Black Cory’s saved

[Magnum Man]

So, a while back I found 2 adult black Cory’s I had “misplaced” they were originally in a bigger tank, and got moved, when that tank got a remake… they got moved to a holding tank, ( a 10 gallon ) that had very fine black sand, but was almost sitting on the floor, so very hard to view…
I never did see them for 5-6 months, even though I tossed a minimum amount of food in, every other time I fed the big tanks… finally after 6 months or so, of seeing no activity, I added a scud colony to that tank… the colony wasn’t growing, and soon all I was seeing, was the feeder guppy’s that there was a handful, that came in with the scud colony… so finally one day I got down, and laid on the floor of my tank work area, and moved the sponge filter around, trying to see some scuds… to my surprise, something bigger moved… I still had 2 black Cory’s in the tank.. they were fat ( assuming they were eating all my scuds) but they looked terrible, half covered in grey slime… I almost euthanized them, they looked so bad... but I took a chance, and added them to the newest set up tank, that had a coarse sand, and already had a colony of albino Cory’s in it… I was worried, that the grey slime was a bacterial infection, and I had doomed my tank…

… Now a month or so later, the rest of the fish in that tank are fine, and the black Cory’s seem to have recovered ( are still recovering )… must have been slime coat from the fish, something irritating them in the holding tank, ( maybe that fine sand ) as I did not medicate the new tank… they look pretty happy today.. glad I took the chance, and didn’t euthanize them…

BTW… that fine black sand, was abrasive for sand blasting… it was clean, and I rinsed it, but terrible stuff, I don’t recommend using it for aquariums every time you move something, the water gets cloudy, you obviously can’t vacuum… I’m wondering if the fine silica, wasn’t irritating them??? Same sand is in my Tilapia tanks, and it doesn’t seem to irritate them???

 

[Colin_T]

If fish get a cream, white or grey film over their body and fins, it is excess mucous produced by the fish in response to something in the water irritating them. A big water change and gravel clean usually helps.

If fish get cream, white or grey patch/es on part or parts of their body, it is an external protozoan infection like Costia, Chilodonella or Trichodina. These can be treated with salt (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres of water, for 2 weeks). You can also use Malachite Green or copper to treat external protozoa but they are pretty harsh chemicals.

Bacterial infections normally show up as red patches on the body or fins.

Saprolegnia fungus appears as white fluffy stuff on part of the fish (usually a wound).

 

[Magnum Man]

It’s taken a while, but these guys look nearly perfect… and a few weeks ago, they csme so close to being euthanized, they were half to 3/4 covered in thick grey slime… today nearly perfect, and back to the activity level, that was part of why we liked them so…