Still need help! Sterbai Cory paralysis and twitching

[Filigree]

Hello, this is my first post here. I am concerned about my sterbai cories.



I've read of a similar case on this forum with no conclusion and it seemed to happen to several of his cories, one after the other. Could this be contagious?

Here a thread of someone who had a similar problem.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... f=6&t=4156

1. Water parameters
a) Temperature range. 76-79
b) pH. 7.6
c) GH. ?
d) KH ?
e)Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, levels. 0, 10ppm (could be lower, just changed water), 0
f) Water change frequency
Once a week, about 60%

2. Tank set up
a) Size. 10 gal
b) Substrate. Sand
c) Filtration. Tetra Whisper Filter
d) Furnishings. Some fake plants, a hideout made of slate
e) Other tank mates: two other sterbai cories and a betta
f) How long has it been set-up? 10 months

3. Symptoms / Problem description


UPDATE 11/18/2014

I've been treating with Metroplex and Prazipro. Significant improvement on first day of treatment. He was able to swim and use bottom fins. Still twitching, but springs up now that he is able to use bottom fins. Can surface for with difficulty. Other cories were showing swim bladder problems. All of their conditions are "stable" at the moment.

UPDATE 11/5/2014

Did a 30% water change. About 10PPM nitrates before cleaning. Moved sick cory to a small tank floating the main tank. When I was trying to catch him in the net he swam upwards as if he had gained some mobility, but returned to his paralyzed self after he touched the bottom again. His spine is getting worse, he can still straighten, but after he strains himself swimming, it curls in. He managed to go up for air twice with great effort in the 3 inches of water I had him in.

A second cory is now showing similar symptoms. I noticed her spine is starting to curve. It's very slight, but now that I know what I'm looking for I know she is sick. She exhibited swim bladder like symptoms. Her upper body floated up first and she acted as if she were an air balloon going toward the surface. She then dropped back down, head first, as if she lost control of her body. She hit the sand and was just floating there on her back, swam up a little, then spiraled around, motionless. Then she regained control and sat on a leaf. She has a red mark on both armpits and there was the slightest tinge of pink on her barbels and gills. I think I saw her acting a bit strange the past couple days but I wasn't sure. I am so worried.

UPDATE 10/30/2014

I have observed that he cannot seem to use his bottom fins. He can't lift his body up with his ventral fins, which makes it difficult for him to feed. He has a hard time turning because he cannot move his pectoral fins very well, if at all. He scoots across the ground, lying flat on his belly because of this. He does eat food, but cannot access it well because of the above problems. I don't think he can surface for air. The barbs of his pectoral fins seem grayish and faded, instead of bright beige like his tank mates. He twitches strangely every few seconds, but will have bouts where there is no twitching. Slightly darker skin tone.

10/28/2014
I don't know the gender...

Sudden onset of erratic swimming. I know cories like to swim against the glass, but this is different. It's expending all its energy swimming as fast as it can in the corner and actually made a crater in the sand from swimming so hard. It's twitching here and there when it stays still. I thought it was going to explode from using so much energy. Didn't think it'd make it until morning. I thought it may be swim bladder, but I'm not so sure. It isn't turning upside down, but instead just swims in a straight line, always staying upright.

Seems to have difficulty changing direction or going up for air. Does not seem interested in food because it is too busy swimming fast against a corner and breathing heavily. It was fine 10/27/2014 when I went to clean the tank. It was swimming with its buddies and did not appear to be stressed. Mere hours later, it was swimming like crazy and breathing heavily. I had noticed rapid breathing for the past couple days. Its barbels are very short/gone, but its been that way for months. It didn't seem to affect it in any way. It has been staying away from the other two here and there. I thought maybe its belly was a bit swollen, but I cannot say for certain. Reddish tint on gills and belly, don't know if that's normal.

4. Action taken (if any)

10/30/2014 Update: I have since returned him to the main tank. He has been fed and an air pump added.

