Sick Panda?!

[FFGuest6357]

Picked up 4 panda corydoras to put into my 10gal quarantine tank today.

curbside pickup, from a locker box, usually a fantastic LFS.

before I went to pick them up, I did a major gravel vac and water change of 75%.

this tank is fully cycled, all the normal readings ammonia is 0, nitrite is0 nitrates less than 10. Ph is at 7.6/7.7 ish. GH is < 150 because I’m using RO water in this tank as well.

rinsed the intake sponge I have on the HOB filter in tank water. I have 2 planted ludwigia plants, 2 planted wisteria plants. I also have 3 floating hornwort plants, 4 floating frog it plants, and 3 more floating wisteria plants.

On to the fish. 3 of the pandas looked perfectly healthy.

mine of them seemed to be covered in a white film. Much like the last time I had pandas die off on me and I treated it as fungus. To me this looks more like a mucus though, possibly shedding off because the fish is under stress.

anyways, I acclimated the fish, added them to the tank, and the sickly looking one sat in the same spot for about 2 hours, breathing very heavy. The three others took that same time to get adjusted, but were breathing at a much slower I would say “normal” pace.

here are 3 pictures of the one fish that doesn’t look well...

That last picture, hard to tell but the white stuff is covering his/her entire dorsal fin.

a couple hours later I checked and it looks like it’s kind of falling off...

He’s still not swimming great, but breathing is getting better.

the plan is to stay on top of water changes and keep everything nice and clean for these little fish.

I have a Canadian made herbal treatment based with garlic I’ve added a dose of that, I know I know, don’t treat with chemicals without knowing the diagnosis, but between the unknown and the fact that there are no medical ingredients in this stuff, I thought maybe if it provides a little relief, then why not.

since I received the fish in this state, I emailed the LFS, they replied almost immediately with offers to refund and replace the fish. I sent them an email back saying I appreciate the sentiment but I would like to try and get this back to good health first.

I feel like I’m rambling now, but if anyone has some input and suggestions or more questions it would be greatly appreciated.

thanks, and I’ll bug @Colin_T or anyone else that can weigh in.

 

[Colin_T]

excess mucous

 

[FFGuest6357]

@Colin_T Excess mucous? That’s it? That’s your answer? Everyone else gets an essay, I get two words?

just kidding... I’ve been following your posts long enough that I had at very least hoped that was the issue. I needed to share it to be sure.

this little fish is also showing signs of fin damage on his dorsal, tail and pectoral fins. My two surviving pandas from the last batch have both recovered nicely from similar if not worse damage to their fins.

should I just keep up the normal routine? Keep water and substrate clean, daily water changes? What would you recommend?

 

[FFGuest6357]

So I did my best...

unfortunately, the one panda corydoras did not make it.

the other 3 are looking very healthy so far.
one of them has some deterioration on his tail fin, but is not showing any external signs of infection, mucous, fungus etc.

This tank has had 2 50% water changes since fish were added in. Although this tank was fully cycled, I’ve been doing daily doses of Seachem stability to hopefully add bacteria to handle the bio load. All water tests indicate 0 ammonia , 0 notoriety and <10ppm nitrate.

Since this fish arrived already with a condition of not being well, I just received (as I’m writing this update) An email confirming the pickup of a replacement fish. God bless locally owned and customer driven stores...

I have enough water to do another change tomorrow, then it’s off to the water store to buy more RO.

i will keep this updated to track fish health and progress.

 

[itiwhetu]

Sounds like the LFS didn't think they were in great condition when they left the shop.

 

[FFGuest6357]

It does sounds like that.
But since discovering this LFS, I have also learned they have gained a stellar reputation for providing quality livestock, plants and dry goods.
They are also quick to make sure customers are satisfied as quickly as possible.

This a locally owned business and this passed friday was the first shipment of new fish they’ve had in about 5 weeks.
Truth is they have been sold out of 80% of their livestock for over a month, and are shipping or doing locker box pick ups to float the business as long as they can because the government forced them to shut their doors.

one sick fish slipping through the cracks doesn’t equal a store knowingly selling me a fish destined to die, especially since they offered a refund and a replacement fish

 

[itiwhetu]

It does sounds like that.
But since discovering this LFS, I have also learned they have gained a stellar reputation for providing quality livestock, plants and dry goods.
They are also quick to make sure customers are satisfied as quickly as possible.

This a locally owned business and this passed friday was the first shipment of new fish they’ve had in about 5 weeks.
Truth is they have been sold out of 80% of their livestock for over a month, and are shipping or doing locker box pick ups to float the business as long as they can because the government forced them to shut their doors.

one sick fish slipping through the cracks doesn’t equal a store knowingly selling me a fish destined to die, especially since they offered a refund and a replacement fish

Sounds like they are genuine to me

 

[FFGuest6357]

Sounds like they are genuine to me

Yep. It sure sounds that way

 

[Barry Tetra]

The thing with panda cories is they are so sensitive to everything,
and seems like the infection are coming from farm it self.

you can search up how many time peoples make threads about death panda cories during quarantine.

 

[mcordelia]

I know that cories don't generally do well with salt, but I am wondering, based on threads I've read on the "Excess mucous" topic, if doing a very dilute salt might help if you have the same issue with other fish moving forward. From what I understand, this type of sudden shedding of mucous is an acute stress reaction in the fish, and could even be caused by something as simple as temperature fluctuations or pH imbalance. I wonder if drip-acclimating in a heated tub might be the way to go for the next batch...

 

[FFGuest6357]

I know that cories don't generally do well with salt, but I am wondering, based on threads I've read on the "Excess mucous" topic, if doing a very dilute salt might help if you have the same issue with other fish moving forward. From what I understand, this type of sudden shedding of mucous is an acute stress reaction in the fish, and could even be caused by something as simple as temperature fluctuations or pH imbalance. I wonder if drip-acclimating in a heated tub might be the way to go for the next batch...

That’s a possibility, but unfortunately I didn’t catch it until I got home, and the panda had it before I even opened the bag.

I tried last time with pandas I got from another store and salt didn’t help them, as their deterioration happened quick.

anyways, I picked up another cory tonight. All three visually look healthy. They’re eating a bit, but I think they’re still settling in and not big fans of people yet. You need to observe from a distance. If you get close to the tank they like to scurry into their hiding spaces.

they already like to huddle together, I can’t wait for the quarantine to be up so they can join the 2 in the main tank. I’m sure it’s going to make them all more comfortable

 

[mcordelia]

I am glad to hear that this new one looks better hopefully all three make it and you will have a nice shoal of pandas soon!!

 

[FFGuest6357]

I apologize if I misspoke above, but this new one actually puts the count up to 4 in quarantine, which will be 6 in the shoal once they are added to main display

 

[mcordelia]

Could be me too! 6 is a perfect #