False julii cory missing whiskers - looks very bad

[Neonlights]

I have 3 false julii cory which all have been living happily with 2 Dwarf Petricola catfish, a betta and a loach. I just noticed tonight though that one of them is missing both whiskers and what appears to be the whole front of their mouth!

I first I was concerned it had been attacked but none of the fish seem capable of doing that. My substrate in sand and syphoned weekly with a 40% water change and parameters are good. Could it have caught its whiskers between some of the small clay rocks I have in the tank?

He seems happy though, is swimming around and I’ve put in stress guard. What else can I do to help it?

 

[Colin_T]

Not sure if the fish is still alive but it has a bacterial infection on the mouth. It doesn't look like mouth fungus (Columnaris) but it has an infection.

Waterlife Myxazin or Triple Sulpha (Tri Sulfa) should fix it.

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To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

There are 3.785 litres in a US Gallon
There are 4.5 litres in a UK gallon

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water. Most fish medications reduce the oxygen carrying capacity of water so extra aeration helps the fish.

 

[Neonlights]

Not sure if the fish is still alive but it has a bacterial infection on the mouth. It doesn't look like mouth fungus (Columnaris) but it has an infection.

Waterlife Myxazin or Triple Sulpha (Tri Sulfa) should fix it.

---------------------

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

There are 3.785 litres in a US Gallon
There are 4.5 litres in a UK gallon

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

---------------------

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water. Most fish medications reduce the oxygen carrying capacity of water so extra aeration helps the fish.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

He is still alive though a little less active this morning. I’ll go tocthe fish shop later to buy treatment. I take it it’s safe to use with the other fish still in the tank?

 

[Colin_T]

Yeah, both those medications are safe for all sorts of fish. If you have a quarantine tank, you could move the fish into that so you use less medication and won't need to spend as much buying a big bottle.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello Neon. Perform a bit larger than normal water change. When the water is at its lowest point, check for anything that might be harmful to the fish. Abrasive decorations, driftwood or rocks and hurt the barbels. Remove anything that might be harmful. Just keep the water clean and in many cases, the barbels can heal to their normal conditions.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Neonlights]

Huge clean and 50% water change done, plants and moss pruned, treatment in, fingers-crossed! Took me over 2hrs but hopefully worth it, I love my little band of 3 corys.

 

[AlexT]

Huge clean and 50% water change done, plants and moss pruned, treatment in, fingers-crossed! Took me over 2hrs but hopefully worth it, I love my little band of 3 corys.

All the best, I got issues with mine at the moment. Hopefully it dies down. The stressful part of the hobby! Hope your dude returns to his former glory

 

[Neonlights]

All the best, I got issues with mine at the moment. Hopefully it dies down. The stressful part of the hobby! Hope your dude returns to his former glory

Thanks. I doubt he’ll fully recover but the guys in the aquatic shop seem to think he’ll survive and some it the damage will repair. As long as he survives and has quality of life that’s all I care about. Best of luck with yours!

 

[Naughts]

Probably unrelated to the infection but relevant long term - the cories need soft water and the catfish need hard water. Do you know what your water hardness (GH) is?

 

[Neonlights]

I just bought a new testing kit so will know accurately soon (have been using those paper strip tests but invested in a proper kit). Guess it’s best to wait until the treatment has run its course.

 

[Naughts]

I just bought a new testing kit so will know accurately soon (have been using those paper strip tests but invested in a proper kit). Guess it’s best to wait until the treatment has run its course.

If your test kit doesn't measure GH, you can look it up on your water provider's webpage water quality report.

 

[Colin_T]

Probably unrelated to the infection but relevant long term - the cories need soft water and the catfish need hard water. Do you know what your water hardness (GH) is?

what does that mean?

 

[Essjay]

She means cories need soft water while dwarf petricola catfish need hard water.

I have 3 false julii cory which all have been living happily with 2 Dwarf Petricola catfish........

 

[Gamegurl564]

Is Melafix an appropriate treatment for that?

 

[Gamegurl564]

Sorry, didn't see an edit option. My Cory's have the same issue with their poor little mouths.
I have to move them to a ten while I do some work on my bigger tank.
They are active eating well, I have bumped their food up to high protein diet, weekly water changes, and removed all gravel, only sand now. 3 of the four look to be growing back their barbels but my tiny male not as much.
I know he's screwing his brains out, new eggs daily.
Love these guys and want only the best.
If I need to treat them now would bea good time, just need to know what med.
Thanks