Please Help!

[Dannie]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place... I wasn’t sure if it when here or in the fish emergencies.

Anyway, one of my peppered corries has been acting a bit strange. All of a sudden he has become less active, and not searching around for food much in the daytime anymore (I know they are nocturnal, by one of my corries always used to search around for food when the light was on). That was a few days ago, and now, along with the less activeness, whenever I do see him swim, he sometimes swims like his tail is heavy, and he always seems 'out of breath' when he stops and tilts to the side slightly (Not much, just a little bit).
Lastly, around his top barbels and on the 'flaps' of his gills, have gone slightly darker, and a almost whitish T shape has formed on his forehead along with a few other white patches around his head.

Additional information
Nitrite: 0ppm (mg/L)
Ammonia: 0ppm (mg/L)
58 liters/15 gallons
Nothing has been added, or taken from that tank, and the other fish, (3 other peppered corries and 5 guppies) are fine.

Thanks, And I hope someone can help

 

[Piltdownpaul]

What sort of gravel /substrate do you have -is it gritty?

 

[Dannie]

I have quite rounded medium gravel; however I only found out about a week later(after getting the corries) that sand is more suited for them.

Do you know what the easiest way is to replace the gravel with sand? Without messing up the cycling system?

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

If you have pea gravel then the corys should like that. I have a gritty gravel which wore there barbels out-then they got lazy-floated on their side-tipped over and it was sad- When the last one died i decided to have kuhli and zebra loaches as the gravel doesnt bother these-If you have an undergravel filter then obviously some of the gravel will be beneficial to your filter system so why not change one half then the other later. This would ensure you have some bacteria working for you all the time but i would keep checking the nitrite and ammonia levels. I you dont have an underground filter then i would change it if you really want to go down that route....

 

[juwelfan]

Lastly, around his top barbels and on the 'flaps' of his gills, have gone slightly darker, and a almost whitish T shape has formed on his forehead along with a few other white patches around his head.

Not sure about the darkening, but the could the whitish patches be due to Ich?

 

[Dannie]

If you have pea gravel then the corys should like that. I have a gritty gravel which wore there barbels out-then they got lazy-floated on their side-tipped over and it was sad- When the last one died i decided to have kuhli and zebra loaches as the gravel doesnt bother these-If you have an undergravel filter then obviously some of the gravel will be beneficial to your filter system so why not change one half then the other later. This would ensure you have some bacteria working for you all the time but i would keep checking the nitrite and ammonia levels. I you dont have an underground filter then i would change it if you really want to go down that route....

Ok then, I'll have a look around for some pea gravel, or some sand that isnt too gritty. Sorry to hear that .
Yea, I dont have a undergravel filter, and ok, I'll try that.
Thanks for your help!

Lastly, around his top barbels and on the 'flaps' of his gills, have gone slightly darker, and a almost whitish T shape has formed on his forehead along with a few other white patches around his head.

Not sure about the darkening, but the could the whitish patches be due to Ich?

Ok, Hmm... I never thought of that, I'll just go do some researhing on Ich. I havent noctied any white spots yet though, but I'll keep a close eye out for it.
Thank you for the help too.

 

[Majjie]

I don't think corys get ich - it's more likely to be columnaris, which is bacterial, or a fungus. Ask Wilder, though, (or post in Emergencies) she's the expert

 

[Dannie]

Thanks for your help evereyone... But he died this morning

My other corries and fish seem to be ok though, and Im probly going to get a couple more peppered corries in a few weeks time since I only have 3 left.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[DarkEntity]

Thanks for your help evereyone... But he died this morning

My other corries and fish seem to be ok though, and Im probly going to get a couple more peppered corries in a few weeks time since I only have 3 left.

Thanks again everyone.

If you dont know what killed the fish i would advise against buying anything new till you make sure there is nothing in the tank that can infect anything else.

 

[jollysue]

agreed! As a matter of fact it is good to use quarantine tanks for new fish anyway.

You can bag the old sand in a nylon or cheese cloth and leave it in the tank, while you put the new substrate in. It is also an accepted way to seed a new tank--like a quarantine tank.

Sorry about the cory. Did you have him long?

 

[Dannie]

Thanks for your help evereyone... But he died this morning

My other corries and fish seem to be ok though, and Im probly going to get a couple more peppered corries in a few weeks time since I only have 3 left.

Thanks again everyone.

If you dont know what killed the fish i would advise against buying anything new till you make sure there is nothing in the tank that can infect anything else.

Ok then. I'll keep a close watch, just incase anything else happens within the next few weeks

agreed! As a matter of fact it is good to use quarantine tanks for new fish anyway.

You can bag the old sand in a nylon or cheese cloth and leave it in the tank, while you put the new substrate in. It is also an accepted way to seed a new tank--like a quarantine tank.

Sorry about the cory. Did you have him long?

Yea I have been thinking about setting up a quarantine/breeder tank for quite a while now, I think I still have my old 10 liter tank somewhere that I could set up.

Ok then, thanks for the idea. I'll do that as soon as I get some more substrate.
If I do set up the quaratine tank, I could use the already cycled gravel from my tank that is set up now...


Thanks, and I had him for a while, about 6-7 months.
He was my favourite corry, because he had the best personality and was very fun to watch him mess around.

Thanks for you help and reply!

 

[jollysue]

If your filter from the old 10 ltr can run on the present tank or there is media that you can put in/take out, it is richer in bacteria than the substrate and will get the new tank cycled quickly. It is another good idea to keep an extra filter running on an established tank so that you can quickly get a new tank up and running immediately if needed. It is the way to always have a quarantine tank ready to go. Of course it is one step closer to MTS. It's hard to keep an empty tank of consequence.

 

[Dannie]

The 10 liter is a bit odd, because the filter and light is attached to the hood, but I can take out the media (Which is foam) and put it in my already-running tank. Ok then^^

By the way, what is MTS? I think I have an idea what it might be, but I'm probly wrong...

 

[jollysue]

More Tank Syndrome

 

[Dannie]

Ah!
I was right!
Thanks^^