Cory Catfish Problems

[kendan]

I have 3 cory catfish (can't think of the exact type at this moment) and one of them seems to be sick or dying. He can't swim straight, and seems to have lost all sense of direction. He usually just lies on his side. Not sure if he eats anymore. The other two, which used to be quite active, not just lie together in a bit of a nook in one of my ornaments. They rarely venture out of this little hiding place, just mostly huddle together in their little spot.

Any suggestions, ideas??

 

[WILDER]

Right we need water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, what size tank in litres, plus full fish stock and maintanance routine, are the barbels ok, the cory is bad if it's laying to one side, cory are prone to bacteria infections.

 

[kendan]

Unfortunately I don't have any water stats. I do 10% weekly water changes. The tank has been running for a few months. Right now I have 1 dwarf Gourarmi, 2 Zebra Danio's, 3 corys and a few ghost shrimp. Its a 10 USG tank. Sorry I don't know what Barbels are. Appearance wise, he looks ok. No signs of dis-colouration or anything like that.

 

[WILDER]

I would preform a water change, the barbel are them whiskers things near the mouth, they use them to find food, do they look long or short, is it possilbe to issolate the fish, any change in there body colour like it has darkened or gone pale.

 

[kendan]

The barbels look about the same as I first got them. Their skin colour looks ok as well, but I did notice one of my danio's with some white flaky things hanging off him. I went to my local pet store and the girl identified this as ick or ich. She mentioned that my cory's behaviour could be a result of the ick.
Unfortunately I don't have another tank to isolate any of my fish. I bought some treatment for the ich/k and according to the pet store the brand I bought is about the best and friendliest towards the cory's.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would buy some test kits for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites from your lfs and test your tank water for these stats and post them to us ASAP, ich(also known as whitespot) looks like this;

http/www.fishpalace.org/ich_bobjohnson.jpg

If your fish's condition does not look like this i would stop the ich treatment imediatly, does the infected fish look like this?

 

[kendan]

From what i can tell in the picture, my fish looks similar. The girl I talked to at the pet store seems quite knowledgable, as I have spoken to her a few times, and as I described fish, she was quite sure it was ich. The do free water testing, and the the only issue she said the ph was just a little bit low, and the nitrites were just a wee bit high. It was time for the weekly water change anyways, so that should help the water.
But would anyone know if I can use the plant 'food' the same time I am using the ich medication?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi kendan

How are your fish doing now?

You have been given some wrong information about the problems in your tank. First, corys don't get ich. If any of them have white stuff on them, it's from bacterial infection not ich, although your other fish might have it. From the way you describe your cory's behavior, it does sound bacterial. It's possible that you could have both things going on at the same time too. The treatment for one thing is very different than the treatment of the other, so it's important that you make a proper diagnosis.

Second, there is no such thing as having the nitrites "just a wee bit high." If you have any of them at all, your tank is not cycled and you could be in for major problems.

Please ask her to give you the readings in numbers and post them here where we can help you get things put right. Above all, don't do anything to alter the pH!

 

[kendan]

Hi,
the danio, which has the ick, is looking a bit better. the cory's also seem a bit more active, however one of them is still lying on his side and when he tries to swim its excessive erratic. He seems to have no sense of direction or any swimming abilities anymore.
I hope to make it to the pet store this week sometimes, and I'll see if I can get another water test.