White Growths on Venezuelan Orange Corydoras

[Linkandnavi]

Hi all,

Over the last few weeks on of my Venezuelan orange corys has developed white growths, first on both sides and now lately on the top.

A couple of pictures below. He seems happy enough, swimming and eating fine. The other 7 in the tank show nothing similar.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Matt.

Tank details:

Size: 450l
Temp: 25c
pH: 7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

 

[DoubleDutch]

The one at the dorsal probably is a secretion from a gland which is located there. Though I have only seen this on that location I think it is kind of the same on its side.

Often this appears in fish from the aeneus-group and often has something to do with their diet. What exactly is it fed?

 

[Byron]

I think @DoubleDutch is on the right track here. Something very similar was posted on CW and Ian Fuller said it is due to too much protein in the diet. Now, I cannot say this is what you see here, but given DD's comment and Ian's I would think it likely.

Knowing the answer to the food is important.

 

[Tez_20]

Over the last few weeks on of my Venezuelan orange corys has developed white growths, first on both sides and now lately on the top.

I've got 7 of these Venezuelan and your posting as highlighted things to look for sorry I don't know what you feed yours but mine get fed bug bite granules, cory pellets and Tetra Minitab which they do adore.

 

[Colin_T]

The white stuff on the head is excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. This could be poor water quality, chemicals, or an external protozoan infection. External protozoa are the most likely cause due the white patch only being on the head.

The white dots are fungus.

You can treat both with aquarium/ rock salt. See directions below.

---------------------
SALT
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of protozoan infections in freshwater fishes.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

 

[Linkandnavi]

Thanks everyone for the responses and really sorry for not replying earlier, despite everyone trying to help! Seven week old baby isn`t leaving much time for being on forums...

The one at the dorsal probably is a secretion from a gland which is located there. Though I have only seen this on that location I think it is kind of the same on its side.

Often this appears in fish from the aeneus-group and often has something to do with their diet. What exactly is it fed?

I think @DoubleDutch is on the right track here. Something very similar was posted on CW and Ian Fuller said it is due to too much protein in the diet. Now, I cannot say this is what you see here, but given DD's comment and Ian's I would think it likely.

Knowing the answer to the food is important.

Food is mainly high quality catfish pellets and every few days, Repashy gel food. They do of course sometimes grab at bits of other food that makes it past the other fish (bloodworm or brine shrimp twice a week, bug bites etc) but it's pretty rare for much to make it past the angelfish and rainbows.

The white stuff on the head is excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. This could be poor water quality, chemicals, or an external protozoan infection. External protozoa are the most likely cause due the white patch only being on the head.

The white dots are fungus.

You can treat both with aquarium/ rock salt. See directions below.

---------------------
SALT
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of protozoan infections in freshwater fishes.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

Thanks Colin. I`ll look at the salt. There are shrimp in the tank, so I need to be careful with salt levels. Water quality in terms of measurable parameters has all been fine but I`ve done some additional water changes and will keep an eye on things. Trying to spot the one problematic cory among plants and rocks is normally the hardest bit.

Thanks again all.

Matt.

 

[Colin_T]

Shrimp should be fine with salt. Use 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres and if no improvement after 48 hours, increase it for a total of 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres. Keep the sale in there for 2 weeks. then do small water changes for a couple of weeks to dilute the salt out.