Cory Question

[cor2008]

Hi,

Cant believe I have another problem with a fish flicking against bogwood after successfully treating white spot last week.
Last Thursday I moved the barbs out of the tank and added 3 peppered corydoras(temporary holding tank). They are all looking really healthy and eating but 1 has been flicking for a few days(not a lot though). It started on Saturday but has gotten worse tonight. have looked at him very carefully and definitely no white spots or any symptom that i have read about with velvet or flukes (looks like gold on skin but i have looked at a lot of pictures on the net and this just looks normal rather than velvet). He/she is breathing normally, very active, eating etc. In the cory section i got advice not to treat for white spot because corys rarely contact it. But what do i do now, the flicking is definitely getting worse but he looks perfect. From all the reading i have done it sounds like it has the greatest chance of being flukes but i just dont know. Would it be a bad idea to treat for flukes or take a chance and do nothing.

Tank is 60l, fully cycled nearly 2 months ago.
Corys have been in the tank since last thursday
10% water change done yesterday
Reading today: ammonia=0; nitrite=0; nitrate=5ish
Temp = 25c
Airstone running 12 hours a day

Thanks again for any help I can get

 

[WILDER]

Corys I agree are not prone to whitespot.
Do any other fish have whitespot in the tank.
Corys do flick now and then.
Any meds still in the tank?

Signs of skin and gill flukes are.
Opaque body with excess slime.
Red inflamed gills, or pale gills with excess mucas.
Flicking and rubbing against objects in the tank.
Laboured breathing, or gasping at the surface of the tank.
Weightloss sometimes.
Swimming in a jerky movement.
Sores on the body of the fish.
Spitting food out.
Erratic swimming.

 

[cor2008]

Hi Wilder,

I am really sorry to be bothering you with problems again and really appreciate the help.

I just saw a second cory flicking off the gravel just now. The first guy is starting to increase the rate of flicking.
The tank only contains the 3 corys.

So far:

no sign of slime
gills are red on the inside (but i think this may just be the natural colour, i think?)
Breathing is normal, they do go to the surface for a quick breath every now and then (i read though that this is also normal for corys)
No spores visable
Eating twice a day (they spit it out through gills sometimes but re-eat it)
No sores that i can see
Very active - either searching the gravel for food or swimming up & down the glass

Its weird all their signs are good but something is definitely wrong because the flicking is increasing steadily.

Thanks again

 

[WILDER]

Do the gills look inflamed.
How long have you had the corys.
Do the corys swim odd.
Gill Flukes



Symptoms:

Fish with gill flukes have gills that may appear red and inflamed, bleeding or slimy. Excess mucous or puss may exude from the gills. Sick fish can be observed gasping for air near the surface. This disease is most common in younger fish and fry, who are more susceptible to the parasite.



Cause:

The monogenetic fluke Dactylogyrus, which destroys gill tissue and damages blood vessels in this region.



Treatment:

Treat with Clout, Fluke Tabs, Paraform, Trifon, Paragon, Quick Cure, Formalin, orParasite Guard. Gill flukes are highly contagious, therefore, all fish in the same aquarium should be treated.

 

[cor2008]

Got the fish last thursday. Since then they have looked really healthy except for the flicking. Even now 2 of them are flicking every so often. Other than that they look perfect. The inside of the gills do look red in all 3 but im not sure if thats just the way they should look. They dont look inflamed though. The only odd thing i can think about their swimming is that they kept swimming back & forth through the airstone for about an hour. It was well funny but not sure its normal

Tried to take a picture there but comes out too blurry

 

[WILDER]

Ok.
Check in the cory section about red gills as my panda cory gills don't look red.
If it not normal they could have gills flukes with the flicking.
My last remaining cory plays in the airstone he loves it.

 

[cor2008]

Yea its really funny watching them swim through it, i was thinking that maybe it was a way of relieving the itch but probably not.

Yea had a good look at the inside of the gills there (had to coax them over with a tiny bit of food and the inside of the gills is sort of a pinkish maybe rather than a red. Its frustrating knowing that something is wrong but not knowing what exactly what is it- Flukes, velvet or white spot.

Think the one who is flicking the worst is starting to look a bit paler than the other 2 aswell. Flicking is definitely starting to increase

 

[WILDER]

Give them another day and get back to the board.
Whitespot look like a fish has been sprinkled in salt.
Velvet can have a few diguises from looking like they have been dusted in talc, a golden dust appearance, or a rusty varnish.
A greyish blue film on a fish can be parasites.

Are they rubbing there gills or body on plants or the substrate.

 

[WILDER]

What parasite meds do you have and what do they treat.

 

[WILDER]

You don't have any fine particles in the water do you that making them flick.

 

[cor2008]

As far as i can see the water is crystal clear

They seem to be rubbing their gills or just underneath their head on bogwood and gravel. Iv noticed the flicking get a lot more frequent in the last hour.

I can see some gold on the body but i did a google search on peppered corys and in the pictures the gold appears on most of them (i think)

At the moment i have Interpet Anti Internal Bacterial No 9 and King British White Spot Control. Ill have them all soon at the rate im going

Im thinking of getting something to treat flukes tomorrow (or velvet, i just dont know what it is)

I definitely want to catch whatevers wrong in time

 

[WILDER]

It hard when they have gold on them if its there colouring or velvet.
I would go with a waterlife med.
The problem with flukes is that some are egg layers and you can be treating up to 4 weeks
As you have to kill the young when they hatch.
Also corys you have to half dose.
Get you a link to the med.
http/www.waterlife.co.uk/waterlife/sterazin.htm

 

[WILDER]

I would get the waterlife med that I have left a link to.
Good luck.

 

[cor2008]

Hey Wilder thanks again for your help. I havent seen waterlife in my lfs but ill have a look.

They usually stock king british. If they dont have waterlife i might try King British Methylene Blue: Methylene Blue is one of the best known active ingredients in fish treatments, traditionally used to treat slime disease, flukes, white spot & velvet & fungus on fish eggs.

Thanks again

 

[WILDER]

Becareful with methylene blue as some of them wipe the benefical bacteria out in your filter.
I bought the king british methylene blue and that not meant to wipe benefical bacteria out.
It stains ornaments so remove them if you don't want them turning blue lol.

I would only half dose with corys.