A sick cory and ich

My 20 gallon tank is undergoing it's second day of ich treatment. I followed the advise posted here and gradually raised the temp to about 83-84 F, and slowly introduced salt at about 1 tblsp per gallon. But what prompted me to start in the first place is my smallest cory, which was not swimming well, laying on it's side, gasping for breath, etc. When I saw him like that, I immediately checked his tankmates and found ich spots on several of the other cories, which were also acting listless with clamped fins. I started the treatment Thursday evening, and there's been a bit of improvement in all my cories except for my little one. It's still very weak, and he does look a bit emaciated.

I've done 2 water changes since Thursday of about 20-25% percent, and the ammonia level seems to be around .25 still. I'm doing a massive water change again today, with the salt, but I'm really afraid of putting the fish through so much stress. I'm puzzled about the ammonia, as well.... no nitrites or nitrates at all, just ammonia. Could the filtration be inadequate? I'm using a penguin bio-wheel that's supposed to be for a 20 gallon.


As you can see, my tank's chock full of issues right now, and I can't seem to get a handle on the exact cause . Facts to know-due to a heater malfunction a few weeks ago in my 10 gallon, I temporarily relocated my betta and 4 otos to the 20 gallon until I can get a better heater. The otos died due to an ammonia spike. ( I suspected, but now I'm thinking maybe not). Another factor- I decreased the amount of water changes to combat brown algae at roughly the same time I relocated the fish. That was dumb. Ammonia spike and ich and a weak, sick cory. It seems like a major domino effect.

I'm pretty confident that I can fix the ammonia problem and the ich, but the sick cory concerns me a lot. I would blame his behavior on the salt treatment but this started before I noticed the ich. The other fish- the red phantoms and the betta- are acting fine. My other four cories are much better, behavior-wise. But this little guy is failing. Should I quarantine him? What manner of illness should I research?

Also, this is a bit unrelated, but it does tie into my issues- my tank has always had a great deal of organic debris from the plants and driftwood. Is it possible that I need a stronger filter? Everytime I do a water change, I clean the gunk off the intake and do a vacuum swish to suck out all the "stuff". ( this includes strands of CAT HAIR!!!). I know I don't get it all- could that be contributing to the ammonia as well?


Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty discouraged right now. I've never had any major problems with my water perimeters or my fish until this. Sorry for the rambling post... it's just really frustrating! any help would be greatly appreciated!!


~ncg

SubRosa said:

Presence of ammonia with no nitrite or nitrate is generally indicative of a new tank. How long has this one been set up?If it's been up a while your nitrate kit is lying to you! Or you're not using it correctly. If you don't vigorously shake reagent #2 in an API liquid nitrate test kit you'll get a zero every time. The filter you have is totally adequate for your needs. Cory's are the poster child for salt-sensitive species, and the stress of salt doesn't help but it didn't cause the ich. It was introduced with one of your fish. While I understand the rationale of wanting less brown algae and that sometimes silica introduction with new tap water can cause it to bloom, it's imo a bad trade off. Water changes are the single best thing you can do in terms of maintenance that will benefit your fish.

Click to expand...

Well, it's been "re-set up" for about 4 months due to a new house move- but I used the old media and the older tank water when I re assembled it. Could it be one of those "mini-cycles"?

And, you're absolutely right about the water changes. Before the brown algae bloom, I was doing 30% water changes around 3 times a week and had no water chemistry problems at all. I think the combination of decreased water changes plus the added bioload of the relocated fish just tipped the scales a little too much.

I just did a large water change- around 65 to 70%- and the ammonia is at zero. I thought I was using the nitrate test correctly- but I'll certainly try again. It's an API liquid test.

On the plus side, though- all the rest of my cories are doing much better. It's just the littlest one that's lagging behind. If the cories are salt-sensitive, should I quarantine all of them separately and use a different ich treatment?

Thank you for your reply. =)

Okay, I just tested my nitrates, made sure to shake the tube vigorously, and it came out to 5.0. Subrosa, you were correct, I wasn't testing right!

Should I do another water change to get it to 0, even though I did a large one yesterday? All the fish except for the small cory seem to be doing wonderfully, but I'll keep the ich treatment up for the recommended time of 10 days. I'll be putting up a quarantine tank up today for the cory.... I wish I could figure out what was wrong with the poor little guy.

Glad to here it, Karl. =) thank you.


Update- I'm still treating my tank for ich. I haven't seen any signs of it. But my little cory died before I could get him to the hospital tank. I wonder why? I've been checking my others a few times a day to see if they exhibit any of the same signs he did ( heavy breathing, not able to swim), but they're all active.