Pygmaeus flashing

[AresGr]

hello I have a 50 tank aquarium and I have been keeping a school of 10 pygmaeus for over a year.

Its been a few days since I have noticed my fish scratching against leaves and flash. They dont seem to have any other signs of sickness.
I also noticed some black round critters probably looking very similar to watermites.
My aquarium also had copepods long before I bought this fish with no real problems. So I was assuming they are harmless cyclops. Now I find that it could also be ergalisus...
My aquarium water pars were
ph6.5
kh 2.5
NH4 0
NO2 0
NO3 7.5


I used salt, extra dose of prime, reduced feeding, increased temp to 25 celcius (77 f) and partial vaccuming.

My 1st problem is that I have never used medications and I read warnings about sensitive cory skin. My 2nd problem is that I cant figure out what my babies suffer from...
Is there any cory safe medication I could try?
I am afraid I might lose them before I find the solution through web studing.

[AresGr]

Sorry. Too much tension. I hope now its easier to read

1. Water parameters
a) Temperature range 23 celsius
b) pH 6.5
c) GH 3
d) KH 2.5
e) Conductivity or TDS (if GH and KH aren't provided)
f) Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite levels NH4=0, NO2=0 ans NO3=7.5
g) Water change frequency weekly 15%
h) "Routine" water treatments 25-75 tap water-RO + seachem discus traces. Now some salt.
2. Tank set up
a) Size 48lt
b) Substrate: dark quartz
c) Filtration: eheim liberty 2042
d) Furnishings: plants, dried tree leaves (been used since a collected 1.5 years ago from) and a branch bought at a lfs.
e) Other tank mates snail and copepods
f) How long has it been set-up? almost a year
g) Food used and frequency: daily. 1 day every week no feeding
h) Recent changes:tryed to soak food. They dont prefer eating directly from source food. So I thought maybe they felt it was a bit hard to bite. I didnt like the look of it so I stop after week of testing. Also, a month ago my snail population increased so I drop pH7 to 6.5 and kh 5 to 2.5. Lots of snail deaths happened without me knowing because of densely planted bottom.

3. Symptoms / Problem description or history: Its been a few days since I have noticed my fish scratching against leaves and flash. They dont seem to have any other signs of sickness.
I also noticed some black round critters probably looking very similar to watermites.
My aquarium also had copepods long before I bought this fish with no real problems. So I was assuming they are harmless cyclops. Now I find that it could also be ergalisus...

4. Action taken (if any):, extra dose of prime, reduced feeding, and partial vaccuming.Also, I removed branch and some plants for better monitoring.

5. Medications used (if any) / changes in fish observed since treatment began (if any). I used salt.increased temp to 25 celcius (77 f)

[dw1305]

Hi all,

..... Also, a month ago my snail population increased so I drop pH7 to 6.5 and kh 5 to 2.5. Lots of snail deaths happened without me knowing because of densely planted bottom.
3. Symptoms / Problem description or history: Its been a few days since I have noticed my fish scratching against leaves and flash. They dont seem to have any other signs of sickness.

The "flashing" could be caused by a loss of water quality following the snail deaths. Other people will disagree, but I don't think you are going to learn anything useful from the results of your test kit, and I would ignore them.

I also noticed some black round critters probably looking very similar to watermites. My aquarium also had copepods long before I bought this fish with no real problems. So I was assuming they are harmless cyclops. Now I find that it could also be ergalisus...

They are very unlikely to be male Ergasilus. They may be another form of Ostracod ("Seed Shrimp"), like the very speedy Eucypris virens (below)

4. Action taken (if any):, extra dose of prime, reduced feeding, and partial vaccuming.Also, I removed branch and some plants for better monitoring.

I'd put the branch and plants back in, the fish are more stressed when they don't have enough cover, all small fish are. If you can see them easily in the tank, they don't have enough cover.

I really like leaf litter for small catfish as well.

Also if it is a water quality issue removing plants (and potentially vacuuming) is likely to exacerbate this. What-ever any-one else tells you, I can assure you that plants (really "plant/microbe bio-filtration") are a very important factor in the maintenance of water quality.

5. Medications used (if any) / changes in fish observed since treatment began (if any). I used salt.increased temp to 25 celcius (77 f)

Can you change a larger volume of water to dilute the salt? All it is likely to do is kill your plants.

Again I know other peoples views will differ but I can't see any use for salt (NaCl) with fish from soft water. These fish come from water with low conductivity and very few salts of any kind, so why should salt be therapeutic? it doesn't make any sense to me, I've read the suggestion that it helps with osmotic balance etc.

