Cories and meds

chrisinha · Post by **chrisinha** » 16 Jun 2005, 01:50

Ok, I just had a betta dying out of nowhere this morning. the day before he was fine, next day he stopped eating, hours later his eyes were cloudy and he had white stringy stuff hanging from his head.

the thing is he was in a 10 gallon tank with some 7 small cories and 2 otos, and i've added Maracyn and Maracyn 2 to try to help him with no success. he's gone but the cories and otos are still there. my question is: should i continue the treatment? i've heard that meds can be hard on catfish. is it alright to use these meds???

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 16 Jun 2005, 18:12

Hi,
I can't say I know the medicine, but normally if there's no more need for treatment I remove it asap by using coal and waterchanges. It would surprise me a lot if your Cories have the same disease as your Betta. Evenmore, it would surprise me if they are ill at all. Now what you may get and don't want is that they become ill from the medicin.
Check for abnormal behaviour; if not: remove the med.
Good luck.
PS: the white stringy stuff may easily have been airbubbles; it's last breaths so to speak.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 16 Jun 2005, 18:25

It would also be helpful if you could please read the sticky note about health. The more information there is about the situation, the more people can help you.

Can somebody please explain to me why Bettas are always kept in such little jars? I don't understand this.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 16 Jun 2005, 20:39

Bronzefry wrote: Can somebody please explain to me why Bettas are always kept in such little jars? I don't understand this. :oops:

You can't put them together. They don't go very well with other small fish, while larger fish may nip the betta's fins. Thus, knowing that they have an accessory breathing possibitility, they are kept in the smallest of tanks: jars.

chrisinha · Post by **chrisinha** » 16 Jun 2005, 23:36

Marc van Arc wrote: You can't put them together. They don't go very well with other small fish, while larger fish may nip the betta's fins. Thus, knowing that they have an accessory breathing possibitility, they are kept in the smallest of tanks: jars.

im sorry but i have to disagree. keeping bettas in jars is just cruel. all my bettas are in community tanks and they are fine. nobody picks on them i wouldnt keep them in high tanks though because they do need to go to the surface to breathe, but in long tanks, i dont see any problems.

back to the subject, the problem is that when you start medicating with antibiotics you should finish the whole 5 day treatment or you might make the bacteria resistant to that kind of antibiotic. I mean, this is true even for humans. so, that's why im concerned because i dont know much about the cories' sensitiviness to meds.

now, it looks to me that one of the cories also has ick. since they cant take salt as treatment, what kind of treatment is good for corydoras??

jen.nelson · Post by **jen.nelson** » 17 Jun 2005, 04:08

In my experience, certain cories tolerate salt quite well. I had a group of C. aeneus that were in bad shape coming from the store. Among other issues, they had fin rot and septicemia. Not knowing any "better", I included salt in their water during their treatment, at the rate of one Tablespoon per 5 gallons, and they didn't seem to mind. For what it's worth, I was treating with Maracyn Two at the same time.

If the remaining fish don't appear to be ill with something that the antibiotics will treat, I'd stop treatment, and do water changes, and remove the meds with carbon and monitor the fishes' health. Be sure to monitor water quality as well, since the antibiotics can really wipe out the biofilter, no matter what the packaging might tell you...

Hope that helps,
Jen

chrisinha · Post by **chrisinha** » 17 Jun 2005, 05:17

thank you, jen.

i tested their water, ammonia was 0 but nitrites were way too high at 4 ppm, so i immediately did a 50% water change and put some carbon in the filter to help remove the meds. the "ick" spots disappeared, so i guess im going to keep an eye on them and see if other symptoms appear.

MDOU · Post by **MDOU** » 17 Jun 2005, 09:35

Can somebody please explain to me why Bettas are always kept in such little jars? I don't understand this.

this is because in the wild bettas are found in small puddles (like on the side of the road or in rice feilds or in the shallows on the edge of a river or lake)

Marc van Arc wrote:

You can't put them together. They don't go very well with other small fish, while larger fish may nip the betta's fins. Thus, knowing that they have an accessory breathing possibitility, they are kept in the smallest of tanks: jars.

im sorry but i have to disagree. keeping bettas in jars is just cruel. all my bettas are in community tanks and they are fine. nobody picks on them i wouldnt keep them in high tanks though because they do need to go to the surface to breathe, but in long tanks, i dont see any problems.

i have been keeping and breeding these things for a few years now and the best way to keep in for these perposes are in little contianers that are only a few liters (1 or 2) and contain minimalistic decor(Eg a (fake)plant and some substrate). This way they can be kept clean.

i do however keep them in betta barracs and in bowls near each other, this way they can see each other and can display to each other. this keeps them active and colourful

i know this is off topic but i just wanted to say something

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 17 Jun 2005, 14:19

Thanks for the answers. I was curious.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 17 Jun 2005, 14:38

chrisinha wrote: im sorry but i have to disagree. keeping bettas in jars is just cruel. all my bettas are in community tanks and they are fine. nobody picks on them.

It's your good right to disagree. However, I didn't say that keeping bettas in jars is fun; in fact I think it's pretty unwanted. But the LFS'ses must store them somewhere, and that is what I tried to explain to Bronzefry.
With regard to your Cories: I agree with Jen. Use (sea-)salt, perhaps combined with a (temporarily) rise of the temperature to get rid of the ich. If that is no longer needed, you might use some salt to help your fish recover from the eventual damage done by the med.