I moved him to a small tub with tank water. I was concerned it might hurt itself or its tank mates. I was uncertain what to do about a heater, I know it's bad to let them sit in a tank without a heater when that is what they are used to. I have a small heater meant for a 5-10g so I was unsure if it was safe to put in the container. It was very late at night and I stood up trying to find an answer to what might be wrong, but it is very hard to diagnose a fish. Nothing really seems to fit. Some mention the possibility of poison from their barbs, but I figured he'd be dead by now and his breathing rapid, not slow. Could be parasites. I don't know. I've been treating the tank with kanaplex because my betta is a fin biter and I wanted to make sure he didn't have/get an infection. I added the last dose into the tank when I cleaned the water.

I've put six doses into the tank so far, spaced out as instructed, and waited about a week between each 3 round course so it didn't kill my bb. I figured it might help its barbels too because I read it might be from infection and I think I saw a little improvement, but not much. I put a pea into the tank after deshelling, boiling and crushing it because there was nothing else I could do and I figured if he had SBD it might help. Admittedly, I haven't been as diligent with cleaning the tank of leftover food because I've been working on a lot of projects and I feel really bad about that. The nitrates reached 50 ppm at one point, but I have since cleaned it twice or thrice. That's all I can think of that might have caused it.

5. Medications used (if any)

Kanaplex
A pea

Food: Omega one shrimp pellets and hikari disc

His tank mates are acting normal with no signs of stress. They both have long barbels and swim together. Right now he is staying still and twitching here and there. I assume he is exhausted from all the swimming. I don't know what to do. I feel helpless. I'm not expecting any miracles and he probably will die, but I'm hoping someone might know something...

I have pictures and a short video of his behavior. Unfortunately, it doesn't exhibit the same vigor and urgency that he had last night, but you can see something is not right. Sorry if the frontal photo is distorted, but he just sits in a corner and the container makes it look funny. Should I put the heater in the small container? I don't want to cook him. I had plants in there but they seems to be impeding his ability to swim to the surface because he'd get stuck, so I took them out.

Thanks in advance.

Pics:

http://i58.tinypic.com/2k4g7n.jpg

http://i62.tinypic.com/2lw38gh.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/o55iko.jpg

Video:

http://v8.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=8k2g&s=8

http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=adk ... E_11Hqdbct

[Supercorygirl]

I'm stumped on your problem. Reading your post I thought SBD first, then thought maybe it self poisoned itself by possibly be spooked during your cleaning, my next thought was possibly a sensitivity to the kanaplex. I'm nowhere near an expert but what I would do in your position is, return him to tank so it isn't stressed from being by itself, keep up with small WC everyday, add an extra airstone, stop dosing kanaplex, and try a half dose of melafix (watch your betta,they sometimes don't like it). I've had a fair amount of success doing this and it may still be eating and you just don't see it. As from your pics its not chunky but not super skinny either, try some frozen bloodworms which should tempt it. Hope this helps.

[Filigree]

Thanks for the reply. I've since returned him to the tank and he is pretty inactive. I won't be dosing any more kanaplex as it seems my betta's tail is starting to show some improvement. I'll try changing the water as you suggested. Why do you think I should try melafix? I'm just curious. I don't know what it treats. I read somewhere he might be having seizures, which would explain his twitching about every 2 seconds when he sits perfectly still. I have never seen anything like that up until this point. It could be genetic or he simply smacked his head on something and caused a brain injury. I was told on another forum this is "normal" behavior, but I've watched them enough to know something is wrong. He doesn't "dip" his mouth in the sand like the others with his tail up, he just kinda scoots across the ground, like he has lost some mobility. I hope he is able to surface for air. I'll get an air pump to help him out and try feeding him tonight and see how he acts, then try blood worms. I hope he improves...I'll keep this post updated.

[Supercorygirl]

I've always found melafix to be a better treatment for barbel loss and it also seems to relax them a bit better in times of stress along with the water changes. Works well on torn or nipped fins as well and most fish aside from some bettas usually respond well to it for fin rot. Fingers crossed for your Cory

[Filigree]

I'll keep that in mind. He ate food eagerly, even though it was difficult for him. I got an air pump, though it might be a bit too powerful, so I need to get a valve or something. He seemed to respond and scoot toward the bubbles while the others ignored/swam away from it. I have an update on his symptoms. I'm hoping by documenting this, someone else on google might find it one day and get any info we might learn.