This links to a very good water quality article "Water Chemistry: Osmoregulation, Ionic Imbalance & pH" by Joe Gargas at: <http://www.tbas1.com/Exchange/The%20New ... d%2011.pdf>.

cheers Darrel

[AresGr]

Thanks for the reply Darrel.
You made 4 comments so my answers will be numbered according to them.
1. Lets say its contamination of water or a sudden drop of pH. Is there something I can do? How can I heal the irritation caused by it?.
2. It cant be seed shrimp. S shrimps are quite active. These new fellows stay at the same spot all the time. They are much slower than snails when the move their feet to eat. I used a magnyfing glass to realize they a living creature and that they have feet.
3. 40% of the bottom is covered with quadricostatu helianthium. Each of these roots can provide solid cover for 4-5 bodies. They just confused because they just have to trust a new spot as their hide. Right now feeding is minimal. So I dont think My tank can handle so may plants. I also love and trust plants.
4. Reading through medicine seemed then more harmful than salt. I felt I had to something. I was advised to avoid lanrge volume water changes due to increased ph and salinity.

I will take a look at the document.

Once more thanks so much!!!
Ares

[AresGr]

Does anybody know a wide range ectoparasite medication that is safe for corydoras?

Thanks

[Tetranerd]

Water stability is the main issue. Don't drop or raise ph if not needed. And water changes could be heavier weekly(50%). I would try about 20% every couple of days to see how things are reacting. If they get better your on the right track. If not, then you have only helped the system by removing excess that the system has to work to process.

Hope it helps

[AresGr]

Thank you for your answer tetranerd
I was doing small water changes because I read that c. pygmeaus is very sensitive to pop eye disease.

Right now I think the presence of salt scares me to do anything extreme. What % would advise me to do keep for long term maintenance?

These are the latest developments
- I did 2 water changes of 5 litres. Salinity dropped a bit.
- I bought a vacuum and I did partial refreshing of bottom.
- I stopped getting my face against the front glass (now that I am sure there is no visable sign of contamination)
- I started feeding again and dried food was accepted.
- Flashing is somehow reduced but it is still happening.
- A new hiding spot has been chosen by the group, so their behavior is getting back to usual.
- All this studying helped me realise that providing an as vibrations free as possible aquarium is so important. I am building a new aquarium base. The present one is safe but takes all the vibrations. How did I miss all this. Maybe chronic stress is part of the problem.

[AresGr]

An update and a few questions.

Little black critters seem to been the harmless springtail. Once the flashing issue is dealt properly, I will try adding a upper zone fish.
I have removed salt after a few small water changes. Fish felt better.
I tried a 3 day esha exit medication. Fish look more active but problem is not solved. Today I started esha 2000 medication.

Now the questions
Question 1: Is it possible that this scratching is the result of chronic exposure to toxins released by themselves?

Question 2: If so what is the best way to remove any kind of toxin from the water column? Is carbon or a overdose portion of prime going to help? I know water changes is the most logical answer but if I tried something more drastic, I think it would help me a lot to identify the source the problem.

Question 3: In case of irritation cause by toxicity, is there something it can their skin help to heal ? Like Api stress coat?

Thank you all!

[AZCatfish]

Does anybody know a wide range ectoparasite medication that is safe for corydoras?

Thanks

Seachem ParaGuard. http://www.seachem.com/paraguard.php

My Corys have show flashing for some time now. And sometimes they do this "crazy catfish" routine which is best described as lengthy wild uncontrolled spastic flashing. Its scary to watch. After losing one of my nicest Corydoras Sterbai's for unknown reasons I became concerned that there is some sort of parasite in the tank. But I see no signs of infection. So 5 days ago I started dosing with Paraguard. Per Seachems advice, I started out with a 1/3 dose of 5 mls. Then I have increased this by 2.5mls every day. Today they got their first full dose of 15mls.

My catfish, tetras, snails, shrimp, plants & bio filter are all doing fine. And the algae in the tank is diminishing for some reason. It corresponded with the ParaGuard dosing but I don't know if it is directly related.

So far I have not seen any more flashing or "crazy catfish." I plan to keep giving them the full dose now for 14 days. I want to get this tank clean and all future fish purchases will go into a quarantine tank first where I will do a prophylactic treatment with ParaGuard.

[AresGr]

Thank you so much. I really hope everything goes well!

Esha treatment is accepted really well here. Fish show no signs of stress. I wish I have good results too. In case thing dont work for me, its nice to hear that theres an effective and safe alternative.

[AresGr]

Its months since flashing has stopped. Esha exit and 2000 medication didnt stop the problem. I decided to improve conditions. I removed the aquarium to a better place (less movement of people and a more stable rack), I use api stress coat once a month and I completely stopped messing with aquascaping. Fish are pretty healthy now. I wont say that medication didnt help. Thanks for all the help