Sick Corydoras: Need Help!

[zurikitty13]

So, to start this off, I'm an idiot. My tank's nitrates spiked one day to 80 ppm and one of my catfish became sick. He would not close his mouth, and was sticking it out so that I could see it. The area around his face slowly turned whiter and whiter, and he swam in a disoriented fashion(it seemed like he was trying to push water into his gills by swimming backwards or letting himself get sucked onto the filter) until he finally passed. I changed the water before he died, and he did seem to get a little more active, but he passed away by next morning. I continued to keep a close eye on my catfish, but a day or two later one of my other cory's back had turned completely white! He looked very sick and unresponsive. But he died within minutes of me discovering this. I noticed my final peppered cory had the same issue with not closing his mouth, so I ran to the pet store and set up a 3 gallon quarantine tank (I know its small, but its all I had). I put my peppered cory in the tank along with my julii cory who is recovering from fin rot/damage.

The water parameters for my quarantine tank is now perfect, no ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. pH is neutral, maybe slightly acidic. The quarantine tank is being dosed with melafix and API fungus cure. I'm not sure what the mouth problem is with my cories, because the peppered who has it now doesn't have the whiteness around his face. The quarantine tank is bare bottom, with some soft sea shells to raise the ph cos it was a bit low and a fake plant decoration thrown in. The filter has borrowed bio cubes from the original tank, a fresh sponge + cotton with no current. Both fish in there seem lethargic and have turned paler, though. My julii looked better in his own tank, while my peppered looks about the same.

I had hoped they were getting better, but today I've discovered that my nitrate spiked again to around 40+ ppm in the original tank (I'm going to change it now, but its literally only been two days since I did a 35% ish water change...) and some of my other cories now look like they have the mouth issue and lethargicness too.

In my original 20 gallon, I have 3 albino cories, 2 trilineatus, and 3 kuhli loaches, with an actinic light and black sand. High water circulation, some plants in the tank. The loaches have looked fine so far. And in my quarantine, I have my julii and peppered cory. My two fish who died were my two peppered cories.

So, is my bioload too high in my 20 gallon? I didn't think it was, considering all those fish don't produce much waste and it's a 20 gallon long tank. Also, what is wrong with my fish and how can I cure them? I suspected it was fungus cos my one fish died w/ his back covered in white and my one julii had gotten fin rot while I was away on vacation a couple weeks ago. I'd never seen it for myself, but my dad returned home sooner than I did and he found the tank completely covered in white. He cleaned it all out though, and its been a couple weeks since then. All of my fish looked fine, even when the tank was covered in white. The julii with fin rot even looked alright with his fin rot, and was swimming around as happily as usual, but I treated his tank with melafix when I got back and a lot of his fins have grown back. I recently added some new fish to the 20 gallon, and I'm afraid they brought the sickness with them. This all seemed to start with my peppered cories, but it is now spreading, cos some of my other cories look sick too. Please help... my fish mean a lot to me and I feel horrible for making them suffer!

[bekateen]

Hi zurikitty13,

For these nitrate spikes to occur, it seems to me that the problem is not in the number of fish, but something else. Perhaps you are overfeeding, or your filtration is inadequate, maybe some rotting plant matter or maybe your sand has toxic stuff built up. If not one of those, I'm at a loss. A 20 gal tank with five corys and a few kuhli loaches is not overstocked, in my opinion.

Good luck, Eric

[zurikitty13]

Figured it out; turns out my nitrate test wasn't accurate. Now I test my nitrate twice every time I do it to be absolutely certain. I can't figure out why this is though, because I follow the instructions to a T, but oh well, problem solved with minimal casualties.

[TwoTankAmin]

Trying to diagnose fish diseases etc. on the net is difficult even when pictures are provided. So I am going to make a suggestion based on your descriptions, but I am also going to warn that it is my best guess and should be looked at this way. I urge you to do further research into the disease rather than accept what I offer.

The mouth issue combined with the saddleback whiteness sounds very much like columnaris. Here is a brief description:

Columnaris - Mouth Fungus
Symptoms: cottony patches around the mouth, White spots on mouth, around the chin and mouth area, edges of scales and fins, cottony patches around the mouth. May be accompanied by clear stringy feces, a loss of appetite, and rapid gilling where gills are infected.

