Cory Missing Half It's Face.

[Channti]

Walked in to turn off the lights on the 10 gallon and almost cried. I found one of my panda corys missing half his face. Swimming around fine, but appears to have had the front section from just in front of his right eye to the side of his mouth chewed off.

THere is no damage to his barbels, his breathing is normal, showing some redness (possibly blood), but doesn't appear to be bleeding, but he's looking like something out of a horror movie. The section damaged is about 2mm wide and 2mm long.

I'm terrified. Is there anything I can do for him, or would I be better to just euthanize him? I've got him in a little 1/4 gallon jar at the moment, I have a 1.5 gallon bowl (with sponge filter and heater) he can be put into as well if there is a more long-term treatment.

He was in a 10 gallon tank temporarily with 4 other panda corys, 3 peppered corys, and 4 otocinclus.
What could have done this to it?

excuse the fuzzy pix, I lent a friend my good camera and I'm working with an old piece of junk that doesn't focus properly.

 

[»äshleÿ«]

If he seems to be fine I'd keep him in a QT tank with water a tad warmer than normal and a little bit of aquarium salt. Will help quicken the healing process and he should be fine in no time

 

[Channti]

his face is missing quite a chunk though. it goes about 2mm deep too... I can see all the inner tissues.... I'm concerned that he may be in pain without my noticing a difference in behaviour. I wouldn't have even noticed there was a problem if I hadn't done a "head check" in that tank and counted everyone.


EDIT:

I've moved him into a 1.5 gallon bowl. Put in some sand a couple live plants for some cover. He'll be there with a sponge filter until the morning. Tomorrow morning I'm going to the drug store to get some clove oil. I can't bear to have him in more pain than necessary, and the humane and unselfish thing to do would be to euthanize him. At least for his last few hours, he'll be as comfortable as I can make him. After a few hours of observation, I've decided that euthanization is the best option. I -had- clove oil, but of course I can't find it now that I need it.

I'd like this thread left open though as I still have no idea what caused the damage. Could my otos have gone "rogue"? They'd lived peacefully with those corys for MONTHS now without any issues, plus with guppies and serpae tetras. Could another cory have done this?

 

[Katty]

I have heard that sometimes otos will suck on a fish and leave sores on it. Not to say I know whether this is what had happened or not. Is there anything rough in the tank he could have run into? I really don't believe another corydora is even capable of causing damage.

So far from what you've mentioned the corydora doesn't sound to be too bad right now. I can't really tell how bad it is from the pictures but I'd personally hold off on euthanasia until he starts to actually look in poor health other than the wound on his face (not swimming, erratic or lack of breathing, etc). If he's swimming around, perky, and breathing fine it doesn't really sound like a dire case. Animals can and do hide pain, but he might be able to spring right back and live a long healthy life if you give him a couple days and some good care instead of jumping to conclusions.

 

[Channti]

2 hours after I edited my post last night, I Found the cory dead. The extent of the damage was pretty bad. I"ll post some pictures I snapped of the dead body.

I'd still like to know what caused the damage... There's nothing rough in the tank that could have done this; all silk or soft plastic plants (as in; betta friendly plastic plants).

 

[Katty]

that camera sure loves to focus on anything but the subject. Are it's whiskers missing too?

Perhaps it's some sort of bacterial infection? Hopefully someone else will come in here with some better ideas. Just watch all of the fish like a hawk for the next few days I suppose.

 

[Channti]

It literally looked like someone gouged out a portion of his face. I could see the entire of it's eyeball. No whiskers were missing though.... which was strange. All the whiskers were intact.

I've done body-checks on all of the fish in that tank. The only oddity was an oto showing almost white stress colouring, but he coloured up within 5 minutes of the light being on...

No idea what did it... I wouldn't have thought that a bacterial infection could work as quickly to form that severe of an injury in such a short period of time... if there were big fish in the tank, I'd have said that one of them did it... but there were none... no suspects... so I have no idea.

I'm at a total loss....

 

[Luzi]

I think it's most likely he injured himself on an ornament as your fish are pretty peaceful and cors are relatively big, but i can't be sure

 

[Channti]

The only ornaments in the tank are:
2 terracotta pots, turned on their side for use as caves (not broken, completely smooth).
betta-safe plastic plants on suction cups (no sharp plastic bases)
silk plants (with the ceramic weights built into them)
1 Tetra 100w heater
1 Elite Hush 20 Filter
Small smooth gravel.

The tank was originally set up for guppies, so I avoided all sharp edges to ensure no ripped fins.
The panda corys are about an inch in length. The peppered corys are closer to 2 inches.
My panda corys are fully grown, as are the pepppeed corys. My otos are 2.5, 2.5, 1.5, 1.5 inches in length (4 of them).
Could an oto have done this?....

 

[keshinvk]

i feel bad for u that Cory looks pretty bad PS i think the Cory dung himself into the gravel and hurt itself mine did that once

 

[matt_storey]

i feel bad for u that Cory looks pretty bad PS i think the Cory dung himself into the gravel and hurt itself mine did that once

Im sure the cory was in tank with sand substrate.

is it possible it could have been startled by something and swam into one of the pots or plant bases at speed?

 

[Harlequins]

Aww poor cory

Has you haven't anything sharp in your tank and its mainly cories,all i can think its the otos,i also have heard about otos attaching themselves to fish and sucking holes into them...

I thought otos only reached max 2 inches,are you defo they are otos and not the similar looking sucking algae eaters which are notorious for inflicting damage to fish...just a thought...