UPDATE 10/30/2014

I have observed that he cannot seem to use his bottom fins. He can't lift his body up with his ventral fins, which makes it difficult for him to feed. He has a hard time turning because he cannot move his pectoral fins very well, if at all. He scoots across the ground, lying flat on his belly because of this. He does eat food, but cannot access it well because of the above problems. I don't think he can surface for air. The barbs of his pectoral fins seem grayish and faded, instead of bright beige like his tank mates. He twitches strangely every few seconds, but will have bouts where there is no twitching.

[Corycory]

I hope you find a cure.
That twitching seen in the first video....I've seen it, but not in a cory. It's a sort of a shock response to a fish being overwhelmed by internal disease. If you've tried kanaplex, I'd suggest broad spectrum antiparasitic meds.

[Filigree]

What brand medicine do you recommend? Should I quarantine him? What happened to you fish? I have many questions.

[Supercorygirl]

I've asked a few friends if they had heard/seen this before. Because it seems to be getting worse the top three answers were A) air borne polluntant from outside the tank, B) possible aenerobic gases from substrate, and C) majority agreed with corycory on internal parasites

Cory safe parasite meds are a pain but was told (using with observation) metronidazole, levamisole and maracyn 2 (recommended for separate tank)

I've used levamisole and metronidazole without issue just needed extra aeration, never tried the third.

[Filigree]

Thanks for going through all that trouble! The cory now dubbed Scooter is still truckin' along. He has actually improved somewhat in the sense that he is adapting to not being able to use his bottom fins. He can turn more easily and get around, but is still unable to surface for air. He is able to catch up to the others. I can't say whether he has gained more function though, just that he is adapting. I also can't say that his health has declined, as I realize as soon as I noticed symptoms he lost control of his bottom fins, he was just swimming against the glass, so there was an illusion of function of the bottom fins. I believe he was paralyzed since the onset of the other symptoms, so in a sense he has "stabilized" and is exhibiting no other symptoms. Still has a healthy appetite. Is there a specific brand I should try out of those medications? Will it hurt my betta? I'd prefer moving him out of the tank (my betta) or quarantining Scooter (the sick cory) if it will really harm my other fish. Would this parasite be contagious to my other cories and thus treating the tank would help them too? I don't know what brand to get since they're not always made the same and are safe, so any recommendations on that would be appreciated. Thanks for helping me out. I'm going to post more video of him feeding. He also darted across to the corner of the tank when I startled him, which was shocking to me because he lost function of his bottoms fins and hasn't moved that fast in a while.

[Filigree]

Another one of my cories is starting to show symptoms. When he sits still his head starts floating upward like he has no balance and his spine is starting to go inward, not severely, it's very subtle. His upper fin is also going off to the side. I'm noticing a slight redness in the "armpits". I don't know what to do now. My fish are all gonna die.

[Supercorygirl]

Okay now I think its time to pm either Coryman or Corybreed and ask them to review your post as I'm at a loss.

There is a section called Ask the Experts and they are the Cory experts (copied from the ask experts post)

Third, pick an expert from the fields below and PM them from your topic asking for some input - this will provide an easy link for the expert to your topic. Please, remember not to ask the question in the PM, just ask for some input on the (public) topic. This will help everybody.

[Filigree]

I've PM'd corybreed. I didn't quite understand what was meant by PMing from my topic, so I sent a link in my message. I hope that is okay. I'm going to my LFS tomorrow to ask their opinion as well and try getting some medicine for parasites. My bf has a marine biologist friend who also said it might be parasites, so we'll see.

[Filigree]

Most people are now pointing towards parasites, so that is the best educated guess I have. I almost broke down in the LFS because they said there is nothing I can do. I felt a bit silly getting so upset over fish, but they are my babies. They recommended if I do try to treat them, to get some anti-parasitic medications, so that's what I'm doing. I've cleaned the tank water and I'm soaking metroplex into bloodworms (I didn't get the focus which I suppose I should have, but she didn't point it out to me) as well as using prazipro which she recommended. I know it is ill-advised to mix medications, but the two different medications affect different parasites, so I wanted to cover both bases and time is running short. I know API general cure has both of those ingredients, so I'm hoping it's safe. I read a few people doing this with no problem, so we'll see what happens.

