What's Wrong With My Cory?

[JessiMommy]

I'm posting this in a couple places because I'm worried & don't know what to do so please forgive me.

A few days ago I woke up and saw a white patch on the side of one of my Cory Cats. It was right above his gills, was about the width of 2 of his eye balls side by side and honestly looked like he had scraped him self on something. Two days later I saw a couple little dots (indented) near his eyes on either side kind of on top of his nose. When I watch him root around on the bottom these places are exactly where that part of his body meets the substrate. So maybe he's banging himself up a bit. They actually look like little holes. Also the original white patch looked pinkish that day. Now I'm really thinking he had scratched himself & it was healing up.

This morning everything is the same but now the original white spot that has turned a bit pinkish has grown a little longer and reaches his eye. It's right up to his eye not beyond it. All of these places look like he has been nipped, bitten, scratched etc. Unless he is banging himself up hard at night while I'm sleeping or unless someone is attacking him at night I don't get it. All other fish are fine including my other cory. I have been having an acidic water problem & have performed sever 20% water changes in the past 2 weeks but pH has not raised very much in that time. Like from 6.2 - 6.6 but it was gradual. Other than that all water parameters are fine.

I know there is something more to this & I don't know what to do. I don't want to lose him or spread this to my other fish if it is "contagious." I do have a smaller 2 gallon tank that I could use as a hospital tank but it is not set up so I don't know if that is an option. I took a picture of him this morning that you can see here if the link works. What's Wrong With My Cory?

Could someone please give me some opinions??? Thanks!!

 

[SnowLady]

Did you read the description of ICH? Could it be that?

 

[JessiMommy]

Did you read the description of ICH? Could it be that?

I really don't think what my cory has is ICH. But I'm no expert. But he doesn't have all over salt grain like spots. Could it be a fungus though? I want to help him but I don't wan't to treat him for the wrong thing.

What about an all round antibacterial treatment such as Melafix ?
Would this hurt him if he didn't have a fungus? If I should treat him do I do it in the main tank or get him in my 2 gallon which is not cycled? I could fill it with tank water from my community tank add some substrate form the community tank & filter material from the big tank. Help please!!!

 

[JessiMommy]

Well after talking to the guy at the LFs I am now treating the whole tank for Ick..Ich which is it, by the way??

I took him the picture of the fish & described everything. He seemed pretty convinced that it was Ich and told me what to treat the tank with. I hoping he knows his stuff....

Hey says the cory is probably rubbing up against stuff (due to the ich) which is causing the patches I'm seeing. Came home and it looks like my other cory may have rubbed himself against something too. He's albino though so it's hard to tell. So I'm here crossing my fingers that this works out! Thanks for the help.

 

[guppymonkey]

It doesn't sound like Ich to me. It obviously is some kind of skin problem though. Ich usually comes in distinct dots not in big white patchs. It could be a skin fungus that irritates the fish enough to try to scratch the itch.

 

[JessiMommy]

It doesn't sound like Ich to me. It obviously is some kind of skin problem though. Ich usually comes in distinct dots not in big white patchs. It could be a skin fungus that irritates the fish enough to try to scratch the itch.

See that's what I always thought too, Ich = lots of white dots. Now I'm really frustrated.... what would you do? So far I've given the tank 1 Ich treatment.

 

[FishHeads]

It doesn't sound like Ich to me. It obviously is some kind of skin problem though. Ich usually comes in distinct dots not in big white patchs. It could be a skin fungus that irritates the fish enough to try to scratch the itch.

See that's what I always thought too, Ich = lots of white dots. Now I'm really frustrated.... what would you do? So far I've given the tank 1 Ich treatment.

Now I don't know too much about Cory cats (I am a Goldfish , Oscar, Betta, and Gourami person myself) but by the looks of that picture he has some sort of bacterial infection of a lesion on his head. He may have gotten the lesion from scaping against rocks or your tank decor. It is not Ich. Those symptomes are not related to Ich at all. I recomend Fungus Cure or something bacterial (usually solid brick colored pills not those dissolving tablets....they don't work.) Look specifically on the packaging (which will have pictures of fish with different bacterial diseases) and find what your fish has. I have SEEN that problem on a package before I just can't remember which pills they are. I know that has to be your fishy's problem. It couldn't hurt to try it.

