Help Identifying fungal like disease (Fish keeps moving, so images aren't perfect)

[vaironl]

Hello all! It's been such a long time, since I have been using one of these traditional forums, but posting this on Reddit had no responses so am hoping to receive some advice. I have done some reading online, but my naiveti is not helping. Here is the post I made:

Do any of you happen to know what these skin issues may be and how can I treat it? One of my Cory Cats recently got two noticeable spots that seemed to have a fungal (cotton like) texture on them. I sometimes let the food sit for hours because neither them or my Pleco will eat it right away, I understand this is a bad practice as it has been messing my water parameters, but they will sometimes leave the whole wafers even when I drop them after a day of no food to see if they get hungry enough. My wafers are Hiraki Tropical Algae Wafers, I've read these may be low quality, any recommendations are appreciated. I have tried capturing this image so many times but the fish is frequently moving around.

On a total separate side note, I believe I have been neglecting my fish (i.e. leave the food there for 12-24 hours) so they can eat it and clearly is affecting the health of the fish, I am very reluctant to give them away, but since getting my dog who has lots of behavioral issues my water parameters and care of the fish has taken a toll. I seem to not take care of them well enough, what is the best way to make sure they make it to a good home if I decided to rehome? I contacted the LFS and they said they would take them, I am just not ready to give them away.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

It's hard to tell but it's most likely excess mucous covering a wound or an external protozoan infection.

If it was a water quality issue, the entire fish would be covered in excess mucous and have a cream/ white film over its entire body.

-------------------
WHAT TO DO NOW?
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 them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

-------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres 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 at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

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.

 

[Colin_T]

Corydoras prefer meat based food over plant based. You can use shrimp pellets, or a variety of frozen foods like bloodworms, brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis shrimp, raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp.

Try feeding them after lights out or put some floating plants (Water Sprite is a good plant) in the tank. Most catfish are nocturnal and sleep during the day and feed at night.

Remove any food after a couple of hours to stop it producing ammonia and causing the nitrates to go up rapidly.

If you only have 1 or 2 Corydoras, get more. they do best in groups of 6 or more of their own kind.

Have some driftwood in the tank for the pleco.

You should increase the lighting time to encourage algae to grow on the glass for the pleco.

-------------------
Test the tank water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. If the nitrates are above 20ppm, this can cause fish to get sick and go off their food.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.

 

[Colin_T]

since getting my dog who has lots of behavioral issues my water parameters and care of the fish has taken a toll.

Most issues that dogs have are caused by people letting the dog rule the house and become top dog.

What issues does your dog have?

If you feed your dog after the humans eat, the dog will accept it is lower down the pecking order and be less of an issue.

Don't let the dog sleep on you or your bed. A dog's bed should be lower than the human's bed and dogs should never be allowed to jump on you and sleep or sit on you. If you have a small dog and pick it up and put it on your lap to pat, that is fine but you should instigate this and the dog should not automatically jump on you whenever it wants. That is a sign of a dog dominating the owner.

Take the dog for a walk every day and let it run around and sniff things. They need to socialise with other people and animals and they need to spend at least an hour a day out and about in public exploring things. Imagine how you would feel being stuck in the house or backyard all day every day and having no contact with the outside world. That is what happens to lots of dogs that never go out for a walk. Feed yourself and the dog after you get back from the walk and not before the walk.

When you get home, don't automatically go to your dog and pat it. When you get home, put your stuff away and wander around a bit. The dog will probably jump up and down and say pat me, pat me, pat me. Wait until the dog settles down and then call it over and pat it.

 

[Sgooosh]

Most issues that dogs have are caused by people letting the dog rule the house and become top dog.

What issues does your dog have?

If you feed your dog after the humans eat, the dog will accept it is lower down the pecking order and be less of an issue.

Don't let the dog sleep on you or your bed. A dog's bed should be lower than the human's bed and dogs should never be allowed to jump on you and sleep or sit on you. If you have a small dog and pick it up and put it on your lap to pat, that is fine but you should instigate this and the dog should not automatically jump on you whenever it wants. That is a sign of a dog dominating the owner.