Update

Unfortunately, the cories were not interested in eating the worms. They ate a few, but did not seem hungry. It was a bit frustrating, but I am going to try again later. Usually I feed them before going to bed and turn off the light, so it was a bit out of their routine. I thought they love blood worms so I am afraid they are getting sicker. My betta ate some of them, but he might be constipated and bloating (could he have parasites too?)...He has been defecating so I am not sure what is wrong. So now I am worrying about even more problems He has been looking bloated for a while now so I was fasting him off and on, but I suppose I should try treating him with a pea. I am hesitant to use salt because I am already treating the tank with medication for parasites...I would have done something sooner, but I just thought he was getting a little fat. Here is a picture of my betta and the bad spinal curve and sucked in belly of my sick cory. I know my betta looks a little rough, but he has bitten his fins since I got him.



http://i61.tinypic.com/2qa4c40.jpg



http://i58.tinypic.com/v2zolk.jpg

[Corycory]

What brand medicine do you recommend? Should I quarantine him? What happened to you fish? I have many questions.

Sorry for not getting back to you. The fish I had doing this recovered. I treated with kanamycin sulphate so in my case it was bacterial infection. It took about 2 days for the shaking to stop since I started treatment but I finished the course of treatment. The fish is actually still alive and in perfect health.
Kanamycin Sulphate is safe for corydoras.

[Filigree]

Good to know he made a full recovery.

I have some good news. I woke up this morning and I have seen a major improvement. At first I refused to believe it, but he has definitely changed. I stood up late last night and waited for them to be hungry to feed the blood worms. The sickest, paralyzed cory was the most eager to eat and I managed to get them fed. I don't know if the prazipro or the metroplex, but something must be working. I wasn't expecting to see this kind of change, at least this soon if at all. He could still die, but to see this is amazing. He is actually pushing himself up with both bottom fins and I saw him surface for air twice, which I have not seen in almost a week. I have a video so you guys can see for yourself:



http://v8.tinypic.co...file=6p0q9z&s=8



I am still not sure what to do about my betta, but I'm really hoping I can get this under control. I am hoping he will keep improving and I am going to try and let nature takes course without so much fidgeting over their tank, probably causing them more stress. My betta seems to have advanced tail rot that I have been trying to cure for months now and it is taking a turn for the worst. I have to quarantine him and treat for fin rot again. This is so stressful. This is a painful lesson to never skip a water change or cleaning the bottom of the tank. I am sure it contributed and feel so guilty. I hope to make up for it and get them back to health and get a bigger tank.



I'll keep you guys updated.

[Corycory]

I am glad they are getting better.

There's something wrong with the video and it leads to "page can't be displayed"

[Filigree]

Yeah, it was bittersweet because my betta's fin rot has come back with a vengeance. It seems the kanaplex didn't help as much I would have liked. I got so focused on other things I didn't pay attention to his fin shrinking. I quarantined him and I'm giving him a different treatment, so I don't have to worry about him eating their food. My concern is leaving the blood worms in will cause the nitrates to go up fast. I heard the medicine leeches out of the food, so the quicker they eat it the better. Could be a gimmick by seachem to buy their focus product, I don't know.

I'm hoping for the best. My cory is still about the same, he can use his fins now, but still not 100% function. Since he can use them now, when he twitches he springs up like he's on a trampoline, which is kinda funny. My other cory seems to be having swim bladder problems still and the back part of her body will start to float up, but she rights herself, then it goes away. Her pigment is also is a bit lighter than I'd like, like she is stressed, but she has always been on the lighter side. She was the "runt" of the group and was always slow to eat compared to the others, which might explain her small size. I don't know if the swim bladder problems are caused by the same parasites. I hope so, so that I don't have to get more medications.

Not sure why the video won't work. It won't let me embed the actual video, so I guess I would have to upload it to youtube. I'll try to make it a link:

http://v8.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=6p0q9z&s=8

[Corycory]

Is the betta living with the corys?

What meds have you tried so far in the tank with corys?
If you are using Kanaplex for finrot on the Betta, it won't work because it's not a med for finrot, it's more for internal bacterial infections.

