rudolph the panda cory

[newfishies]

well, things are not looking good in the world of my panda cories. i started with 6 abou 2-3 months ago. i lost 4 to mysterious panda disease (everyone was fine in the tank, no appearance of illness on any of the deaths, water parameters all normal). i have had the remaining 2 for the last 3-4 weeks and all seemed fine. they are a little shy b/c there are only 2, but i haven't seen any more panda's anywhere, and im not sure about even getting anymore due to my bad luck so far.

so, now to my question...
while gravel-vaccing the sand, i noticed one of the guys has a red mouth and i can't see his barbels!!! i know this is a bad sign, but he was swimming around with his buddy and looks healthy otherwise. his buddy is fine, appearance-wise.

what shoud i do for him?

he is in my 20 gal long with sand and live plants.

thanks for any and all advice!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

He sounds like he's got a bacterial infection in his barbs what are your recent water stats like ammonia, nitrate and nitrite?

 

[WILDER]

Yes please post water stats, and how many fish and which type you say his mouth is red does it look really inflamed.

 

[newfishies]

just 1 of the panda cories' nose and mouth are red and inflamed. i am at work, so i can't test the water at the moment, but i will do that when i get home. my weekly testing has all been right in line the last several months (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)
he lives with my betta girls and my danios.

i am thinking of picking up a small (2.5 gal) hospital tank and transferring him to that, but it would not be a cycled tank and i would just do water changes like for my bettas. then i can medicate him, and not the whole tank. any thought on this idea?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi newfishies

I'm sorry to hear about your sick panda.

Actually, this is the first time I have heard of a panda still living with an infection as severe as the one yours has. Usually they die so easily that yours must be strong and in excellent condition otherwise.

The most important thing is to keep the tank very, very clean. If you want to try MelaFix, you could treat the panda in the main tank since that doesn't seem to bother other fish. If not, then an isolation tank is the way to go. (If MelaFix doesn't help within a couple of days, it probably won't, but it's often worth a try.) If you want to try something stronger, Kanamycin is good. Seachem makes a product called KanaPlex that I have used with success.

Now one other thing to consider, given the location of the problem, is your substrate. It is possible that his barbels have been eroded due to sharp sand. If this could be the case, you will have to do something about that too.

Good luck and I hope he recovers soon.

 

[newfishies]

thanks all!

i have separated my 2 pandas into a 2.5 gal (heated and with an airstone), although only one has the apparent bacterial infection. i didn't want them both to be lonely by themselves!

they seem okay in there. i added melafix and colloidal silver. any other suggestions?

as the tank is not filtered/cycled i will be doing frequent water changes (partial every day to keep the bottom clear and 100% changes every 4-5 days)

edit:
forgot to add that ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0 and pH is 7.2

 

[newfishies]

update!

rudolph and his buddy are doing quite well in my 2.5 gal hospital tank. his nose is no longer red, but he definitely has lost all of his barbels.

i am not sure what to do now. i am doing frequent water changes with colloidal silver and melafix. how long should i keep them in this tank? should i wait to see if the barbels start to grow back?

thanks!

 

[Inchworm]

Hi newfishies

That's wonderful news!

I would suggest keeping them in the small tank for a while longer and continue doing the frequent water changes.

A high protein diet, especially one with lots of live blackworms or tubifex worms will help him grow back at least some of his barbels if the damage is not too far gone.

If you feed frozen bloodworm, please take great care to insure that there are no leftovers in the tank. They spoil quickly and are one of the things that can cause a quick reappearance of the infection.