PLEASE HELP!

[fishwatcher]

I just got a peppered cory cat (yesterday). He's been fine until just little while ago. The lights were all off, and I went in to check on them. Well, when I turned on the tank light, the cory was on his side at the surface of the tank. A neon was a few inches below him floating on his side, too. Even after the tank light got turned on, neither moved. I got out my net to remove them, and as soon as I touched the water, the cory took off swimming and the neon kind of took off swimming. Here's a pic of the cory, though it isn't too good. He's the dark thing hanging in the corner of the tank. When I touch him though, he swims away like nothing's wrong, only to get back in that position 5 minutes later! What is going on!?!? (In an earlier post, I am asking help for a pH problem... it all of a sudden jumped to 7.2, when it's normally 6.4-6.6.) Other than the pH thing, all other stats are great. I did go ahead and do about a 25% water change, though.

PLEASE HELP!

After looking over the neon, I think it has popeye (this was the one with gill flukes a few days ago). I'm going to treat it with meds... hopefully it will pull through.
I do still need help with the cory though.
Thanks, in advance to any and all!

 

[Inchworm]

Hi fishwatcher

I looked at your post in the other section, but since it is the same, I'll answer it here. I can well imagine your astonishment when you saw your fish in that condition, but without much background information, I'm not sure what to tell you to do.

First, what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate reading, if you can tell me. Also, what temperature is your water at? Have you done anything to change the pH? It seems something drastic has happened and since you mentioned a pH problem, I can't rule out shock from a sudden change in it. (It's almost always best to leave it alone or make a gradual adjustment in it, when necessary)

Are any other of your fish effected?

Edit: Why do you think your neon had gill flukes? Please don't use any medicine until you find out what the big problem here seems to be, because you might need to use something else first.

 

[fishwatcher]

Where to start.... first of all, thank you for answering my post/email. That is very nice of you.
Now, the stats are: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5, temp 74, pH 7.4. The neon had gill flukes about week ago, now. He had very red gills that were protruding a bit, breathing rapidly. According to everything I read and the people I talked to about it, they were gill flukes, so I treated it accordingly with Parasite CLear by Jungle. It cleared up within about 2 days. Now though, that same one has popeye, and according to the box of meds it's the same medication for it, so I just medicated him again last night. The meds were after my cory started acting so strange.
I do now believe it has to do with the pH changing. While I did nothing intentional to change it, I have since found out that adding an airstone will make it go up quickly. Who knew!?! So, I am going to remove it totally (I turned it off after only a few hours of use anyway, but I'll just take it out now). I'll do a 50% water change now, and each day until the pH is back to normal. Does this sound ok?
They should put warnings on airstones! I never knew that kh and ph and co2 were all connected like that! Poor fishies! I just hope they make it.
Thanks again for all your help!

 

[Inchworm]

Hi fishwatcher

I don't think adding an airstone was the cause of your problem, but perhaps the medicine you used to treat the gill flukes was. What preparation did you use for this?

Or, could something else have been added to your tank? Perhaps a cleaning product sprayed on furniture in the room, or Windex, or something that might have been on your hands when you fed them or cleaned the tank?

Water changes never hurt and often do a lot of good.

I hope your fish make it through.

 

[fishwatcher]

Well, it was Parasite Clear by Jungle. It doesn't say anything on the box about it raising ph or anything, so I just don't know. The chemicals are praziquantel, N-2-6-difluorobenzamide, metonidazole, and acriflavine.
I have done a big water change already, but the ph still is 7.2-7.0. I guess it'll take a few changes to get it back down all the way?
How many water changes can I do each day and still be safe?
Also, my other fish seem fine, except maybe the other cories who are just totally inactive until it's lights-out. The peppered one is still just floating, until I touch him. Then he'll swim a little again. I don't see any big belly or anything, so I don't know if maybe he has swim bladder?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi fishwatcher

I'm not familiar with this product myself, but I'll bring your thread to the attention of the other mods and perhaps someone else can advise you. Some of them are very knowledgeable when it comes to chemistry.

What is the pH of your water as it comes right out of your tap?

I'm wondering if, while killing the parasites, you might have poisoned the fish. In this case, the sooner you get rid of all that medicine, the better. The worst thing that will happen by doing too many water changes, (hard to do) is to remove all your beneficial bacteria and have to recycle. This is not likely to happen, and there is a possibility you may have damaged them already with the meds. so until you hear otherwise, do the water changes.

 

[fishwatcher]

Out of the tap the ph is 6.4. When you say continue with water changes, should I do more than 1 a day? Also, should I put the carbon back in my filter? I'm going to go ahead and do another big water change now, and I'll add a little Cycle to it, to help in case I remove the ben. bacteria.
Thanks for all your help Inchworm!!!

 

[fishwatcher]

Just to give you an update, the cory is still the same. Does anyone know how long he'll go on like this before he either gets better or dies? (I hate this waiting stuff... obviously I don't have too much patience.) I just thought something would have happened by now, I guess. Of course, now I have ich in the tank, so I'm treating it too. This is such a confusing mess!

 

[Inchworm]

Hi fishwatcher

I'm sorry to learn about your continued problems.

Although it's impossible for me to know for sure, if your cory has not shown signs of recovery by now, I doubt that his chances are very good. If you are treating ich by adding another medicine, or salt, or by raising the temperature, I suggest you move the cory to an isolation tank. He does not have ich and they will definitely do him no good and will quite likely do him further harm.

 

[fishwatcher]

Please see my newest post about cories swallowing air. I think maybe it's related?