Names Columnaris is known by are Mouth Fungus, Cotton-Wool, Cotton-Mouth, Mouth-Rot, Saddle Back, Flexibacter, False Neon Disease, and Guppy Disease.
It is often called Mouth Fungus because it looks like a fungus attack of the mouth. It is actually caused from the bacterium Flavobacterium columnare, previously called Flexibacter columnaris, Bacillus columnaris, Chondrococcus columnaris, and Cytophaga columnaris. This is a common bacterial infection that affects freshwater aquarium fish, particularly livebearing fish and catfish. It is not seen in marine fish, they can be infected by myxobacterial diseases that are similar to columnaris, yet this is very uncommon in the aquarium.
Columnaris can enter the fish through the gills, mouth, or small wounds on the skin and results in an internal or external infection. It can have either a chronic progression of days or months or an acute progression with lesions spreading quickly, often wiping out whole populations of fish in just a few hours. It is highly contagious and may be spread through contaminated nets, specimen containers, and even food.
This disease is brought on by stress, injury, inadequate diet, and poor water quality, including an unstable pH. To prevent Columnaris maintain your water with good biological filtration and weekly water changes that include vacuuming the substrate. Keep the tank well aerated, provide your fish with a varied diet, and don't overstock.

Columnaris generally shows up first as a gray or white line around the lips and later as short tufts sprouting from the mouth like fungus. This bacterium produces protein and cartilage degrading enzymes that eat away at the fish and forms round or oval shapes with an open ulcer in the center. It may affect the fins, beginning with degradation at the edges, or as a lesion near the dorsal fin. The "saddleback" condition is a discolored gray patchy area near the dorsal fin and a pale white band encircling the body of the fish. A yellowish-brown ulcer develops in the center as it progresses. This coloring is caused by detritus particles trapped in the slime produced by the
bacteria.
This is a quick acting disease and needs immediate treatment. The toxins produced and the inability to eat will be fatal unless treated at an early stage. This bacteria is often accompanied by a second infection of an Aeromonas bacteria and fungus often invades the affected skin. Be aware that some strains of this bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. So ensure you treat for the full length of the medication. To rid the aquarium and fish of this disease, first increase the water quality and then begin treatment.

You can treat Columnaris with a gram-negative medication. However, other bacteria that are gram positive mimic the Columnaris Disease, so if you use a gram positive treatment and it worked, the affliction was NOT Columnaris disease. Some aquarists suggest using both the gram positive and negative together just in case you are not sure.

Several types of antibiotics and medications can used to treat Columnaris:

Penicillin: Penicillin at 10,000 units per liter is a very effective treatment. Treat with a second dose in two days.
Chloromycetin: You can use chloromycetin, 10 to 20 mg per liter, with a second dose in two days.
Kanacyn (kanamycin): Kanacyn will treat both bacteria at once.
Maracyn (erythromycin): Maracyn is effective against Columnaris, and using Maracyn 2 (minocycline) in conjunction with it will treat the Aeromonas bacteria as well.
Others: Copper sulphate, Furan, Tetracycline, and Potassium permanganate. Nifurpirinol, Acriflavine, Chloramphenicol and Malachite green are also said to be effective.
Medicated Foods: Feeding food dosed with Terramycin (Oxytetracycline) will help to internally treat this disease.

from http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/i ... 20Diseases

I have had good luck treating this disease with a combination of Maracyn (Erythromycin) and Maracyn 2. I would also mention that many anti-biotic treatments are more effective when fed than when dosed in the water. So if your corys are eating this food may help http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-suppli ... -25mm.html I would tend not to try the suggestions listed under Other above but would go with the antibiotics. If more than the corys are involved, I am not sure the non-bottom feeders will eat medicated sinking food.

Finally, let me repeat that this is my best guess and you should do more research here before deciding what to do. For pictures of what the saddleback part of columnaris looks like, do a Google Image search for saddleback columnaris.

[zurikitty13]

I don't think mine had the band or the yellow/brown discoloring, but the one who died definitely had a whitened back, and it was very sudden. Also, I've definitely seen white around some of my fishes' mouthes and some fast breathing that I couldn't pinpoint. I was confused because there aren't a lot of signs of it, but I do kinda get the feeling it might still be in the tank. I recently purchased NLS's Thera line, it's supposed to help fish recovering from sickness. I did an anti fungal treatment for a week on one of my Cories who seemed very lethargic and he seems to be doing a lot better now, but I can't tell whether or not he still has the sickness? He seems to still have a little white on him, but he's a Paleatus, so its kinda hard to tell. I especially can't tell for my Albinos. One has had skittish and jumpy behavior lately that has made me suspicious. I'll see if I can buy that food, cos I get the feeling the infection is internal because I'm having a hard time spotting external symptoms. All of my fish are eating as well. Also, do human prescriptions of these meds applied in the appropriate amounts work? If not, is there somewhere I should specifically buy the medicine from? How can you tell when they're fully cured? And should I just dose my whole tank? Sorry for the load of questions, and thank you for taking the time to point this out to me!

