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Hi all, sorry I know that joining a forum to ask for help isn't a great way to start out but I'm hoping someone here will be able to help us

Two of our pandas have strange white fungus looking blotches on them and at least one of our schwartzi cories now has it as well. Two of our pandas have died in the week, along with two pygmys although they didn't have any white on them at all

Edited to add: I should have said that our tank has been running for at least 3 years now. We did move house at the start of December but only had one Habrosus die, other than that we've been fine til now...

For info:

1. Water parameters
a) Temperature range - 28c
b) pH - 6
c) GH - not known
d) KH - not known
e)
Ammonia = less than 0.2
Nitrate = 10-20
Nitrite = 0

f) Water change frequency - weekly
(Most LFS's will check your water and give a list of readings).

2. Tank set up
a) Size - 100l
b) Substrate - white sand
c) Filtration - external filter
d) Furnishings - coconut shells, plants (swords?), java moss, ceramic ornament
e) Other tank mates - 2 honey gourami, 8 cardinals, 6 rummy nose, 1 glowlight, 2 pandas, 4 trilineatus, 5 habrosus, 8 pygmaeus,
f) How long has it been set-up?

3. Symptoms / Problem description
White fungus like spots, some are protruding seem to move as the fish do - see photos

4. Action taken (if any)
Increased the temperature from approx 26c, water changes

5. Medications used (if any)
Haven't medicated as we're not sure what we're up against!

Any help or advice would be much appreciated

It is hard to tell what is going on but if I was you, I'd treat with a combination of eSHa exit and eSHa 2000. Those two should fix it and are easily found in the U.K..

And welcome to the forum!

Thanks for replying.

We did a 30l water change last and night most of the white stuff actually came off as they swam about, it's very strange!

Thought it might have been whitespot which is why we raised the temperature slightly, but it seems more like some attaching or growing fluff.

Should have mentioned the pygmy and trilis were wild caught and only added two weeks ago so perhaps they have brought something in or triggered a small ammonia spike.

The schwartzi almost looks like it's covered in sand, so it may not even be the same problem

If it doesn't appear to be coming directly from the fish but rather sitting on them check your ornaments / wood. It may be something is leeching it and they are rubbing on it during feeding time.

An unpopular but successful fungus treatment is salt / higher temp but its not nice on the fish.

Will do, luckily it doesn't seem half as bad tonight.

Read on another site about them possibly scraping against sharp objects.
They do spend a lot of time hiding under the bridge.

What temperature and measurement of salt would be advisable?
I know they don't normally like it too warm so didn't push it up to 30c.

I am no specialist but seriously doubt this is fungus. It don't look like that to me. I have seen this before (also at a panda). Especially the Schwartzi looks like a bacterial infection (or a parasite). I'd be carefull with a higher temp cause bacteria will love you for it. In the other cases Columnaris was mentioned, though I am not sure it's that. Esha Exit is a anti-Ich med to my knowledge (sold as that overhere). Esha 2000, antibacterial or even antibiotics are a better to choice to my believe though Esha is thought to be too light for serious bacterial infections. Other ideas / opinions appriciated!!!

wellcome to planetcatfish.

from the pictures with i would definitely say it's an external parasite ! you should try to identify what type of parasite so you can chose the proper medicamentation. JBL has Gyrodol Plus and Aradol Plus for external parasite infections. i would also try to use an antibiotic as an complementary treatment.

maybe are members here that have came acros this situation. good luck with your corys .

To me this looks like a classic case of Lymphocystis. If this is the disease then there are no treatments for it because it is a viral disease. The virus invades the cells and causes them to form the irregular white nodules which will eventually fall away and leave a small wound which in healthy fish normally heals without treatment. The affected fish normally build up a natural immunity to the virus and once it has cleared it never returns. It's a very wide spread disease in captive bred fish and unless the nodules interfere with feeding or breathing it is rarely fatal.
Some authorities state that catfish can't get the disease but I've seen many examples showing that they can and do.

Try googling Lymphocystis and see if you think it matches the symptoms you are seeing on your fish, if it does don't add any medication because it is likely to do more harm than good. Once the nodules fall away if there are any large wounds then as a precaution you could add a general antibacterial/antifungal remedy such as Protozin as a precaution until healing begins.

Doesn't Lymphocystis look more like cauliflower growths ? Also Lymphocystis don't make fish feel ill to my believe and isn't directly lethal . The panda really looks ill and the Schwartzi really seems to have other symptoms. But !!! I can be wrong.

It depends on the severity, Lympho is extremely variable in appearance. The nodules always start out small and then sometimes grow, there can be just a single small or large nodule or there can be lots of small or large nodules which have a very irregular shape. I did think the Schwartzi was suffering from something different too, possibly a protozoan infection especially with the eye being affected which I've never seen with Lympo. It is entirely possible that the fish has two infections, but having seen many cases of lympho I'm quite sure myself that the fish in the first couple of photos is suffering from that.
Both Lympho and protozoan infections can be brought on with chronic stress which suppresses the fishes immune system. The original poster mentioned that the ammonia level is >0.2. Any detectable ammonia will eventually cause problems, if the test kit used is only sensitive enough to register 0 - 0.2 as the lowest reading then a more sensitive test should be carried out to rule out an ammonia problem because 0.2 of ammonia is potentially lethal over time.
Stocking may also be a problem with this tank.

Thanks for all the responses.

The lymphocystis one is interesting, it did seem to start with one panda and spread to the others. The worst one looked a lot better again last night, will try and get a comparison photo.

It's definitely something that has come off, it's hard to see from the photos but it had a fluffy/3d appearance, you could see it move in the flow of the water.

The schwartzi doesn't look half as bad now either, can only see a small amount of whatever is in the original photo.

The ammonia test we have never looks 0 (even with fresh water) so not convinced it's that. Always use seachem prime which would help too.

Will keep you updated!

I have seen this a few times with several species of corydoras. There are various ideas as to the cause, some of which have been posted here. It's also been said it may be a diet issue. In my experience a large (at least 50%) water change will see it off within a day or two. The fish recover well although can show symptoms any time water changes are not done regularly.

Could it be another kind of virus do you think ???

Hi again, been meaning to post an update, the schwarzi passed away the next day unfortunately.

Started doing 20% water changes every 3 or 4 days, and added melafix for a week which seemed to help.
Looked like it was finally gone so stopped melafix about last Wednesday.

Noticed the same panda pictured not looking so good again on Sunday night when water changing.
Then one of the trilineatus died yesterday, looked like it might have been having gill trouble.

Water between 25 and 27c, already increased oxygenation last week using the spray bar.
Switch between 3 different foods each day so that shouldn't be a problem.
Very strange as the others and tetras all seem fine.

The sickest panda died today too.
Seen a few of the other corys rolling over/scratching so perhaps it's whitespot lifecycle with it going and coming back again.

Have some malachite green based medicine but didn't really want to use it, with them being so sensitive.
Tried half a dose anyway, will see how it goes...