Take the dog for a walk every day and let it run around and sniff things. They need to socialise with other people and animals and they need to spend at least an hour a day out and about in public exploring things. Imagine how you would feel being stuck in the house or backyard all day every day and having no contact with the outside world. That is what happens to lots of dogs that never go out for a walk. Feed yourself and the dog after you get back from the walk and not before the walk.

When you get home, don't automatically go to your dog and pat it. When you get home, put your stuff away and wander around a bit. The dog will probably jump up and down and say pat me, pat me, pat me. Wait until the dog settles down and then call it over and pat it.

dont peck the dog to set a pecking order.
important rule!

 

[DoubleDutch]

Corydoras prefer meat based food over plant based. You can use shrimp pellets, or a variety of frozen foods like bloodworms, brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis shrimp, raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp.

Try feeding them after lights out or put some floating plants (Water Sprite is a good plant) in the tank. Most catfish are nocturnal and sleep during the day and feed at night.

Remove any food after a couple of hours to stop it producing ammonia and causing the nitrates to go up rapidly.

If you only have 1 or 2 Corydoras, get more. they do best in groups of 6 or more of their own kind.

Have some driftwood in the tank for the pleco.

You should increase the lighting time to encourage algae to grow on the glass for the pleco.

-------------------
Test the tank water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. If the nitrates are above 20ppm, this can cause fish to get sick and go off their food.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.

Agree for the fullest. Cory don't get a lot of nutrition from algaewafers and in normal conditions will eat food instantly.
The fact that it is in for hours is a sign.
The mucus probably is a reaction on the answer given yourself (waterparameters).

So I'd change food (shrimpellets for the Cory as staple and vegs for the pleco) and do some maintenance (filter + waterchanges).

 

[vaironl]

Hi and welcome to the forum

It's hard to tell but it's most likely excess mucous covering a wound or an external protozoan infection.

If it was a water quality issue, the entire fish would be covered in excess mucous and have a cream/ white film over its entire body.

-------------------
WHAT TO DO NOW?
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 them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

-------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres 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 at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

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.

Thank you for the advice, help and time! I’m currently using API conditioner to dechlorinate the water. Will leave the filter alone since I just upgraded to a marine land about 4 weeks ago.



I also began using API Pimafix shortly before posting this, one day of use thus far, should I immediately discontinue this in favor of the salt or do both? For the water changes I will have times in the next couple of weeks where I will be away with family for 1-2 days would those gaps be ok since I will not be able to do a water change?

 

[vaironl]

Corydoras prefer meat based food over plant based. You can use shrimp pellets, or a variety of frozen foods like bloodworms, brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis shrimp, raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp.

Try feeding them after lights out or put some floating plants (Water Sprite is a good plant) in the tank. Most catfish are nocturnal and sleep during the day and feed at night.

Remove any food after a couple of hours to stop it producing ammonia and causing the nitrates to go up rapidly.

If you only have 1 or 2 Corydoras, get more. they do best in groups of 6 or more of their own kind.

Have some driftwood in the tank for the pleco.

You should increase the lighting time to encourage algae to grow on the glass for the pleco.

-------------------
Test the tank water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. If the nitrates are above 20ppm, this can cause fish to get sick and go off their food.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.

Corydoras prefer meat based food over plant based. You can use shrimp pellets, or a variety of frozen foods like bloodworms, brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis shrimp, raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp.

Try feeding them after lights out or put some floating plants (Water Sprite is a good plant) in the tank. Most catfish are nocturnal and sleep during the day and feed at night.

Remove any food after a couple of hours to stop it producing ammonia and causing the nitrates to go up rapidly.

If you only have 1 or 2 Corydoras, get more. they do best in groups of 6 or more of their own kind.

Have some driftwood in the tank for the pleco.

You should increase the lighting time to encourage algae to grow on the glass for the pleco.

-------------------
Test the tank water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. If the nitrates are above 20ppm, this can cause fish to get sick and go off their food.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.

Thanks again for this added advice! I got some freeze dried bloodworms for the corys. Based on one of the other comments will keep the Algae wafers and just reduce the amount, I’m worried that the Pleco will keep ignoring it. I do have a large piece of Driftwood, some decorations and some plants (non floating) for them. I also have the lights do about 8 hours/day which has caused some algae to grow but not a great amount. I recorded the Pleco and she does become quiet active and seems to be more into the glass algae than the Wafer . Had no idea corys were also nocturnal.