Edit: one thing that doesn't add up is the fact that it's supposed to be very fatal and fast acting. I believe one of my fish had this, the one who died, but this may not be the right sickness cos my fish would be dead already. It's been long past 72 hours. I'm starting to grow plants in my tank, so I recently bought a fertilizer and tdc meter. I think adding the fertilizer regularly and having the plants will help stabilize the hardness and pH. Those have been an issue for me because I have to use distilled water for my tanks. My tap water has ammonia and other variations of ammonia in it, and I can't afford to buy a RO unit. I've been adding seashells to my tank to increase the ph and when I get the ferts I think that'll really help. I'll keep you guys updated. Thanks again!

Edit X 2: read there's a chronic version however, which is a lot slower. When I get home, I'm going to lower the temp in my tank cos I have it a bit high (I read raising the temp when fish are sick usually helps. Welp.) and maybe I'll try taking pics/videos for you guys? It'll be hard, cos I have a blue light in my tank and they're fast little guys.

[TwoTankAmin]

Columnaris can come in a variety of strains, some are highly virulent while others are much less so. The symptoms that show up can also vary in type and severity depending on the strain. The one thing that is pretty much the case is that it is best treated with the proper antibiotics. It is contagious, moreso from a dead fish left in the tank than other means.

There is a pretty good review paper on columnaris, but is is written for scientists and not us simple fishkeepers. I like to read this sort of stuff even of I can only understand parts of it. Some papers will lose me completely.

Columnaris disease in fish: a review with emphasis on bacterium-host interactions
AM Declercq, F Haesebrouck, W Van den Broeck… - Vet Res, 2013 - biomedcentral.com
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pd ... -44-27.pdf

There are many places online one can buy meds. They are not often cheap
Here are a few links:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supp ... /3578/4615
http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-suppli ... links.html
http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Aquarium- ... tions.aspx

Let me say again I am operating seat of the pants here. You can see your fish and observe their symptoms and behavior which I cannot. Sometimes i can be dead on with a diagnosis while other times I am off the mark. My thinking is if you can read enough on this disease, you should get a good idea if this is the issue or not.

Perhaps somebody else on the site can offer some thoughts. Most medications are stressful to fish to some degree. Dosing the wrong medications can do more harm than good.

[zurikitty13]

So I've been feeding my catfish Thera A and I've started dosing them with Pimafix. All of my fish seem to be acting weird, and its driving me nuts because I can't tell with 100% certainty whether they're sick or not. They all seem kinda lethargic/skittish, and also seem to have trouble breathing. They're all still eating, which is good. But one of my False Cories has some white fuzz on one of his eyes. Think he has cataracts/an extension of the columnaris thing. I definitely have some kind of fungal disease in the tank. I've opted for dosing my whole tank with Pimafix instead of taking out the one because it seems to me that my whole tank is infected. I'm looking into getting some stronger medicine though, because Pimafix doesn't look like it's having much effect. My mom's a doctor of internal medicine so she's helping me pick the right medicine for them and reading some articles about fish sicknesses. I'm hoping for the best, and any advice from you guys is always appreciated!

[zurikitty13]

Continuing my updates, the Pimafix and Melafix are actually helping. My False Cory's eye looks better, but I think my tank is still infected. Awesome.news though: I'm gonna get a UV sterilizer! That should fix this whole thing right up combined with some meds, right?

[zurikitty13]

Haven't gotten the sterilizer yet, and the fungus came back on one of my recovering catfish. I'm dosing my whole tank with rid fungus, Melafix, and Pimafix. A lot of the fungus on my catfish seems to have disappeared, but he lost his whiskers. I feel terrible about it. He also lost a lot of his tail fin from the same disease a few months ago. This really sucks, cos he was getting better too. A lot of his fins had grown back, and he was becoming active. Really hope this works, and that I can get my sterilizer ASAP!