Hope I could be of service. D

 

[JessiMommy]

but by the looks of that picture he has some sort of bacterial infection of a lesion on his head. He may have gotten the lesion from scaping against rocks or your tank decor. It is not Ich. Those symptomes are not related to Ich at all. I recomend Fungus Cure or something bacterial (usually solid brick colored pills not those dissolving tablets....they don't work.) Look specifically on the packaging (which will have pictures of fish with different bacterial diseases) and find what your fish has. I have SEEN that problem on a package before I just can't remember which pills they are. I know that has to be your fishy's problem. It couldn't hurt to try it.

Hope I could be of service. D

See this is where I get frustrated. I want to do the best thing for my little cory & his friends but no one seems to agree on what the problem is. I know it's a little hard to diagnose form a picture on the internet or a description to the guy at the LFs but what's a beginner to do???

Do I continue with the Ich treatment? Do I get this fungus treatment & do that instead? Can I do both together?? The affected Cory is resting more than usual but he's still eating and he does swim around form time to time. He's breaking my heart though. He has a new patch on his other side now.

 

[FishHeads]

but by the looks of that picture he has some sort of bacterial infection of a lesion on his head. He may have gotten the lesion from scaping against rocks or your tank decor. It is not Ich. Those symptomes are not related to Ich at all. I recomend Fungus Cure or something bacterial (usually solid brick colored pills not those dissolving tablets....they don't work.) Look specifically on the packaging (which will have pictures of fish with different bacterial diseases) and find what your fish has. I have SEEN that problem on a package before I just can't remember which pills they are. I know that has to be your fishy's problem. It couldn't hurt to try it.

Hope I could be of service. D

See this is where I get frustrated. I want to do the best thing for my little cory & his friends but no one seems to agree on what the problem is. I know it's a little hard to diagnose form a picture on the internet or a description to the guy at the LFs but what's a beginner to do???

Do I continue with the Ich treatment? Do I get this fungus treatment & do that instead? Can I do both together?? The affected Cory is resting more than usual but he's still eating and he does swim around form time to time. He's breaking my heart though. He has a new patch on his other side now.

Stop treating for Ich! It's not Ich, it's something else. The Ich treatment isn't going to do him any good right now. You need to go and get him an anti-bacterial remedey. Not fungus....Anti-Bacterial. I am almost certain that is the cause. They will be Tylenol-shaped pills in packaging with pictures of wounded fish at the top. Look for the one that has the fish showing lesions or open red or pink sores.

I don't mean to sound so harsh, but if you want to keep your Cory, I suggest you at least try it out, it couldn't hurt. If you are still in doubt, you can post back for more help for other people on the board.

Hey others, what do you think of my diagnosis?

 

[JessiMommy]

Stop treating for Ich! It's not Ich, it's something else. The Ich treatment isn't going to do him any good right now. You need to go and get him an anti-bacterial remedey. Not fungus....Anti-Bacterial. I am almost certain that is the cause. They will be Tylenol-shaped pills in packaging with pictures of wounded fish at the top. Look for the one that has the fish showing lesions or open red or pink sores.

I don't mean to sound so harsh, but if you want to keep your Cory, I suggest you at least try it out, it couldn't hurt. If you are still in doubt, you can post back for more help for other people on the board.

Hey others, what do you think of my diagnosis?

No you don't sound harsh at all, I appreciate your help. I didn't see anything like these pills you are describing but I will go back & look again. Do I treat the cory in the community tank or move him to a smaller tank? Keep in mind that the small tank is not cycled atthis time however. Thank you soooo much!

 

[FishHeads]

If your small tank is not cycled then treat in the entire community to prevent other infections from breaking out. Now as for the medication, it may turn your water colors, but that will be cleared out eventually. The packaging will be flat with 8 pills in it. You will be able to see the pills and they will either be one solid or two differnt colors. I believe the pills you need are all white. Please double check the front lables for your fish's lesion problem before you buy. Is you LFS a Petsmart?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi JessiMommy

If the other occupants of the tank do not have ich, your cory cat does not either. Corys tend to be more resistant to ich than the other fish and will usually be last ones to get it, not the first.

