Tonight I've noticed several strange 'blobs' on a Corydoras Davidsandsi.
It's definitely something that's developed very recently. Water quality is fine (ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20ppm, pH about 7, but very hard water), and there are no other signs of disease/illness in the tank, except one Glass Catfish isolated in a breeding net with swim bladder difficulties.
I've never seen anything like this, in any books or anywhere.
You can see in the photo there are a number of these black balls on his back, around the base of the dorsal fin. These stretch back too and over the adipose fin. The look like bubbles, or egg shaped, but I have no idea what they may be.
Anyone got any clues?
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him"
Do you think it could have something to do with diet?
See this post: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=16975
In this case the growths were on the underside, but the two conditions seem related, to me.
Here is another discussion: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=17587
The growths are darker, in this one.
Your glass catfish with swim bladder problems reinforces the idea that food and feeding is somehow the culprit. Too much food, too rich food, spoiled food trapped in the substrate? Do you have large grain size gravel for substrate? If you use sand, is it deeper than 2 cm?
I looked at your blog but couldn't figure out what substrate is being used for either the 89 or the 70 litre communities where you house the davidsandsi.
Thanks, could well be diet. Those posts were quite informative.
These bubble growths have developed in the last day or two, and I fed bloodworm only a couple of nights ago. Bloodworm seems to have caused us problems in the past.
Overfeeding is possible too.
The substrate he's on is quite large gravel. It's not particularly deep or dirty, but the tank as a whole is quite dirty, as we bought it second hand. It's due to be emptied, cleaned, and converted to sand later this month when we move house.
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him"
I need to find it for sure but I saw the similar symptom at another forum. And if I remember correctly, the diagnose was the bubble looking thing was develope from problem of gus exchange? And it could disappear or shrunk the bubble with frequent water change but need to treat with Melafix or Pimafix(I don't remember which and I will try to locate the original post in the other forum if possible as soon as possible).
Sorry I can't be sure. But I will try to get back to you or post the link for you when I find it.
NEONCORY wrote:I need to find it for sure but I saw the similar symptom at another forum. And if I remember correctly, the diagnose was the bubble looking thing was develope from problem of gus exchange? And it could disappear or shrunk the bubble with frequent water change but need to treat with Melafix or Pimafix(I don't remember which and I will try to locate the original post in the other forum if possible as soon as possible).
Sorry I can't be sure. But I will try to get back to you or post the link for you when I find it.
I thought it was on some other forum but I guess it was here all this time. I don't know if the original post came to the conclusion. this post sure remind me of the old post. I hope you can figure it out the cause and successfully treat your poor fish.
True gas bubble disease is pretty rare in tropical fish aquaria. Much more common below large hydroelectric dams in cold water.
More likly, is these are encysted parasitic worms and unrelated to the glass catfish problem. A cure is not likely for the affected fish. This will be be my guess of the day. When it dies cut into these growths and look at what you find under a low power microscope.
I agree with Larry's diagnosis. Its a kind of parasitic worm or nematode. I've seen a similar thing on emperor and congo tetras. I think its unlikely you will find an 'over the counter' remedy. My advice is to find a vet near you that recognises fish diseases and if possible, take your fish there to aid diagnosis (or that photo).
I have come across this a few times and I have concluded that it is diet related. It used to be fairly common some twenty or so years ago when the trend was to feed out fish high protein food in the thought that it was what they needed to keep them in the best condition, but we have since learned that too higher protein foods are in fact detrimental to many fish. Since this reduction there have been far fewer cases of this condition showing up in Corys.
I would suggest feeding lower protein, quality commercial foods and incorporate live or frozen insect larvae.
Thanks for the help everyone. A lot to think about there!
In regards to diet, I feed King British flake food and catfish pellets, and frozen bloodworm, previously twice a week but now down to about once a week. Any specific alterations you'd advise?
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him"
i used to get these growths on my C.paleatus when i was conditioning them to spawn. Always wondered what they were. They didnt seem to cause any problems and went away of their own accord when they were rested.
Has anyone ever suffered fatalities from this ailment?
It's beginning to sound more and more diet related. SpOOky's comment about conditioning C. paleatus implies fresh, high protein foods were used, and only temporarily. (If I'm wrong, I hope he'll say what he did use for conditioning food.)
I'm sure there's a ideal ratio of protein to other nutrients that should be observed - it might be between 45-55% of the overall diet. Omnivores like Corydoras like meaty foods best, but they need the fiber and other benefits that a vegetarian component would provide, too. In "nature" they'd be eating other creatures in their entirety, including their stomach contents and crushed skeletons and shells.
Try to provide this with the commercial foods you buy. Read the labels, and note the ingredients. Be aware of ingredient splitting (for example: wheat flour, wheat middlings, and wheat germ meal are all basically the same ingredient, but splitting them up into three parts allows "Shrimp meal" to be the first ingredient listed on a package of popular shrimp pellets.) Please read the labels, and note which ingredients are actully present in high amounts. Substitute a lower protein food for one of the ones you're now using. Add Daphnia to their diet. Daphnia's a good "clear-out" kind of food.
Richie, I want to say something about your gravel substrate, and I hope you won't mind. I know you're going to change it to sand, but you haven't yet, so in the meantime please keep it as clean as possible. You need to be careful to keep your biological filter intact, but at the same time if you don't vacuum the gravel pretty thoroughly, there's a good chance the corys will develop problems from eating old and spoiled food, or from encountering anaerobic gas pockets. They will probably also wear out their barbels from shoving large particle gravel aside all day. It's not an ideal situation.
Well everyone, the good news is he got better! We cut back feeding to smaller amounts and then alternate days, stopped feeding Bloodworm, and switched to a brand of flake food with quite a bit lower protein content.
The growths started going down quite likely and I think they're pretty much all gone now. Thanks for the help
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him"
