Having trouble diagnosing cory cat

[alli13zeal]

Hi, I have a non-cycled tank (getting there) which I know is bad for corys, just didn't know before I got them. I do daily water changes (~40%) and my params are 0 (ammonia),0 (nitrites), 5-10 (nitrates), pH~6.8. I just switched to Prime for my water conditioner this week.

Anyway, one of the corys has been acting off for a couple of weeks. I haven't seen him eating. He swims around and plays normally with the others but never really looks for food. When the others are resting together he goes off and just kind of hovers in the middle of the aquarium. Occasionally he will rub against gravel, tank wall, etc. Today I saw a white spot on his nose, above his mouth & barbels (which have slowly deteriorated, still there, but shorter) that looks sort of fungus-y, but not sure. The spot is definitely too big to be Ick. It's not a huge spot, but definitely quite a bit larger than a grain of salt. At first I thought that all of his symptoms were probably just due to being in a cycling tank, even though I keep the ammon, nitrites, etc low with the water changes. But now with this white spot I don't really know what the problem is.

Does anyone have any ideas? Any other symptoms I might look for that aren't so obvious? I unfortunately have no way to get a pic online.. but if necessary I could try and provide a better description. Oh, by the way.. the other corys seem fine so far. Their barbels are quite long and they start looking all over for food anytime I come near the tank.

[silentskream]

do your params stay at 0,0,and 5-10? if so, then the tank is cycled. if not, how high do they get before you do water changes? you need to let them get to about .20 before doing a water change, and no higher than .25.
is the pH usually 6.8? or is that abnormal for you?

what is the temperature?

[alli13zeal]

The params usually stay pretty low, I think I might start switching to every other day water changes because lately when I test before the water change the levels are hardly measurable. Oh, I forgot to mention that when I tested my water from the tap there is a low level of nitrates present. So I'm pretty sure that is responsible for the nitrates in my tank. And yes the pH is usually around 6.8, sometimes a little lower (i.e. 6.6). I have been having some issues w/fluctuating pH but have been trying crushed coral in the filter and it seems to help. Oh and the tank temp is at 79 degrees.

[alli13zeal]

No one has any ideas/suggestions? I'm pretty lost at this point, so any possible ideas would be of help...

[alli13zeal]

Well, I'm just going to go ahead and try a combination of mela/pimafix and see if they help. Can anyone tell me if these can be used "full strength" with corys (aka 1 teaspoon each/10 gallons). I know it's advised to do a lower dose of meds w/corys, but from what i've read on here it sort of sounds like it might not apply to these two? At any rate, I've only added 1/2 tsp. of each for the moment (i only have a 15 gal.). Haha wow.. it's starting to look like I'm a crazy lady that talks to herself.

[zachjohnson65]

well i know i used melafix at half dose to help my polka dot synodontis(sp.)

[leighasnana]

I don't think that a full dose would hurt the cories. This may have started as an infection which is causing the barbels to erode. Often an external infection will become fungus. In this case use both of the meds. Melafix for external infection - Pimafix for fungus.

One of my cories hurt himself in the tank and I changed out some water, added a full dose of melafix and a bit of salt. He looked better the 2nd day. I even used this water to change out the cory fry water and there was no harm done to any fish.

You mention that this fish flicks against the gravel etc... Are any other fish doing this? Is the fish doing this where the spot on his head is or all over his body? This usually means that something (external parasites) is irritating the fish. If he's flicking you may want to research external parasites. Good Luck

[alli13zeal]

Yeah, two of the other fish occasionally flick against the gravel so I have been researching parasites... but I just don't see any other external symptoms, at least not on the other corys (and the symptoms I see on the 3rd one don't really seem parasite-related. although I could definitely be wrong haha). Some people suggested that the flicking/rubbing could be from irritants in a cycling tank so I made sure to really keep up on water changes. I'm not positive, but it seems like they have been doing it less recently. The day that the white spot appeared on the cory, I saw him kind of rub his nose/head (where the spot is) against the tank wall but otherwise anytime any of the fish rub, it is more on their bellies or sides.

I'll just try the mela/pima combo for now and see how that works. I'm definitely going to keep looking for signs of parasites though....

[xaxaxouxas]

plz let us know how this went. i have exactly the same problem. only the white spot on face is even biger covering 50% of the face.

[dreadboy113]

How long have you had the corys in the tank. Reduction in barbel size is usually associated with poor water quality. Not saying your water is bad. Your parameters seem good to me. How long has the tank been cycling? I will agree with the above who said about external parasites. Research as much as possible because this site is a gold mine for information. Good luck and keep us posted.

[alli13zeal]

Hey sorry guys, I've been busy for the past couple of weeks.. I graduated from college and then visited my parents for a week. Unfortunately, I actually had to euthanize this fish right before I left for my parents. I treated with a melafix and pimafix for about a week, which did seem to help the white spot. However, the overall health of the fish continued to decline. As I mentioned the fish was constantly in motion (i.e. hovering instead of resting) until a couple of days before I left, it started to rest on the leaves of my amazon sword. I was hoping (against rational thought haha) that it was a sign of improvement, but within the next day or 2 it became pretty clear that it was just a sign of exhaustion. Since I still had no real idea as to the core cause of the problems & since I was going to be gone for a few days, I decided it would be best to euthanize the fish. FYI, my boyfriend took care of the fish while I was gone, but I didn't want him to have to deal with a dying fish.

dreadboy-My other corys have healthy barbels and currently show no other signs of illness. Also, I haven't seen them rub against the gravel, etc since I have been back. At this point, I'm hoping (and it seems likely) that the affected fish was simply stressed and/or slightly ill when it came to me (it's dorsal fin was slightly ragged to begin with) and moving from the pet store to a tank that was, at the time still cycling, too much to handle. Since the other corys seem perfectly healthy it was non-contagious or if it was parasites or a contagious disease they were healthy enough to fight it off. As I mentioned earlier I could see no visible signs of parasites on any of the fish (and trust me I spent a lot of time staring at them in frustration :silly:). At any rate, I am keeping a close eye on the remaining fish.

The good news is that I actually think my tank finally cycled :eek: as my params are 0, 0, 10 (nitrates) after going a few days with no water change. Needless to say I'll be testing the water every day for a while yet, but hopefully that issue is over. Thanks guys for your input, sorry I don't have a more helpful/insightful outcome!