilute pathogens is large daily water changes. @Colin_T may recommend treating with aquarium salt too?

hmmm, from my experience, some corys tend to have negative reaction to salt

 

[Astronomiii]

Hey there, I converted your tank from liters to gallons, looks like a 30 gallon, any white fuzzy spots on corys is usually a fungus, and I can see exactly why, no offense given, but your tank is completely overstocked, in a 30 gallon, it is def way to much for i would argue 2 angels alone, and since angels are cichlids, they are known to be large poopers, I would say try and move them into a quarantine tank and upgrade to a 55 ASAP, however if you have no quarantine tank, you can buy separators and do daily water changes and see if that helps

 

[Naughts]

hmmm, from my experience, some corys tend to have negative reaction to salt

What happened to them? What dosage and what type of salt did you use?

 

[itiwhetu]

Your pH is way to high for a freshwater tank, you need to get your pH closer to 7.

 

[Nichola_C]

The simplest/ safest way to dilute pathogens is large daily water changes. @Colin_T may recommend treating with aquarium salt too?

Yes I started large water changes yesterday. I normally do weekly ones but I will do daily for a few weeks and see. Thank you

 

[Nichola_C]

Hey there, I converted your tank from liters to gallons, looks like a 30 gallon, any white fuzzy spots on corys is usually a fungus, and I can see exactly why, no offense given, but your tank is completely overstocked, in a 30 gallon, it is def way to much for i would argue 2 angels alone, and since angels are cichlids, they are known to be large poopers, I would say try and move them into a quarantine tank and upgrade to a 55 ASAP, however if you have no quarantine tank, you can buy separators and do daily water changes and see if that helps

Thanks for your advice. I guess the LFS is just after sales then as I always go to the same place and ask what I can have and they know what I already have, I even bought the tank from them too ☹ In fact when I was there the other week buying some food, he said I could still get about another 30 neons.

Buying a bigger tank now is out of the question, I could possible take some fish back?

 

[itiwhetu]

Be careful of large daily water changers with a high pH

 

[Nichola_C]

Your pH is way to high for a freshwater tank, you need to get your pH closer to 7.

Thanks, I was concerned about the pH when I started. We are from a very hard water area. When I spoke to the LFS they said that as the fish are bred there in the same water as here (they are only 5 mins away) they are climatised to it being that hard i don't think I'm going to trust a word they say any more

 

[Nichola_C]

Be careful of large daily water changers with a high pH

Who knew owning fish would cause sleepless nights
I looked into how to lower PH and TBH adding chemicals etc to try and adjust the water levels scares me.

 

[itiwhetu]

A simple way to lower pH is simply add more plant. I like my tanks to be 30-50% in plant. Make sure you have nothing in the tank like coral or limestone. Add some drift wood.

 

[Nichola_C]

I have a huge lump of bog wood, does that count as drift wood.
I must admit all my plants are plastic (no judgey eyes please, having real plants when new to it was daunting but I always planned to make the switch later down the line) so thats a great idea, I can add some real plants to help. Thank you

 

[coriesinhawaii]

Hopefully all of the above measures will correct the problem. If however the lesions persist it might be a costia infection which I'm not sure could be eradicated without treatment.

As far as the salt goes, cories in general are known not to be very salt tolerant. I don't use salt on cories because the one time I did they started acting strange. I think the stress that it puts on them would likely negate any benefit obtained in many cases. If you use it I would start at a lower dose than you would use for other fish (probably half).

 

[DoubleDutch]

This is a strange phenomenon that is stangely only seen in C.sterbai. There has been a question asked about this in a recent issue of PFK. There wasn't a general conclusion though. Gyrodactylus infection was mentioned.

Personally I think it is a kind of allergic reaction to something in the water. Do you use a waterconditioner with Aloe Vera by coincidence ?