Blackworms

[BlueBettaUSA]

Hi jollysue,

I don't like the looks of that fish's nose! It looks to me like the results of a bacterial infection, aka finrot. If it's sore and/or pink, looking, it's probably active; if it looks like scar tissue, it probably is from a past case of it.

It's not uncommon for corys to become ill, and many of them die from the stress caused by by being caught and transferred from one place to another until they reach someone's home. Their immune systems become weakened from changes in pH, poor water quality, overcrowding, temperature fluctuations (especially sudden increases), and they are likely to become ill if exposed to harmful bacteria.

Please keep a close watch on them and see what, if anything is happening. If there is the least doubt in your mind about this, don't hesitate to treat them for it. Remember that there are many kinds of bacteria that can cause a fish problems and while some act quickly, others are slower to show their effects.

I hope they turn out to be OK.

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Sue,

Your not looking at "fin rot" ! Fin rot doesn't affect the nasal region. That is from an abrsasion.

What your looking at there is from them rubbing their nose on incorrect substrate or a hiding place with too small an opening, however, from past experience that is from incorrect substrate.

Use fine smooth gravel or sand fine no larger than one and a half millimetres as a substrate and it shouldn't be more then 1"-1 1/2" deep as this allows them to search out food particles right down to the base of the tank. This prevents the problem of food particles filtering deeper than the catfish can reach and causing issues as the small size of the substrate can lead to issues if it becomes compacted with food.

As for treatment, be careful. Unfortunately, humans like to treat everything they deem an issue which sadly is more times then not the demise of the animal. If anything you can adjust your heat up slightly as well as use a product with nitrafurazone as well as remove the carbon filtration.

I might also add that while these are "wild" specimens we have had them in QT for 60-90 days ! We don't just bring these in and drop them in your lap. Understanding the issues with wild caught specimens and their needs we go to great lengths to QT them for an extended period of time as well as feed them highly nutritous foods such as live black worms, Hikari Sinking Wafers which are made specifically for Corydoras, daphnia, high quality flake food, etc, etc, etc. We also use Kordon Vita Trace in all of our water to insure they are getting their full vitamin, amino acid, and electrolyte needs met as well.

So when we ship you these fish they have been schooling in bare bottom tanks of sometimes 2500 specimens ! They are only 60-90 days removed from the wild and behave just like a corydoras should behave !

My best advice to you whether it be a corydoras, betta, or whatever, DON'T indiscriminately treat them with unecessary drugs unless you have a definitive diagnosis. We as a country do this with ourselves and our pets and that is why our mortality rate is so much higher then the rest of the world. If you have an issue, diagnose, treat, water change, and then find out why you had the issue you had so you can limit the chances of it reoccuring.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi BlueBettaUSA

It's good to see you here again. I always like to know that a fish seller follows through and is interested in what becomes of his fish.

It's good to know that, in your opinion, the fish are not suffering from a case of bacterial "finrot." It's especially good to know because I want some too! *runs over to AquaBid*

 

[jollysue]

I am on my way to change the substrate. )

 

[Inchworm]

Hi jollysue

Don't rush. Unless there is definately sharp edges or abrasive survices on your gravel, they will be fine for now. I think it would be better to let them get settled in before you make a lot of changes and upset them more.

BTW, how are the bettas doing? Have you posted any more pictures on their thread?

 

[jollysue]

Too late. They now have sand. The spectrastone is not sharp but it was a couple or more inches thick. Feeding the black worms could have enticed them to try to root deep into the spectrastone after them. There were lots in there. If I couldn't get them sick with heavy deep substrate I was going to contaminate their beds with dead worms.

Well tomorrow I will give them a small water change. There was some significant water loss with the substrate change. They will need cloth plants with the weighted bottoms.

I also have to change the substrate in the other cory tank, the one with the 12 pandas, 17 pygmies, 3 frogs, and three badis badis. It is way too many critters if they were all grown, but the fish are all no more than 1/2" and the badis badis are smaller than that. The frogs are another issue. It is I hope a temporary homing.

I picked up a female betta at the lfs sale. It looks like a plakat. As I understand, they are the stock that the others are developed from. They are closer to the wild stock and are used to strenghten the fancies. She is a big girl--not a giant but good sized. There is a pic of her in the betta forum.

Well it is now an hour and a half passed my bedtime.



EDIT:

Just a little word: I've been in touch with Bryan and posted him pics of the cories as soon as we got concerned. He had gone to a conference out of town which I knew about. He posted to me first thing when he got back. He was very concerned about their safe arrival and checked with me, answering some questions directly for me about the best way to prepare the tank load wise. Sadly although I tried to ask in many different conversations with different people about the Spectra Stone, I never asked the right people at the right time.