As for bloodworms causing nitrates, it's not the nitrates the problem. It's the amount of ammonia the bloodworms produce that gets converted to nitrates eventually, which is the organic load the tank has to deal with. So, yes, plenty of water changes, especially with sick fish, because all those processes that cause food, detritus, fish waste, to get into nitrates are causing high oxygen demand and chemical reactions in general that are depriving the fish of a healthy environment.

In regards to the meds not sticking to bloodworms for a long time once put in the tank, it's true I suppose if one doesn't use additional binders. The sooner the fish eat the medicated food, the better. Maybe just try to feed small amounts putting them straight at the bottom via a syringe, or whatever way you figure that is effective.
The most frustrating times are when we have to take care of sick fish. And in my opinion, the worst of reasons is because fish are tough and sometimes we just want it to end one way or another without feeling guilty.
But fish want to live and they last months before we eventually figure out a cure or "kill" them by trying to cure them.

And sorry if it sounds like lecturing. It's just the way I am.
Another thing I'd mention is, consider some air bone chemicals like someone using deodorant around the tank, detergents..., or something else poisoning the fish, even faulty heater shocks, or not enough dechlorinator at water changes when water contains high ammonia, heavy metals, etc..., or fluctuating Ph if the water is soft, etc.......

If it's a bacterial infection, fish don't last too long. With parasites they may live months, even a year depending on the parasites and the water conditions in the tank to prevent secondary diseases. With random chemicals or something of the sort, they may as well show stress signs without dying for ages, but eventually succumb to diseases that kill them. But you should look for the original cause because there's no way to cure them if you don't remove the original "stressor".

[Filigree]

Thank you for responding. I was treating my tank with kanaplex for two weeks, one week spaced between them. My betta was living with the cories until about 2 days after treating prazipro into the tank. I quarantined him since he seemed not to be exhibiting any symptoms the cories were/are and had the separate issue of severe fin rot. I was told kanaplex was the best medicine for fin rot, but that did not prove to be true in my case. I am learning that I should not believe everyone's advice online because a lot of times it can just be false information/rumors spread around through time that actually have little or no scientific basis. If you repeat a statement long and often enough, people start to believe it is true. I realize a large part of this is probably my fault, so I have to take that blame and make sure I can do the best I can in the future to avoid it. There is always a variable there that you cannot control as well.

It's like how I've discovered that using bleach to "sterilize" equipment probably doesn't do much and many of the pathogens still remain, yet people spread around this information. There are probably many people out there who tried to clean their infected equipment with bleach, only to have their fish reinfected. There's also the theory that the barbels on cories "wear away" from rough subtrate, but there is no evidence that this actually happens. There are veteran cory breeders who use crushed glass and other "rough" substrate and their cories have long barbels. While anecdotal (like most ornamental fish treatments and info), it seems to contradict the opinion that substrate directly causes barbel erosion.

I actually had to perform "surgery" on my betta and remove his fin rot because it was too severe and encroaching fast to his body. The salt treatments and kanaplex I was advised to try did nothing. Not anyone's fault, as I did "allow" it to get this bad because I did not change treatments and didn't pay attention to his fin as I should have.

As for my formerly paralyzed cory, he is still stable. I'm not sure if he is improving more. His appetite is still good. He can swim now and I noticed today his twitch isn't as severe as it was, it's a little jolt now rather than something that shook his whole body and caused him to "spring" up. His tail still curves here and there after he does something that requires a lot of physical strength, like swimming to the top, but not always. My other two healthier cories seem to be good for the most part, though they were having balance problems which really worry me. Sometimes they'll lean to one side for one second when swimming in the middle of the tank, but right themselves again. They seemed to have difficulty keeping themselves flat on the ground, they would start to float up, but eventually it would stop after 10 seconds or so. I haven't seen it in the past couple days, but I hope it is not some other problem. What could be the cause of that? The medicine or internal parasites?


I was considering treating my cories internally with the kanaplex as well, but they are already on two medications (prazipro and metroplex). I found a way to feed them the blood worms by putting a bit of the regular food in that they are used to along with blood worms, which was their routine before the sickness. They quickly come to the food spot. Most if not all of the food is gone when I check back later. That pointer about putting the blood worms in the syringe is very helpful because grabbing it with my hands isn't exactly ideal and makes a mess. I just changed the tank water, but it was very good as far parameters before the change. I've been vacuuming daily.

