Hi, I recently got back into fishkeeping after a ~7 year hiatus and hoo boy, I have had some discouraging luck. My new shipment of Corydoras sterbai arrived on Thursday with 3 of them in poor condition and they appear to be getting worse. There is an underlying issue which is either nutrition deficiency, internal parasites, or infection, and then today we have constipation/swim bladder issues. Video: https://youtu.be/uej4qDwZ6QY
1. Water parameters
a) Temperature - 26.3oC/79.3oF
b) pH - 7.0
c) GH - 3dg
d) KH - 3dg
e) TDS - 113 ppm
f) Ammonia - 0ppm, Nitrate - 0ppm, Nitrite - <5ppm
g) Water change frequency - 20% daily
h) "Routine" water treatments - Prime dechlorinator
2. Tank set up
a) Size - 20 high
b) Substrate - Caribsea sand (Crystal beach I think?)
c) Filtration - large sponge filter
d) Furnishings - mopani, resin cave, 2 amazon swords
e) Other tank mates - apple snail
f) How long has it been set-up? - 6 months
g) Food used and frequency - trying everything - frozen bloodworms, live microworms, and Bug Bites for catfish are the biggest success. Have tried multiple flakes and pellets, algae wafers, zucchini, peas, frozen brine shrimp
h) Recent changes in the tank which occurred shortly before the disease/problem appeared - had added 1/2 tsp aquarium salt and half dose of pimafix to tank prior to acclimation; replaced the pimafix 2 days later but have not replaced the salt with subsequent water changes
3. Symptoms / Problem description or history
Thursday - Received the 8 cories on Thursday afternoon, acclimated slowly over ~1.5hrs. One cory was on its side, looked dead, but was still alive, and had a curved spine. 4 of the cories were thin, and 3 of those I would consider emaciated.
Friday - One emaciated cory was incredibly pale and listless; didn't respond to much but would snuffle about in the sand every so often and would eat when I put food directly in his face. Scoliosis/"DOA" cory was acting fine, but still bent spine and incredibly thin. I suspected internal parasites so began feeding food soaked in Metroplex/garlic guard in the evenings.
Saturday - no change
Sunday - Pale cory was on it's side, I thought he was dead, but went to pick him out and he swam away jerkily before coming to rest upright. I watched closely and he was back to the same behaviour as before - fairly listless but would eat and forage occasionally. Fed freeze-dried bloodworms soaked for 1/2hr in garlic guard/Metroplex in evening.
Monday - Pale cory found dead in the morning. Scoliosis cory had clamped fins, and her hind end was buoyant. I thought this was constipation from Sunday dinner so fed boiled peas + some Bug Bite catfish crumbles soaked in Metroplex solution.
Tuesday (today) - Scoliosis cory still has clamped fins, is now floating at the surface when not actively swimming at the bottom. 2 of the good-condition cories are also floating on their sides at the top. The other emaciated cory has no buoyancy issues but has clamped fins. All are quite still today, very different from the usual activity.
4. Action taken - Daily water changes because they are picky eaters and often leave food behind for my apple snail to poop out.
5. Medications used (if any) / changes in fish observed since treatment began (if any) - Metroplex/garlic guard soaked food every evening since Friday. See above for daily behaviour changes - today is by far the worst and even the healthy cories are affected.
The company tells me they were tank bred. Initially I thought it was a nutritional deficiency (curved spin, very thin), but then thought they may have internal parasites, and am worried it might be a Mycobacterium. I think the swim bladder issue is from the freeze dried bloodworms (even though they were soaked). My questions are:
1. How should I treat for the swim bladder issue? They don't appear to have touched the peas. If I starve for a couple of days to reduce bloating then I worry about the thin ones and not treating potential internal parasites.
2. What is the main illness? Do you think it is parasites, Mycobacterium, or this "mystery disease" as I've seen people call it? I thought if it was parasites I would have seen some improvement by now.
I am especially bummed because I LOVE cories and was so excited to get them from (I thought) a reputable shop, and had hoped to breed them. I will definitely not be breeding this lot...
Thank you for your help!
Sick Sterbais - parasites, Mycobacterium, SWB..?
