Corydoras Indented Tummy

[jameshunter63]

My stupid brother thought it would be a good idea to buy 8 new cory trili's from a tank with a dying betta. Iv been at uni and they sent pics and all corys looked healthy. Iv come home yesterday night and today noticed one of them on his side by the filter. He looked ill but then decided to try and swim directly upward for about 10 mins straight!!
I thought it would be a good time to have a look at him, so coaxed him to my hand.
It seems like he has a majorly indented tummy inbetween his two bottom fins. Also has redder patches around his gills. Wondering if it may be worms or something else??
i will try and get a photo but it is very hard to get one of such a small fish in a big tank when its a bottom dweller.
any help would be appreciated.

james

 

[jameshunter63]

can no one help?
im really worried if its contajeous and so dont want the whole tank to die out.
james

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Sunken in tummy can mean fish tb, internal parasites, bacterial, the fish is starving.
Red gills, bad water quality, gill flukes, bacterial gill rot.

Does the cory also show any of these signs.
Looking skinny or bloated.
Enlarged anus, red inflamed anus.
Worms sticking out of the anus.
Long stringy white poo, clear mucas poo, all fish.
Bent spine.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Excess mucas.
Darting, erratic swimming.
Swimming in a jerky movment.
Red sores or red pin prick marks on the fish body or gills.

 

[jameshunter63]

190l,
water stats, ammonia, 0 nitraite, 0 and nitrate, 25ish and Ph 7.8

fish 12 harlequins (large ones so not small enough for angles to have a snack on)
1 large angle (Top fin to bottom fin about 4.5 inch)
4 smaller angles (" 2 inch)
1 BN pleco
8 trili corys (1 ill)

all poo is fine for all other fish, the others look good too. its just the one thats acting funny at the moment. He's led in the corner now, sunken belly, redish gills, occasionally swims a tad strange, directly up for long periods of time but if not doing this he just lies on his belly in the corner.

Iv used a tetra treatment i have that is a general bacteria and parasitical medicine after a 50% water change earlier. Im hoping this may do the trick. Im also starting a course of blood worms with some garlic to hopefully improve imune system of the other fish.
the treatment contains ethacridine-lactate, acriflavine, methylene blue and 9-aminoacridine-hydrochloride.

The trouble is as i havent been here i dont know if its the state the fish were in at the LFS or if its something to do with the tank.
Some of the other corys like to swim up and down the glass when the lights off but they are normal when it is on.

Hope you can help
Jsmes

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank?
What's the make of the test kit you are using?

Need to rule out bad water quality with the gills being red.

Is he gasping or laboured breathing.
it sounds bacterial to me if the poo normal.
Just need to rule out gill flukes with the gills being red, bad water quality.

 

[jameshunter63]

I think 190l is 44 uk gallons? not 100% sure though.

Umm, the kit is a "interpet easy test kit". Bought when i first got into fish keeping, about 10 years ago so not sure if its 100% reliable now.

iv looked up fluke, it doesnt look like this. More looks like a slight blood shot type thing just behind the gills. It could be bad water quality though as i havent been here to test lately and clean, and the test i did do was after a large 50% water change.

We are however currently running the internal juwel filter and an external for the last month until hope christmas once the external has cycled. The brother has said he has been doing 40% cleaning once a week but i dont know if that is the case.

With the breathing, he is kind of lead on the bottom breathing deep and slow.

thank you for the time and help
james

 

[WILDER]

The test kit well out of date.
I would invest in some new liquid test kits.
I wouldn't advise buying test strip cards as there not that accurate.

Take a sample of your water to the lfs and ask them to write the readings down for you.



Water change.
If you can't isolate the poorly fish you will need to add the bacterial med to the main tank.
Also soak the sick fish food in garlic juice to boost immune system, and appetite.

UK.
Double dose anti internal bacteria med by interpet.
You can double dose in severe cases.

If anymore symtoms appear get back to the board.
Keep a look out for curved or bent spine.

 

[jameshunter63]

yea i thought the test kit may be.
umm, im in the south west near bristol. Will get to the LFS first thing tomorrow morning to get a kit. liquid sounds good if i can, if not ill buy some refills and get a liquid kit online.

The food has already gone in, 1 and a half cubes of blood worm in garlic juices. i often feed this but doesnt seem like its been done since iv been away. Am also preparing some frozen cucumber cubes in garlic so they can be plopped in over the next couple of weeks for a more enriched diet.

Iv had to treat the whole tank, annoyingly, for 2 reasons. 1 the small tank is not ready at all for a hospital tank, and secondly i dont know if this is from the LFS or our tank, so i thought it would be best to treat all the fish incase they all started dying off.

thanks for the help
James

 

[WILDER]

Ok.

If you do change meds you will have to preform a water change, and run some fresh black carbon for 24 hours.

Lets us all know how you get on if you don't mind.
Good Luck.

 

[jameshunter63]

ok, thank you so much. just hope with some tlc they will all be ok.
I will hopefully post back in the next few days but only home till tuesday then back to uni. writing a list for the brother to look after them properly and making them a varied diet but we shall see. Hope he does it properly. I want to breed these in a couple of years time once mature.

thank you so much for the advice, i hope it is bacterial and can be cleared up.
ill also post the results of the tests tomorrow so we shall see if it is being looked after well.

thank you
james

 

[WILDER]

Good Luck.

 

[jameshunter63]

Bought the liquid test kit from a LFS and the results are similar
ammonia 0.1 , nitrite 0 , but nitrates are rather high at 45.

After adding the medication yesterday my tank has turned a nice bright green colour. Quite strange but hey. Also the sick cory seemed to eat when fed this morning. He is still quite lethargic but we shall see over the next couple of days.

The other corys seem to be doing fine and are now starting to school together which is quite sweet, and the other fish are showing no signs of illness as well which is pleasing.

Lets hope all continues and that the medication will clear up any infection that may have occured.

james

 

[WILDER]

Thanks for the update.


You have a slight ammonia reading so water change and add the correct amount of med back to water removed.

What your tap nitrate reading?

 

[jameshunter63]

so i should say remove 30% and just med that 30% again. Ill shall get on that tonight once iv finished doing my work.

Tap waters reading at around 20. Not sure if this is high though for tap water. Im gunu get them to start doing a smaller water change mid week to hopefully get the nitrate concentration down.

james

 

[WILDER]

Yes. Just add the correct amount of med back to water removed from the water change.

Your tank nitrate reading should be around your tap nitrate reading.
Maybe just slightly higher.