My betta has furan2 in his quarantine tank, not sure if I should treat him for parasites later.

I seemed to have forgotten that ammonia is the most dangerous in the tank because I was so focused on the nitrates, but there has been 0 detectable ammonia every time I check.

I'll keep things updated.

[rcbows]

The first thing that came to my mind "was chlorine poisoning". You never mentioned what type of method you use for water changes. What chemical for Chlorine removal. Sorry it is the first time I read the post! Don't want to get in the way, but I have had Sterbie Cory's for awhile and the are very sensitive to different meds, that other Cory's tolerate. I dosed a tank once with "Rid ich" and killed the whole tank of Sterbie Cory's. A well known fish breeder around in Florida told me to only use Melifex on them anything else like "Rid ich" will kill them.

Also how long have you had them and where did the fish come from a breeder or are they "wild caught". Did you isolate them when you purchased them?If they are wild caught you probably got a parasite if its not the "Chloramines or chlorine". If they were purchased from a reliable breeder its probably something you did to stress them or you have infected the with the other fish in your tank. They are probably resistant to what ever and the Cory's aren't. That's my opinion, and I don't believe in all the pH and Temp and hardness crap! Cory's can live in just about any water supply unless it is chlorinated!

Ron

[DLFL]

After reading this thread I have wondered how often you clean the gravel? As bottom feeders clean gravel is essential.

[Filigree]

Here's my update. Been a bit too depressed to post anything.

My betta died from complications of surgery due to severe fin rot. There was no other way to rid of the dead flesh except by removing it, but he didn't make it. Really crushed about this. His fin biting left him open to this infection and I couldn't get it under control. Despite my efforts of quarantining him, treating with different medicines, daily water changes, etc it continued to spread.

As for my cories...Twitchy (was scooter, but he doesn't do that anymore) is still twitching. I am uncertain if his condition is improving or he has permanent damage. He seems to be gaining some more of his mobility back. He is more able to "peck" at the ground like the others and school. With some difficulty, he is able to swim against the glass in the mid level of the aquarium and come up for air. I'm actually really impressed he has hung on this long. He looked really bad about a week ago, I seriously thought he was a goner. He was lying on his side, barely moving, tail curled. He looks completely different now. His tail still curls after strenuous activity though. They are all eating. Twitchy eats rather ravenously and usually consumes the most.

However, as I mentioned before, I am concerned about my other cories. They are showing a different problem. They seem to be having balance issues. It's not horrible yet, I saw it happen a week ago where one completely lost control which was horrifying to watch, but I haven't seen an episode like that since. I don't know if they are getting better or not. At one point, one of them was starting the same thing with their spine curling a week ago. I still see a very slight curve at times, but it has not gotten worse. Perhaps they all have balance problems, twitchy cory couldn't make himself float and still has difficulty, and they tip over. I observe them quite often now to see if there are any changes, so that is all I have to report.

This is the second week of treating with prazipro and metroplex. I emailed Hikari about how to dose prazipro and they said to completely eradicate most parasites I have to treat the tank for 3 weeks, which is not stated on the bottle.

To answer your questions:

I've had them for about 10 months. I use API stress coat and seachem prime at some point. I do a weekly 50%. I siphon the water out, dump it, shake off plants in dechlorinated water to get debris off, fill up new water in a bucket matching the temp in the tank, treat with API stress coat, then siphon it back in the tank. I'm not an expert, but I don't think it is chlorine poisoning. I've always treated my water before putting it in the tank.

I asked my LFS where they get their cories from. They said sometimes they are wild caught and other times raised by breeders. So it did not help me, but it is possible they were wild.

As for cleanliness, I believe I've mentioned a few times in the thread that I did not clean the tank for about two and a half weeks about a month ago because I got caught up in a project. The parameters were about 1 ppm amm, 1-2 Nitrite, 40 ppm nitrate, so basically, BAD. It's hard to tell nitrate because the API test kit shows anything 40 ppm and above as basically the same. I wish I had taken a picture of the vials. Having the small tank made it it climb faster I assume. It's likely this triggered harm, but I cannot be certain. The symptoms occurred a little bit over a week since the water change when the parameters were bad. I've been cleaning the bottom regularly now, but I wasn't always diligent as I should have been in the past. It probably also contributed to the fin rot on my betta, as he bit himself a lot and it made him susceptible to infection. Everything before this point was good, they were healthy as far as I could see, which is why I noticed something was wrong recently.