Re: Sick Sterbais - parasites, Mycobacterium, SWB..?
Hi;
First I am so sorry for your situation. From your video, I think the emancipated fish, which ever you have left, are probably too far gone to be save. It takes a lot of neglect to get a fish, any fish, to look like the one in your video, so I’d think about doing the merciful thing but that’s just my personal view. Once the fish is so gaunt and loses interest in eating its hard to get it back with medication. By the way, you can actually soak an amount of pellet foods with some amount of General cure.....which is metro and prazi together.....and some actual human grade garlic powder, soak in distill water, place in fridge and then let the soaked pellet dry out in the fridge and you can feed the sick group for an entire week for it to be effective. I’ve done this with my pearlscale goldfish but not cories.
I would actually get videos of the fish and show to the store owner and get your money back. It’s so aweful that the store sold you such emancipated fish.....just not a good thing to do
First I am so sorry for your situation. From your video, I think the emancipated fish, which ever you have left, are probably too far gone to be save. It takes a lot of neglect to get a fish, any fish, to look like the one in your video, so I’d think about doing the merciful thing but that’s just my personal view. Once the fish is so gaunt and loses interest in eating its hard to get it back with medication. By the way, you can actually soak an amount of pellet foods with some amount of General cure.....which is metro and prazi together.....and some actual human grade garlic powder, soak in distill water, place in fridge and then let the soaked pellet dry out in the fridge and you can feed the sick group for an entire week for it to be effective. I’ve done this with my pearlscale goldfish but not cories.
I would actually get videos of the fish and show to the store owner and get your money back. It’s so aweful that the store sold you such emancipated fish.....just not a good thing to do
Re: Sick Sterbais - parasites, Mycobacterium, SWB..?
Hi, thank you so much for your reply.
I have been feeding food soaked in garlic guard (liquid) and Metroplex - I don't have Prazi, and can no longer buy OTC meds in my country. I did euthanize the very emaciated cory in the video that night, he definitely seemed beyond help. It's good to have some validation that I am making reasonable choices with the information I have, so thank you.
The others have since come down (must not have soaked the freeze dried bloodworm long enough) and I have experienced no more losses. Everyone is still eating but there are 2 that are looking thin - I can't tell if they are losing weight or if they look worse because the skeletal fish have all died, but I'm taking photos regularly to compare.
I have contacted the company but their policy is only to give store credit for the exact fish you ordered...no way am I ordering ANYTHING from there again.
In the meantime I've been calling around to find a fish vet - there is only 1 in my province who suggested a consultation about husbandry?? And since she probably couldn't diagnose via photos and is too far away for a ($200!) house call I kept calling and found a lab who will do necropsies. So now I'm waiting for another death so I can send a fresh body. It's so difficult to get good medical advice that I've decided to apply to vet school next year. There's clearly a need.
I will update this post when I get necropsy results just in case it helps somebody in the future.
I have been feeding food soaked in garlic guard (liquid) and Metroplex - I don't have Prazi, and can no longer buy OTC meds in my country. I did euthanize the very emaciated cory in the video that night, he definitely seemed beyond help. It's good to have some validation that I am making reasonable choices with the information I have, so thank you.
The others have since come down (must not have soaked the freeze dried bloodworm long enough) and I have experienced no more losses. Everyone is still eating but there are 2 that are looking thin - I can't tell if they are losing weight or if they look worse because the skeletal fish have all died, but I'm taking photos regularly to compare.
I have contacted the company but their policy is only to give store credit for the exact fish you ordered...no way am I ordering ANYTHING from there again.
In the meantime I've been calling around to find a fish vet - there is only 1 in my province who suggested a consultation about husbandry?? And since she probably couldn't diagnose via photos and is too far away for a ($200!) house call I kept calling and found a lab who will do necropsies. So now I'm waiting for another death so I can send a fresh body. It's so difficult to get good medical advice that I've decided to apply to vet school next year. There's clearly a need.
I will update this post when I get necropsy results just in case it helps somebody in the future.
Re: Sick Sterbais - parasites, Mycobacterium, SWB..?
You becoming a vet would be a great way to honor your fish that passed. It's a big silver lining. Best of luck to you.