 

[vaironl]

Most issues that dogs have are caused by people letting the dog rule the house and become top dog.

What issues does your dog have?

If you feed your dog after the humans eat, the dog will accept it is lower down the pecking order and be less of an issue.

Don't let the dog sleep on you or your bed. A dog's bed should be lower than the human's bed and dogs should never be allowed to jump on you and sleep or sit on you. If you have a small dog and pick it up and put it on your lap to pat, that is fine but you should instigate this and the dog should not automatically jump on you whenever it wants. That is a sign of a dog dominating the owner.

Take the dog for a walk every day and let it run around and sniff things. They need to socialise with other people and animals and they need to spend at least an hour a day out and about in public exploring things. Imagine how you would feel being stuck in the house or backyard all day every day and having no contact with the outside world. That is what happens to lots of dogs that never go out for a walk. Feed yourself and the dog after you get back from the walk and not before the walk.

When you get home, don't automatically go to your dog and pat it. When you get home, put your stuff away and wander around a bit. The dog will probably jump up and down and say pat me, pat me, pat me. Wait until the dog settles down and then call it over and pat it.

I don’t mean to offend on this but these is based on alpha dog or dominance theory which was disproved a while ago, partially by the same researcher. I only know because my dog has separation anxiety and I take her to a boarded veterinary behaviorist, so I’ve learned a lot from them and after almost a whole year of using the method you suggested we are now seeing results with the vet behaviorist . Again, don’t mean to offend but it’s outdated knowledge.

 

[vaironl]

Agree for the fullest. Cory don't get a lot of nutrition from algaewafers and in normal conditions will eat food instantly.
The fact that it is in for hours is a sign.
The mucus probably is a reaction on the answer given yourself (waterparameters).

So I'd change food (shrimpellets for the Cory as staple and vegs for the pleco) and do some maintenance (filter + waterchanges).

Thanks for adding advice and guiding me here! So I should also take out the Algae Wafers and use veggies safe for Pleco? Zucchini is the one I am most familiar with. I just got bloodworm for them.

 

[Colin_T]

Just do a water change and add some salt. Stop using the pimafix and see if salt helps.

If the filter is only 4 weeks old, monitor ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm.

Separation anxiety in dogs is normally caused by the owners letting the dog become top dog and then it stresses out when the people leave the house. If your vet's advice is working, then continue using it

 

[DoubleDutch]

Thanks for adding advice and guiding me here! So I should also take out the Algae Wafers and use veggies safe for Pleco? Zucchini is the one I am most familiar with. I just got bloodworm for them.

If the pleco isn't going for the algaewafers I'd skip those for some time and feed fresh vegs for the pleco. Bloodworms are good to add to both their diet but variate (get shrimppellets as staplefood for corys)

 

[vaironl]

Just do a water change and add some salt. Stop using the pimafix and see if salt helps.

If the filter is only 4 weeks old, monitor ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm.

Separation anxiety in dogs is normally caused by the owners letting the dog become top dog and then it stresses out when the people leave the house. If your vet's advice is working, then continue using it

Thank you again for all the advice I will go get the salt today and I already setup an old 10 gal quarantine aquarium. Will move the sick Cory there and hope it doesn’t get too stressed. If he makes it I’ll make sure to bring 4 more Corys so they can swim in groups. I believe these are Bronze Cory Cats. So I will try to find those exact ones.

 

[vaironl]

If the pleco isn't going for the algaewafers I'd skip those for some time and feed fresh vegs for the pleco. Bloodworms are good to add to both their diet but variate (get shrimppellets as staplefood for corys)

Will add that to my next store run, thank you! I’m going to sometimes be gone for a day or two as holidays approach and have setup an automatic feeder. I’m trying to figure out how to make sure it dispenses just enough food, so these don’t mess with the water quality.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Will add that to my next store run, thank you! I’m going to sometimes be gone for a day or two as holidays approach and have setup an automatic feeder. I’m trying to figure out how to make sure it dispenses just enough food, so these don’t mess with the water quality.

If it's only 2 - 3 days they'll be okay without food. But first feed them some good stuff they will eat.