Fungal-like growth on tail (C. habrosus)

[Waldharjaz]

 
EDIT: The affected cory has sadly died. I will be doing bigger water changes on that tank from now on, as I believe that to have contributed to the problem.



A individual of C. habrosus in my tanks has developed a growth on its tail. My assumption was that this must be fungal, thus Ive given the fish a 3 hour long methylene blue bath yesterday.

I had another case of this on another C. habrosus a few weeks back, it died.
One female C. habrosus remains in the tank without any visible ailments.

Here is a picture of said fishy. Tank specs are below.
Am I correct in assuming a fungal infection? Is methylene blue a good treatment, or is Colombo Alparex a better idea (AcriflaviniumCl+mal.green+formalin)
Thanks for any replies.

Code: Select all

Temperature range: 22-24 C (71 - 75 F)
45 L (10 G) tank stocked with small fish species since december 2014.
Nitrates have never exceeded 40 mg/l

Partially densely planted, partially open. 
1 piece of bogwood and 1 piece of slate.
Smooth river sand substrate.

Tank mates:
3 (Pseud)epiplatys annulatus
1 Phalloceros caudimaculatus
5 Caridina cantonensis
several Heterandia formosa
1 Xiphophorus hellerii (juv.)

[bekateen]

Hi Waldharjaz,

Sorry for your loss. Your idea about water changes is probably a good idea. But I have a couple of other thoughts. First, just a minor technicality, 45L is 12 gal, not 10 gal (that's really a trivial point, but just for your info). Second, In my experience, when new fish are purchased at a pet store, I usually figure that there are about 6 months during which I'll worry about them dying from unexpected, even if obvious, causes. (I don't quarantine my fish that long, but I still worry about it). A lot of fish in stores will be infected with tiny amounts of disease-causing organisms. When the fish are healthy and low-stress, the diseases don't worsen. But water quality or stress can allow the disease to attack. Your water quality looks okay, but maybe stress is a factor. Based on the number of fish in your tank, I think it is pretty crowded.

Good luck with your tank,
Eric

[Waldharjaz]

Hi Waldharjaz,

Makes sense, the guy at my store (not a chain pet store, but an aquarium specialist) has told me that he has better and worse batches of C. habrosus, apparently the earlier in the season he gets them the better! The longer they spend time in storage basins in S-America the worse.. I'm going to get a few new C. habrosus from them soon, and in this case I will preemptively medicate them.

Thanks for your reply and have a good day

[bekateen]

By the way, you have a very nice group of animals in your tank. Most of those species I've never seen in a store before.

[Waldharjaz]

By the way, you have a very nice group of animals in your tank. Most of those species I've never seen in a store before.

Oh thanks! Im lucky to have 3 pretty good aquarium fish stores nearby I guess!