Hello everyone. I hope you can help me with my problem.
I have 4 C. Trilineatus (although labeled at store as Julii)and one of them is not quite right. His problem is that he seems to be losing his colours on his body behind his gills. When I first noticed that it was only on one side of his body and I wasn't sure if he was always like that (it was on his first week here) or whether he came from the shop with that white patch. In time he started losing the colour on the other side, which I'm sure wasn't like that before.
Some more information which might be helpful:
1. He had a minor case of fin rot which is now almost completely healed.
2. He came from a dubious shop. Out of the 5 I cories I bought only 2 survived. The other three were already half dead when I arrived home and when they didn't get better after a few days I decided to put an end to their misery.
3. The guppies he's with sometime mistake the cories' spots for food (I don't know if that's strange), they try to nible on the spots but when the cories swim away the guppies move on. He's the only one who doesn't swim away immediately. He only swims after few seconds.
Other than that, he behaviour is fine. He eats, he swims with the rest and he's as active as they are.
My water parameters are:
a) temp 25.5 - 25.7c
b) pH = 7.6
c) GH = 16.8 dGH
d) KH = 7 dKH
e) Ammonia & Nitrite = 0ppm, Nitrate = 10ppm
f) I change about 20% of water on a weekly basis
Tank Setup are:
a) 96 litres
b) Substrate is gravel
c) Internal filter (juwel compact, I think it is)
d) A driftwood (and plants, of course)
e) Other tank mates are 6 guppies, 1 betta, one plecostomus and one goldfish fry.
f) It has been set up for about three months now (it was set up using water, gravel and filter media from our pond in the garden so cycling wasn't necessary -- confimed by testing).
No action was taken regarding this problem, as I don't really know what is it. The fin rot was treated with Melafix.
I'm sorry that it's a bit long, but I tried to give as much information as possible.
Many thanks,
Golan.
C. Trilineatus losing colours
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medaka
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hi untitled?
most of the team are in the states at the catfish convention there,
without a photo its hard to say;but!
the problem may be in that the PH is a little high
and the GH is a too high, for these fish,
yrs ago a friend of mine had some corys that went just they way you described whats happening to yours.. in my area the water has a ph of around 3.
his ph and GH were high ,, at first i couldnt see what was making the values go high
but he confessed that someone had told him to add cockle shell to his gravel because his PH kept dropping, what he had gone and done was to add too much cockle shel, when he changed his substrate and after a couple of water changes
the ph went down to 7 and the gh went to 6 after a few days
the corys recovered..
most of the team are in the states at the catfish convention there,
without a photo its hard to say;but!the problem may be in that the PH is a little high
and the GH is a too high, for these fish,
yrs ago a friend of mine had some corys that went just they way you described whats happening to yours.. in my area the water has a ph of around 3.
his ph and GH were high ,, at first i couldnt see what was making the values go high
but he confessed that someone had told him to add cockle shell to his gravel because his PH kept dropping, what he had gone and done was to add too much cockle shel, when he changed his substrate and after a couple of water changes
the ph went down to 7 and the gh went to 6 after a few days
the corys recovered..
I ‘Doc I can’t stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home’
“That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome.
‘Is it common?’
“It’s not unusual.”
“That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome.
‘Is it common?’
“It’s not unusual.”
Hi medaka.
Thanks for the reply. I know that the GH is very high, it's not due to anything in the tank, the GH is as high when the come out of the tap. I don't really know if that is the reason to his condition as his mates are doing fine. I'm suspect mostly that it has something to do before he got here due to the horrible conditions in the shop where I bought it. Out of the other three, only one came from the same shop (I don't shop there anymore, of course). None of them have the same problem as he.
I've uploaded two pictures of the fish and they can be found at:
http://www.ecr-il.com/cory.jpg
http://www.ecr-il.com/cory1.jpg
Thanks again,
Golan.
