Help! My cory's are Dieing!!!!

[goat68gto]

Please I need help: I have a 70 gallon tank with 2 large canister filters. My ph is 6.8 with no other problems. My corys have been there for several years with the normal deaths
and additions maybe one or two a year. However just this last few weeks I have lost seven and the symptoms are the same first the fish hover above the gravel for a week or so then these white fungus like things form on the fins or around there eye's three days later they die. I do vacume the gravel and do a 15 gallon water change every sunday.They are housed with cardinals and rummynose tetras. I am treating them with tetracycline from aquatronics for the last three days but new fish are getting sick
Any help would be Great!!! my email address is ecasey1@mindspring.com
Thanks Eddie

[magnum4]

Please I need help: I have a 70 gallon tank with 2 large canister filters. My ph is 6.8 with no other problems.

Does this mean you are testing for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ect?

fish hover above the gravel for a week or so then these white fungus like things form on the fins or around there eye's three days later they die.

Any other symptoms? is there a gray film? or is it white fungus?

for the last three days but new fish are getting sick

why are you adding fish when you have problems with the ones you have?

[Yann]

HI!

Since when did the Cory start to die? SInce the addition of new fish?
How are the other fish behaving?
Did you change any thing other than the population lately
What are the parameters of the Nitrites, Nitrates and Ammonium, and T°
If you treat your tank for a disease you must not add any new fish
And you should also quarantine them before adding any to an establish tank!!
Cheers
Yann

[goat68gto]

I added the new ones because I thought all was well. it is a white fungus.
Thanks for your help.

[goat68gto]

but it was gone before I added them. I just cleaned both filters and looked at the water it is perfect.

[Coryman]

Please add your location to your profile.

Ian

[goat68gto]

I tryed everything even some things from the discus board since this board was of little use.
I keep discus as well as africans but this thing I could not beat in the seven years since keeping fish I have never had a total loss such as this. Boy am I bummed out. And a little frustrated at this board because out side of check your water and never put any new fish in the tank there was no help. I doubt very much that that I'm the first person on this board to have this problem and I hope in the future you all would be more helpful to the next person. Or maybe we should change the name of this board to the water perameters and critics board!

[Coryman]

Eddie,

I am sorry no one has been able to put a finger on your problem. It is difficult to asses symptoms when you have never seen them. I have been keeping and breeding Cory's for a long time and can honestly say I have never seen this condition. From what you describe I am inclined to think you have a possible parasitic infection, possibly a worm which is/are causing damage and alowing a secondary bacterial infection to take hold. There is an antibiotic treatment 'Metronadazol' (I think I have the spelling right) The dosage is: - 1 desolved tablet for every cudic foot of tank water (Crushed into a powder then desolved fully in water before adding to tank). Remove all carbon filtering (Did you do this before you started the current treatment?) and don't do any water changes for at least five days.

There is also the possibility that the problem is a virus and if that is the case then there's nothing that you can do except let it run its course.

I can relate to your frustration in lack of responce, the questions you were asked are a starting point for people to find out the general conditions ot your tank. With the exception of my question asking for your location. All we know is that it is 70 gallons and has a pH of 6.8, 2 canister filters, you change 15% of the water every week and their tank mates are Cardinals and Rummy nose tetras.

Questions: -

1. what species of Cory are they?
2. what are you feeding ? how much are you feeding? any live foods?
3. whats the temperature?
4. Have you checked for, Nitrites. Sudden surges can put fish under great stress. and is probably the biggest cause of fish deaths than anything else.

Ian

[magnum4]

Please I need help: I have a 70 gallon tank with 2 large canister filters. My ph is 6.8 with no other problems. My corys have been there for several years with the normal deaths

yes we are all miracle workers and know exactly what YOUR problem is with this extensive amount of information.

fact, you were very slow to reply to our posts in the first place!

[goat68gto]

There gone thats the bottom line on this thing ,we did not lose, the fish did.
The problem remains what caused it to insure that it does not happen again.
I'll go the paresite rout. So here is what I plan to do. I am going to remove all the gravel and replace it with black onyx sand. Once I remove the gravel I will clean the heck out of the tank. And treat it with something mild like aquari-sol. All while the tank has fish in it because I have no where else to put them. My thoughts on this are the sand is better for the cory's in the first place. In the second its a little more compact so food will not get traped leading to paresitic infestation. Even though I vacume the gravel and it should not be a problem in the first place it did happen. Whats your thoughts on the sand will it buffer the ph? Will it cause my tank to go anarobic? For the record the fish lost were 8 sterbi three arcuatus one greenline aneus and two aldolfoi.Out side of the arcuatus wich were new all the others were atleast three years old.Sorry for the frustrated comments
but I do not like to lose especially when it's living things that depend one me for there survival. Thanks Eddie

[magnum4]

The problem remains what caused it to insure that it does not happen again.

Impossible to say for many different reasons.

Once I remove the gravel I will clean the heck out of the tank. And treat it with something mild like aquari-sol. All while the tank has fish in it because I have no where else to put them.

I have found the best way to do this is to empty 50% the tank and move the fish out. Then just syphon the gravel (and the dirt trapped) out of the tank. Lay the onyx(which does not effect the ph) and then move the old water back with the fish and top up.

Anerobic sand can be stopped with weekly gravel cleaning or under substrate heaters.

And treat it with something mild like aquari-sol.

Never heard of this before but if it was me i wouldn't use any treatments as they will be stressed out enough, wait and see if it's required.