Honestly, I feel like crap for not cleaning it because I lost my betta which I deeply loved and my cories are sick. I don't know if its the parasites, but the dirty tank couldn't have helped. Sigh.


As I said before, I am hoping the information contained in this thread helps others that might google it, even though it is embarrassing for me.

Here is a video of one cory losing balance for half a second and how twitchy looks now. He springs up instead of shaking side to side. You can see his tail curl a bit too. The current is a bit strong in there, so I might reduce the bubbles and filter. The water looks yellow because I put a rooibos tea bag in there. Let me know if the vid doesn't work.

http://v8.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=21cxe9t&s=8

[apistomaster]

I have successfully and simultaneously treated fish with metronidazole, praziquantel(PraziPro) and flubendazole powder(10%) for many years. Mainly wild fish ranging from Apistogramma, H. zebra and other expensive plecos as well as many wild discus. I do it upfront as prophylaxis against possible presence of parasites. I have never observed any ill effects from this so called "shotgun" method. I have found that Tetra Color Granules saturated with the above medications made an excellent delivery system. The Prazipro plus a little added water helps the medications be absorbed into the food. I follow this medicated feeding regime from one to four weeks. Longer for large Discus than for much smaller fish.
Other brands of sinking fish foods which hold together well would work as well.
However I can not say with any certainty that the described treatment would help in your Corydoras' problems. I used metronidazole in both their food and their water.

Your Betta's problems may not have a solution. Fancy long finned Bettas are very prone to different fin rot diseases. Another issue with Bettas is that they are short lived fish. Your betta may just be suffering symptoms of old age. They rarely live to be more than 2-1/2 years with many males beginning to become senescent around 18 months. Often they begin deteriorating as soon as they leave the breeders' establishments regardless of their age. They are subjected to much prolonged malnutrition and usually filthy water weeks to months before they reach a hobbyist's tanks.
When I was raising Betta splendens by the 1000's I never had any fin rot problems but among those I shipped in for resale fin rot was a serious problem. Although I raised a variety of colors I was primarily working on producing the nicest Butterfly Cambodians I could.
I was able to successfully treat many male Betta's by cleanly cutting the affected fins with a single edged razor blade to remove their diseased tissue, then applying mercurochrome directly on the fresh wounds with a cotton tipped swab, then maintaining the treated males in a water treated with about one tbs of rock salt per gallon and enough methylene blue to stain the water in their container so as to make it difficult to see them. Most scaled fish can tolerate fairly strong methylene blue solutions.
It had to be a very special male B. splendens I wanted for breeding to receive such treatment. The commonly sold Bettas selling for less than $5.00 each are hardly worth the trouble. If it was a $20 specimen with desirable genetics then it becomes more worth while to indulge in heroic treatments.

[Filigree]

Do you think products like Seachem Focus are necessary to make sure the medicine binds to the food? Cories are kind of slow eaters and don't "gulp" up food, unless it's something like a blood worm or the food its tiny enough. I heard something about using fish oil as a binder as well.

I know bettas don't live long, which is unfortunate. They've been inbred into all these crazy combos which can't help with hardiness. I don't know if wild bettas are much better as far longevity though. He was just a regular veil tail. While he wasn't a beautiful breeder fish, he was my pet so I felt it was appropriate to try and treat him the best I could. I wish I had known about the surgery option sooner because I wouldn't have had to cut so much and he probably would have lived. It had progressed so close to his body and medicines weren't working. I have no idea how old he was, but he was always ragged looking. He always bit his fins, so his temperament wasn't exactly ideal, but I loved him anyway. Sad he is gone.

I hope my cories pull through. I'm putting their medicine in their pellet food too and treating the water. How much prazipro would I put in a tablespoon of food in case I do try? I am not sure if prazi is effective against the parasite hexamita which someone on another forum proposed it might be. I heard the parasites sap nutrients from their body. How do i make sure he is getting enough nutrients to make him stronger? He eats a lot, but I am afraid I'm going to make them bloated. How do I tell if they are bloated anyway? Sorry, I have a lot of questions. The good news is Twitchy's barbels are growing back.