Putting aside the problem of fungus or infection due to abrasion for a moment-----

Usually the first thing I would suggest for any cory problem is to check on the cleanliness of the tank bottom. Do you vacume regularly? The chemical tests on water taken from the top of the tank may not accurately represent the conditions at the bottom, so just because they are ok don't assume the bottom is the same.

The rocks in the picture are possibly the problem. They do look to me to be too big for the corys who prefer very small gravel or even sand. They like to dig down to get at food particles etc. and they have probably injured themselves by trying to push these rocks out of the way. If you are going to keep corys, you will probably want to replace them.

Now that leaves the problem of the infection. I don't know what to suggest you use to clear that up. If it is merely an abrasion, it might heal by itself. If it has gotten infected or developed a fungus you will need to use a medication for it, but that is going to be a problem, too, in that you already have medicine in there. It's not a good idea to mix medicines with fish or with humans. So, try putting charcoal in your filter to help remove it. This might take a couple of days. By then you will probably know more about what is causing it, or it might begin to heal itself. Or, too, other fish may display symptoms which are easier to diagnose than the cory.

Since it is probably not a good idea to treat an entire tank for a problem only one fish has, I suggest you move him to another tank or container. Depending on the size of your tanks you could either take some water from you community tank and move it to the small tank for the treatment period, or if your tank is short, get a one gallon mayonnaise jar from the deli or a restaurant. Fill it with tank water and sink it in the community tank. You may have to build up the stones underneath it to bring the height to just above that of the big tank. This has the advantage of being able to keep the water at a constant temperature.

Good luck and let us know how the situation progresses.

 

[JessiMommy]

Ok to Fish Heads & Inchworm:

Thanks so much for trying to help me. As per Fishheads instructions I bought the closest thing I could find to what he/she described. Its called Kanacyn (colorless antibiotic capsules) It says it is a full spectrum skin absorbing antibiotic. Says it's for the treatment and prevention of: red streaks or hemorrhaging, dropsy, fin & tail rot, inflammed gills, protruding or loss of scales, gram positive & gram negative bacteria, fungal infections, vibrio, tuberculosis, wasting away & BODY ULCERS .

This was the only thing remotely close to what you suggested. I hope it is something that will work. The body ulcer symptom is what is what I'd say he has now. They are white capsules. Since I had the Ich treatment in from last night I did a 25% water change & put in a new filter with carbon. It says to put in the powder from one capsule per 10 gallons of water every other day for 5 days. I have not done that yet because I want to let the carbon suck up whatever chemicals are left in the tank. Now that I have heard what Inchworm has to say a lot of that makes sense too.

I've been wondering for a while about my substrate. The stones are pretty large for the corys to handle. But why is this happening now? These cory's have been in the tank for 2 months or so with no problem until now. This all first appeared about 5 days ago. The bottom of my tank could use a really good vaccum right now. For the past few weeks my pH has dropped to pretty acidic & algae has begun to grow. I've been scraping the sides and vaccuming small areas at a time so as not to damage any beneficial bacteria. It's all getting out of control quicker than I can handle, so yes I'd say the bottom is dirty. How do I go about changing substrate to sand or smaller gravel?

So from here where do I go? Carbon is back in the filter and I have not given any more Ich meds. No other fish are showing any signs of trouble. How long do I wait for carbon to eat up any chemicals? Do I wait a few days & see if the abrasions on the cory heal? If not I can move him to a 2 gallon tank to treat. I guess I should work on setting that up now in case I have to use it? I have some bio spira I can use but if I use community tank water to set up the hospital tank wouldn't the chemicals in the water be transfered to that tank? Am I making any sense?? Sorry to ramble, I appreciate all you are doing to help!

 

[JessiMommy]

One more thing.... why do the idiots at the LFs act so all knowing about stuff? Why can't they say "gee I'm just not sure & I wouldn't want to mislead you." This guy last night was just positive it was Ich like there wasn't any way it was anything else. You know how you just get that something isn't right here feeling?? I had it with him! gahgahgahgahgahgahaghag!!!!!