[coelacanth]

The problem remains what caused it to insure that it does not happen again.

Sorry you lost your fish. It's always distressing and disappointing when that happens. Other than pH, what other water parameters do you test for?
Have any of the other fish shown any symptoms at all? If the Rummynoses are happy the water must be OK, those things are quite sensitive (I have a happy healthy shoal downstairs at the moment).
Certainly the Corydoras should be happier with a sand substrate, and I would leave out any treatments for the time being (some treatments can affect the bacteria in the filtration system, which can actually cause secondary problems which mask the original cause). I'm not sure whether Black Onyx is calcareous, if it is it will almost certainly buffer the pH upwards, so you could ask some of the other NY-resident list members where they got their sand from and if they were happy with it, then you can get a reliable source.
I've never yet had a sand substrate go anaerobic noticeably, but since changing over to sand I'll never use gravel again unless it's for a specialist application (and even then it won't be aquarium-bought 'pea gravel'). All my fish are far happier with a sand substrate, whether Corydoras, various Cichlids, even those that don't associate near the subtrate appear to be more settled.
I would also think about getting a small quarantine aquarium. I never introduce any new fish to an established system without quaratining them until I am content that they are not showing any problems (actual treatments are rarely needed this way, a bit of peace and quiet, good water and good food goes a long way towards helping fish settle quickly).
With the canister filters, how do you clean them? Do you clean them alternately or both at once?
Pete

[goat68gto]

Ok. No meds.What kind of undersubstrate heater and wich brand is the best.
of corse cost is always a factor. thanks Eddie

[goat68gto]

However I must admit I only check ph on a regular basis since that is the one that seems to change even with regular water changes. The water here in long island new york is a soft 7.0 right out of the tap it does spike a bit to the hard side in spring. I think this is because of addatives put in for the onset of summer by the dept of water.
Funny thing about rummynose and cardinal tatras is they are finicky about water you can tell by watching them if the water is on par or not sort of the canary in the coal mine thing! I feed mosly osi brand flake food(85%) with hikari sinking wafers. The other 15% of the time is hikari frozen blood worms. I clean my canisters at the same time useing tank water collected in five gallon water jugs. They are a fluval 404 and the larger ehiem pro series it is proven that bigger is better in this area.The tank temp is 78 heated through a ebo jager 400 watt heater. I do have live plants in there anubius nana java moss and two kinds of watersprite one rooted one floating. As far as the hospital tank goes I wish I had the room and the time to set up and take down one.But the truth of the matter is I work 70 hrs a week not including the commute and if I take up any more room in this small codo for a fish tank my girlfriend will hit me over the head with it!

[Coryman]

Eddie,

I'm not sure about th black onyx either, it's not something I have seen here, I beleive it is volcanic and inert and therefore should be OK. I have a friend in Long Island that may have more knowledge about it than I do. He is also an avid Cory guy. If you like I will PM his e-mail, he's local and may have some useful sugestions.

Ian

[magnum4]

What kind of undersubstrate heater and wich brand is the best.

Can you get Rena cor heating cables?

[Mirra]

However just this last few weeks I have lost seven and the symptoms are the same first the fish hover above the gravel for a week or so then these white fungus like things form on the fins or around there eye's three days later they die.

i think that i have the same thing. I at first thought it was fin rot, ans tried Melafix on my barbs. Lost three all the same day.
Tried myacin on pleco no hlep.

see the following:http://www.bloodparrot.aquariahobbyist. ... php?t=3405

I haven't seen any spots or the skin of the fish changing in any others yet. But its only been a day since the death of the pleco. And there was 1 week between the death of the barbs and pleco.

[goat68gto]

They are gonners However I did find that treating it with tatracycline pills did stop the spread to other fish. After that I filter out the meds with carbon and did a follow up treatment with aquari-sol this is a very mild med if used correctly that is mainly used for ick. My thought on this was the fish are probably in a weakened state after being sick and would be suseptible to other disease.So I used it as a prevenaitive. So far so good! for now do a good gravel cleaning making sure to stir up the bottom so the filtercan get all of the junk out of there. check to make sure the filter does not clog afterward. Now as far as the cause I think my mistake was that I overfed.
In my case I worked so many hours this month that I was not home to feed the fish and directed someone to do it for me. That inturn left plenty of exstra food for parasites to get a hold in there and do there stuff.
Good luck and remember don't waste valuble time figure out what you need to do as soon as posible time is a major factor with a infected tank.
Bye Eddie

[S-Cat7]

I am sorry that you have lost your fish. I had a similar experience two years ago with cory habrosus: I bought 11 and put them in a mature tank with two otos. some time later they came out in white, fluffy growths around some scales, hung around for some days and then died. I examined the fish and concluded that infection was similar (if not identical) to Ichthyosporidium. There is no cure. Antibiotics are useless, they only destroy the filter bacteria leaving the fish open to NH3 and NO2 poisoning.

The infection only affected the dwarf cichlids (which I introduced later) and the corys. The otos are fine. I have one habrosus left which looks and feeds OK. I am convinced this was not linked to water quality but to infected fish or fishes which carried the infection. I used soft water, GH 5, pH 6.6 with 0 NO2 and 0 NH3; the substrate was very fine gravel and the tank was thickly planted with swords and Java fern. I cannot add any more fish to this tank nor risk transferring the infection to my other tanks, and am waiting for the remaining occupants to live out their lives before I can strip it down and sterilise everything.