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I have a julii cory who has become much less active lately, tending to rest in one spot on the bottom. He's also developed dark splotches on his head, as well as dark markings on his gills.

Does anyone have an idea of what this might be and how it may be treated?

(Ammonia and nitrite levels in the water are 0, and the nitrate level is between 5 and 10 ppm. I feed him a small amount of shrimp pellet or Tetramin tropical tablet, once per day. It's a 10 gallon tank, in which I also keep three guppies.)

Thanks in advance!

Brian

I guess all of you out there were as bewildered as I am as to what's wrong with my julii cory (described in my previous post). I have researched it, but haven't found any fish ailment that corresponds to his symptoms (dark splotches on his head and under his eyes).

So I decided to give Aquari-sol (copper sulfate) a try, on the guess that he might have some sort of parasites. I've moved him to the quarantine tank, removed the carbon filter, and I raise the water temperature to 85 when I add the Aquari-sol (daily, as directed). He doesn't seem to like the higher temperature much, but he's doing OK, and his activity level seems to be almost back to normal once the temperature goes back down. But the black marks and splotches are as bad as ever.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Brian

Hi!

Have you look for Metacercarien...

Cheers
Yann

Yann is this medication available in the uk. Thanks Darren

I don't think Yann is referring to medication. He meant checking for metacercaria, a stage in the life cycle of digenetic trematodes.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure if there are Metacercarien or not -- how would I tell?

Metacercaria usually show up as black nodules (lumps) on the fish.