Corydoras Panda injured after spawning frenzy

[torusle]

Yesterday my whole group of Corydoras Panda got into spawning frenzy. They do this almost every day but usually only one of the females is involved. Yesterday the complete group went nuts.

This morning I noticed an injury on one of my females. Guess the evening went a bit rougher than expected.

She behaves as usual except for some mild scratching every now and then.

Should I do something about that (except keeping water nice and clean, add some new sea almond tree sheets)? My gut feeling is that I should wait a few days and look if it heals by itself. I'm particular asking because I'm currently raising the temperature in the tank by a few degrees because it was running a bit on the cold side.

What do you guys think?

(Btw, I know - the gravel is not optimal, but I had zero problems over the last two years so far).

[MarcW]

From the pictures it looks to me like that red is fresh blood, so I would follow your plan, keep the water clean and see how she gets on.

Hopefully with clean water it won't get infected and will heal up well. Keep an eye on it and let us know how it progresses.

I'm not an expert with diagnosis or treatment suggestions, hopefully this helps and if anyone else thinks it's something else I'm sure they'll help out.

Good luck.

[bekateen]

Hi torusle,

Yes, keep water very clean. I'd also add Melafix for several days (usually 3-5 is sufficient); make sure you remove carbon from your filtration, and keep the aeration high. Melafix is good at preventing secondary infections after injury.

(Btw, I know - the gravel is not optimal, but I had zero problems over the last two years so far).

Without wanting to be critical, I would take issue with this. Perhaps it's just the angle of the fish in the photos, but in your pictures I don't see good healthy barbels on your fish - in the top photo I see none; in the bottom photo I can see some barbel, but I can't tell if they are well developed (so maybe it is just the camera angle - and if that's the case, please disregard this comment). If their barbels are worn down, then you are having a problem with the gravel. If I were you, I'd change to either sand (like pool filter sand or fine/washed playground sand) or to a very fine smooth gravel (sort of intermediate between sand and gravel). With good care, the barbels may grow back over a few months.

Cheers, Eric

P.S., Congrats on the spawning frenzy.

[torusle]

Hi Eric,

thanks for the reply. Will try to get Melafix or something similar tomorrow. Just to be prepared if she shows any secondary infection symptoms.

Regarding the barbles: It's the photos. On the first picture the fish even has her snout under the leaf But I want to get a new tank for the cory cats with proper sand anyways.

[bekateen]

On the first picture the fish even has her snout under the leaf

Oh, okay. I couldn't tell that was a leaf. I thought the front of its face was missing.

Cheers, Eric

[torusle]

So, little update:

Either I have more females in the cory group than I thought and she is hiding somewhere, or it got significantly better overnight.

I did a good feeding today to lurk the hungry cory-cats out and all my three adult females showed up for lunch. I'm 80% sure I saw her, just without the red scars.

I'll try to take a photo of my females tomorrow and try to identify her by pattern.

[MarcW]

Great news, it did look like a minor injury, so if the fish is in good condition, and with clean water it may have healed up quickly.

[torusle]

Good news everyone: I saw her this morning while she was searching for a snack. Took a photo to identify her and it's 100% sure it's the same female.

The red scars *are* gone. She still scratches herself every now and then but otherwise she's fine. Never thought fish can heal so quickly.

Thanks everyone for help.

[torusle]

Hi everyone.

Seems like the story is not over. The same fish showed up this evening with comparable injury. Not as server as last time, but still. There was no spawning frenzy involved this time btw.

I'm pretty certain that it will be gone tomorrow just as the last time, but has anyone has an idea where her wounds come from?

[bekateen]

No, but I would be concerned about water params - if they aren't ideal, they could easily create just enough stress to allow a secondary infection to take hold.

Good luck,
Eric

[CharlieM9]

it also looks as though the gill color is much darker in the most recent photos. Perhaps you may have some sort of issue stemming from that, which is causing the sores and scratching, or vice versa. I would be inclined to isolate this fish and watch it and the others closely for several weeks.