Help! False Julii Cory has scratches

[Neonlights]

Two days ago when I was doing some tank maintenance my cory began shooting all over the tank like mad. Yesterday I noticed he was slightly off balance and he looks the same today so I looked more closely and can see two small vertical scratches on one side that are bright red.

I’ve just put in my last 5ml of stressguard (apparently they stopped selling it in the UK) and unfortunately I’ll now be away for 4 days (!). Is there anything I should do or can do to help him heal?

 

[CassCats]

First I would check and see what he could have cut himself on. Do a water change as well before you go.

Second add some Indian almond leaves for the tannins. He will respond best to that for a holistic treatment. It's both antifungal and antibacterial. Remove carbon from your filter if you have it. If that doesn't work and he gets worse, then you may have to resort to medication to treat any infection. But natural methods are better to try first.

Sometimes all wounds need are clean water and a little bit of tannins or salt. Given he is a corydoras from a habitat that's softwater and often stained with tannins naturally, he will benefit more from this over the option of salt, which salt isnt great with corydoras.

 

[Neonlights]

First I would check and see what he could have cut himself on. Do a water change as well before you go.

Second add some Indian almond leaves for the tannins. He will respond best to that for a holistic treatment. It's both antifungal and antibacterial. Remove carbon from your filter if you have it. If that doesn't work and he gets worse, then you may have to resort to medication to treat any infection. But natural methods are better to try first.

Sometimes all wounds need are clean water and a little bit of tannins or salt. Given he is a corydoras from a habitat that's softwater and often stained with tannins naturally, he will benefit more from this over the option of salt, which salt isnt great with corydoras.

Thanks for the advice! Luckily I did a clean today and a 40-50% water change.

I think he must have scratched himself on some small rocks on the bottom as there’s nothing else remotely sharpe in there. I’ll remove the couple that are in the tank in case.

I don’t have carbon in my filter, just pads but I don’t have Indian almond leaves and no idea where I’d buy them. I also have an early flight so no opportunity to pick anything up. Hopefully 4 days of no one around to spook him and the water change will be enough to help. If not, I guess I’ll have to go the medicine route next week but that’s problematic as I don’t have a quarantine tank and I have shrimp in my aquarium.

 

[MaloK]

It really depends on the depth of the wound.

Only you, really knows the "thickness" of your water.

The appropriate thing you can do range from a water change to a light remedy like melafix. Or a lot more resolved resolutions.

Even nothing you can do could make it... It really depends only how bad the fish was crushed upon incident.

I try to move... Nothing. And as soon there's weird reactions. I quit doing on the spot.

Next steps are to try again and quit ASAP... And again... Until resolution comes.

But there is no guaranty of anything. I had lots of Gouramies. Some where racing to the food off my hand and other would jump out the tank as soon as my hand touch the water.

In the same tank.

 

[Neonlights]

Got back from my trip and his wounds had completelt healed, which I was really pleased about. However, another issue is persisting and that’s that he sits off balance on the substrate like he’s lop-sided. This has been going on for a couple weeks and his barbells all seem intact so I can’t figure out what’s wrong. Any ideas?

 

[Colin_T]

Some fish sleep on their side, some on their back, some upside down. It might be just how that fish likes to sleep now. As long as it's eating well and doing normal coloured poop, it shouldn't be an issue, especially if the fish is only doing it when resting.

 

[Neonlights]

@Colin_T thanks! He only does it when resting and eats normally, I was just concerned as it’s a new thing he’s doing.

 

[Neonlights]

I’m really concerned about my cory. I noticed him scratching on the substrate (sand) again this week so did a 45% water change yesterday. In the evening I noticed his side was badly grazed again and a bit “bloody”. I still can’t figure out what he’s scratched himself on, could it be the itching on the sand?

He’s been in the aquarium for about 18 months and there’s nothing new in it and I’ve never had this problem with him before.

I’m going to do another water test but considering I did a large water change yesterday, how long should I wait until I test it again?

 

[Colin_T]

If there's a water quality problem you can re-test the tank water an hour after a water change.

Post a picture of the fish showing the red side. It might be a bacterial infection.

How long has it been rubbing on things?
rubbing on objects can be an external protozoan infection like white spot, velvet, Costia, Chilodonella or Trichodina. White spot and velvet are introduced to an aquarium from an infected fish or contaminated water. The other 3 parasites can build up in numbers and generally occur in dirty or overcrowded tanks, or tanks that get a lot of meat based foods. A dirty filter can also encourage them. Cleaning the tank up and adding salt (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres for 2 weeks) normally treats the 3 latter parasites.

 

[Neonlights]

@Colin_T thanks for the advice. I can’t see anything external on him. No new fish have been added so I don’t think it’s anything external and I wash out the filter pads weekly (in aquarium water) but clearly something is irritating him. I’ll take another close look at him this evening when the aquarium lights come on and also test the water in the meantime.

Is there a particular salt you’d recommend and would be ok with the other inhabitants (fish and amarno shrimp)?

 

[Colin_T]

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for 2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water (2 litres or 1/2 gallon) and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[Neonlights]

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for 2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water (2 litres or 1/2 gallon) and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

That’s great, thanks. I’ll order some salt now on Amazon and get some photos of the cory and post them here in case you or anyone else can/does spot something going on externally.

 

[Colin_T]

A video of the fish rubbing on things will provide info too.
Upload video to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on either end.

 

[Neonlights]

A video of the fish rubbing on things will provide info too.
Upload video to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on either end.

He doesn’t do it consistently but if he does I’ll film it (I only ever film landscape. I can’t understand why people at concerts mostly film in portrait mode.)

 

[Neonlights]

@Colin_T here are 2 videos:

And a photo showing the graze (which thankfully looks better today)