Peppered Cory problems

[Prefet1]

Hey folks, desperately need some help here!

Basically have 8 peppered corrys for about 6 months now. I noticed a couple of months ago one or two of my cories had a little red under their bellies near the fin bases not streaking but more bruise like. tbh I kept an eye on things and as there was no change I dismissed for a while as my tank is very mature with other sensitve species and they were healthy all shoaling and so didn't think much of it.

After looking at some other peppered's at an LFS I noticed theirs had a nice clean white underneath, then reading up I realised that my corries might have a problem after all. I got them all out of the tank and stuck them in a 4 gallon container, added a filter (seeded from the main tank filter) and started treating for internal haemorrhaging. I have used Interpet Anti internal bacterial med. I also added ammolock just to try to ease any possible ammo spikes. This has hindered because my API test started reading +4 ammonia after doing this but sources suggest this is normal anyway.

Basically I have completed the 2 dose course 2 days ago now and today I pulled a couple of cory's out the water to check and their bellys are really red now They seem ok, maybe not as active as when in the main tank but they move around and eat when I feed them.

Somewhere along the lines I have made a dreadful mistake but need to know what it is! Have I treated for the correct illness? or not used the best medicine?

The main tank is very mature with dwarf Gourami's Neons and shrimp fully planted with co2 ph about 6.0 ammonia & nitrite 0 nitrate about 20 ish (EI). Substrate is gravel which I know isn't ideal but it is real smooth and their barbels are perfect and long so never thought this was an issue. In the quarrenteen tank there is no substrate just plastic bottom so why have their bellies gotten worse with the medicines?

Not sure what to do now! I have just performed the second 25% water change today (used conditioner of course!) and I want to start dosing again ASAP but the instructions suggest leaving things for 5 days before recommencing. I do not want to wait that long!

So please folks can you help my cories out!

Thanks.

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Just an update I retested the water in the quarantine tank and ammo and nitrite are both not registering for some reason the ph is lower than expected, about 6.2 which I find unusual considering tap water is approximately 7. However, hardness is extremely low from our tap (water from the lake district I think) about 1-2 dkh but my shrimp only tank maintains a 7 ph. I normally add seachem equilibrium to increase gh in main tank.
I am worried because a Cory I just removed has a lot of redness under the skin Seems while this may have been a chronic condition and not immediately threatening their life I think things have changed for the worse now

I have done a third water change just in case something else has got into the water.

Any help would be really appreciate ladies and gents!

Thankyou!

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Anyone help please?

[MatsP]

I'm not entirely sure that you really have a problem - but I can say that Seachem Equilibrium is not changing GH in any way - it doesn't contain ANY carbonates - the main ingredients [which are nicely listed on the packaging] are Calcium and Magnesium sulphate, followed by several other sulphates of small amounts. This is fine for increasing the mineral content in the water, but NOT the hardness. You may want to supplement with a GH/KH component - when I was using Seachem Equilibrium, I used Siefert KH buffer, which has the right ingredients to add KH to your water. But nowadays I use TMC Re-Mineralize for my RO water - and your tap water probably resembles RO water.

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Mats

[Prefet1]

So the red patches under the skin could have been ok? To be honest I had no proper reason to quarantine as they were all healthy (not so sure now tbh) but not seeing this in other examples I panicked and took action!

I am going to continue with 4 water changes a day for a few days I think and see how they are. Like I said they have quite a bit of redness under their bellies now and they have lost the contrast between body and spots, but I wouldn't say paled a lot. not sure if they are as active as they were either but they still move around and eat..

Like I said I think I screwed up big time but I am hoping I will learn a lesson and save them from any long term harm!


Re: the gh it was because I had calcium deficiencies showing in plants that I added the seachem in the first place so I misused the gh terminology haha. Never had a problem with ph swings so have never added kh booster tbh. Should I do this or not?

[MatsP]

If your pH is stable, then you (I guess) have enough KH to keep it stable. You only need about KH 2 to make it stable. And I was being a bit pedantic - it's just that GH has a strict meaning of Calcium Carbonate / Magnesium Carbonate and there is none of that in the Equilibrium. And yes, it's exactly FOR fixing plants that don't have enough minerals.

It very much depends on the type of redness and where it is. Some fish show a little bit of red can certainly be normal - but it COULD be a problem too. It's very difficult to say from just a description - a photo would definitely help a lot.

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Mats