Thanks for the reply. I know that the GH is very high, it's not due to anything in the tank, the GH is as high when the come out of the tap. I don't really know if that is the reason to his condition as his mates are doing fine. I'm suspect mostly that it has something to do before he got here due to the horrible conditions in the shop where I bought it. Out of the other three, only one came from the same shop (I don't shop there anymore, of course). None of them have the same problem as he.
I've uploaded two pictures of the fish and they can be found at:
http://www.ecr-il.com/cory.jpg
http://www.ecr-il.com/cory1.jpg
Thanks again,
Golan.
I thought I'd post an update in case anyone ever has the same problem and searches the forums and find this post... I hope it can help.
Since posting my question, at first there had been a decline in the fish's state. I was shocked to find my pleco sucking eagerly on the cory's spot one day, as if the guppies weren't enough. As I have already treated the tank with Protozin with no results at all, I decided I have to do something else. I didn't want to add more medication to the tank -- I believe that too much medicine can't be good to the fish, I decided to try a salt dip. I have researched thoroughly before doing so and I realised that although most people are against treating cories with salt, some people had good results with it. I felt like it's a risk I've got to take, especially considering that this particular cory is my favourite fish...
So I put 1 gallon of tank water with 4 teaspoons of salt in a bucket, placed the fish there and monitored it closely. As he didn't seem stressed (not more stressed than being alone in a bucket, that is) I left it there for 30 minutes. Then I put him back in the tank. The first change I've noticed was that the spots have changed colour -- from slightly grey to bleached white. The fish, after an initial shock, have become more active than it was (and it was active anyway). Within few days, I noticed that the colour was slowly returning to its "cheeks". The improvement lasted about a week, when it came to a halt, although there was no decline. About a couple of days later, I decided to repeat the treatment. Again, the spots became whiter, and within few hours there was such a huge improvement that one spot is almost completely gone now. This time, I must admit, I used 6 teaspoons of salt per gallon.
Now, few days later, I can still notice a gradual improvement to the condition of the fish. I will probably give another dip during the weekend, to keep things going. I also give frozen food much more frequently now, just to boost his overall health, I think that it helps to some degree.
That's it then. I really consider this to be a miracle as I genuinely felt that I'm going to lose the fish. I really hope that this can help someone in the future in case they have the same problem.
Since posting my question, at first there had been a decline in the fish's state. I was shocked to find my pleco sucking eagerly on the cory's spot one day, as if the guppies weren't enough. As I have already treated the tank with Protozin with no results at all, I decided I have to do something else. I didn't want to add more medication to the tank -- I believe that too much medicine can't be good to the fish, I decided to try a salt dip. I have researched thoroughly before doing so and I realised that although most people are against treating cories with salt, some people had good results with it. I felt like it's a risk I've got to take, especially considering that this particular cory is my favourite fish...
So I put 1 gallon of tank water with 4 teaspoons of salt in a bucket, placed the fish there and monitored it closely. As he didn't seem stressed (not more stressed than being alone in a bucket, that is) I left it there for 30 minutes. Then I put him back in the tank. The first change I've noticed was that the spots have changed colour -- from slightly grey to bleached white. The fish, after an initial shock, have become more active than it was (and it was active anyway). Within few days, I noticed that the colour was slowly returning to its "cheeks". The improvement lasted about a week, when it came to a halt, although there was no decline. About a couple of days later, I decided to repeat the treatment. Again, the spots became whiter, and within few hours there was such a huge improvement that one spot is almost completely gone now. This time, I must admit, I used 6 teaspoons of salt per gallon.
Now, few days later, I can still notice a gradual improvement to the condition of the fish. I will probably give another dip during the weekend, to keep things going. I also give frozen food much more frequently now, just to boost his overall health, I think that it helps to some degree.
That's it then. I really consider this to be a miracle as I genuinely felt that I'm going to lose the fish. I really hope that this can help someone in the future in case they have the same problem.