[apistomaster]

PraziPro dosed at about 0.5cc/tbs is sufficient plus a dash of water are all you need to ensure good absorption into the food. It is not effective against Hexamita. Metronidazole is the "go to" drug for Hexamita.
While flubendazole is best known as an effective treatment for some types of parasitic worms, it also happens to be an excellent treatment for Oodinium(Velvet). I only mentioned this to round out some of your fish meds background information.
I think you should consider to begin cessation of the treatments as you say your fish are eating well.
Now it would be best to concentrate on maintaining good water quality because I do not think further treatments will do your fish any good. Good luck.

[Filigree]

Thanks for the info. I have no idea where to get flubendazole. It seems to be some specialty medicine I can only buy from a vet or farm store. The most damaged cory continues to improve, he is gaining more control of his body and is able to swim pretty well, but definitely not like a regular cory. Coloration is turning to normal (was darkened). Still twitches. They lose balance occasionally. My main concern is their spines still curl to one side, I've seen one of the other ones doing it too. Not sure what else I could do, as I have no idea what might be causing it. I thought it would go away. I'm going to try a vitamin supplement just to help them replenish vitamins they have lost from the parasites, other than that I am at a loss. It is frustrating because I don't think it'll be safe to add new fish with them in this condition. I'm kinda nervous to stop treatment, but it probably is not helping any more at this point. I don't think it's scoliosis because it is not a permanent curvature and looks nothing like the pictures I have seen.

[apistomaster]

I do not see where further treatment of your fish will do them any more good but they are your's to do with as you will. Using vitamins will do no harm but are not likely needed.
You do not need to treat them with flubendazole but no serious hobbyist's fish medicine cabinet is complete without some.
A supply of flubendazole is easy to get. Charles Harrison sells 25 grams for only $27.95 and that is enough to treat 1000's of gallons. Used in food it would last for decades for most hobbyists.
Here is his website: http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/

[Filigree]

I'll definitely consider buying that medicine.

Cories acting strange today. Two of the cories started leaning on each other, both facing toward me, almost like they were losing balance. Their outside fins were pointing upward and the ones inside touching the ground. One is large and the other is small, so I'm going to assume they are opposite sexes. They were wiggling/shaking vigorously against each other. I thought it might be some kind of mating ritual, but it didn't quite look like mating videos I have seen. They didn't make any T shape or vigorously swim around the tank against each other. They seem to be acting lethargic, but nudging and hovering around each other in some odd way, it's hard to describe. Maybe they are getting into some "mating phase" or maybe they are just doing sickly cory stuff.

Still can't tell if they are getting worse or better. I could swear I see the other two starting to "twitch" but I could just be hyper vigilant. They still lose balance for a split second. Crippled cory still twitches and seems more "agitated" by it now, he also twitches while swimming, which he did not do before. I guess it's getting worse? He has more control of his swim bladder it seems...His belly is still sunken and curves.

I've been giving them food infused with focus and metro and adding it in the tank. A seachem representative said to treat the fish up to 30 days to "eradicate the parasites completely". I don't know if I'll do that. I might try switching to kanaplex instead as this might be a secondary bacterial infection. I read about a similar disease elsewhere and theirs died within days, so it is very strange.

[Filigree]

Unfortunately, my fish are not getting better. This has to be more than parasitic. With further reading I think they either have red blotch disease (can't find much info on this one) or septicemia (which might have happened as a result of parasites), which are both common in store bought catfish. The C shape they keep going into is probably a sign of organ failure. One has a discolored spot on her head. I see that they are losing weight everyday even though they continue to eat. They have visible redness on their bellies, base of the back of fins and redness along the spine. These are slow moving diseases which could explain why it is taking so long for them to die. I could be wrong, it's all a guessing game by this point. Treating them may be a futile effort, but I don't feel like giving up yet. It's hard watching them getting sicker and sicker and nothing is working. I've tried kanaplex but they did not respond. I am trying tetracycline right now. Any ideas are welcome.