white lump blocking gill of my bronze cory

[gordon]

can anyone help with diagnose of the white roundish lump blocking my bronze corys gill. only noticed it the other day.he is now up against the filter gasping for air alot of the time, although he is still scavenging ok.would a salt bath help him,he is a ten year old freind.

[Cory_lover]

Hmm, can u describe the lump a bit more? ie: is it fungus/cottony in appearance? or is it a very tiny spot, and occurs elsewhere on body, or just gills? what's the health status of other fish in the tank (if there are any)?

[gordon]

Hmm, can u describe the lump a bit more? ie: is it fungus/cottony in appearance? or is it a very tiny spot, and occurs elsewhere on body, or just gills? what's the health status of other fish in the tank (if there are any)?

i really appreciate a reply to my help thing. the round oval cyst like lump has copletely blocked the poor fellows right gill. i havnt netted him out yet. tried to take a couple of pics but they are not clear. my test of tank last week , did show high level of nitrite, but i had a bad case of haif algae, that put my plants in a bad order. the cory is an old boy ,could this be just an old age thing
there are no cottony things like the normal mouth, or similar diseases .not sure on the fluke . my feeling go to the other non cure problems.the other fish are ok. at moment.

[gordon]

White lump now getting bigger, showing signs of blood on its surface blocking gill. Cory always on filter grill now. Detail on set up etc as advised.
24 gall jemel tank, no under gravel filters, 11 or so mixed fish, all appear healthy eating well etc.
Latest tests done today are as follows..
Temp. steady 24 to 25C.
Various white and red rocks, only one plant left as I had bad hair algae now being treated. 20 percnt water change, 2wks.
Ammonia nh3 and 4. reading 0.1
ph broadrange 8.0 to 8.5
Nitrite under 0.1
Found nitrate high at about 80, even after doing water change ie syphon on gravel bed.
Think cory hasnt long now.
By the way whats with the forum lurker tag?

[Mod edit: Fix up completely unreadable formatting --Mats]

[MatsP]

I moved your post to the existing thread, so that new people can see the whole thread, rather than just the last part.

Ammonia should really be zero (no detectable level). Although I don't really think that is the problem, it indicates that something isn't quite right with your biological filtration - either you haven't got enough filtration or your good bacteria may have died back for some reason.

Nitrate level is too high, so you may want to increase the frequency and size of your water changes - this will probably not cure your fish immediately, but it's no bad thing to reduce the nitrate level. Bear in mind that in some places, nitrate in the tap-water is close to 50ppm, so you may simply have a high nitrate in the tap-water. If that is the case, there is no simple way to get the level down a lot.

I take it that the tank has been set up for a long time, as the fish is ten years old.

Also, you may find that it's, sadly, nothing much you can do about it. Lumps on old fish are often a sign that they are simply dying from old age - and they will sooner rather than later die from something or another (and whilst 10 years old isn't anywhere near the 18 or so years that Ian Fuller's (Coryman's) oldest corys, but it's a "good inning").

--
Mats

[DJ-don]

how long have you been running this tank?

and how long did u cycle it? if its only been a week or so, its really dangerous-luckily for me these guys and PC taught me how to propaly cycle a tank which is 2 months or so. it seems like a new tank because nitrate is at bad levels
it could definetly mean ur tank bacteria died too. did u wash the tank bacteria in your tank water? by that i mean when u do water changes did u clean the filter in the water in the bucket-because if u clean ur filter under a tap it just kills the bacteria
hope this helps

[gordon]

thanks everyone for your help.appologies for not posting things in the right place,new member, will try to get the hang of things.you were right mat ,my little freind died at about 4.00pm gmt today.hope he didnt suffer too much.i have to get my nitrate down, will get a satchet and watch my cleaning of filters,hands up i have been washing them gently and quickly under tap water,mind you i have always done this ,but hey ive learnt something today that should have been obviouse to me.once again everyone,thanks for your advise.alan.(gordon)

[MatsP]

Sorry to hear that.

--
Mats

[Timberwolf]

It sounds like you need some way to kick start your cycling for the sake of your remaining fish. I won't claim to be an expert (quite the opposite, in fact ), but I have had great luck with a bacterial additive called SafeStart. I got it on the recomendation of Dan Miner, at PetLand in Pasco, Washington, but looking at the bacterial additives section at the Drs. Foster and Smith website, there are many listed, including the SafeStart. I'll bet that another member here can give you some better ideas and information than I can.

What I can say about it is that my tank is, admittedly, overpopulated and I have not had any water issues to speak of since about 4 days after I started it all up. I have not had any measurable ammonia since about the 5th day and even now, the majority of the issues I am having are related to my source (VERY hard and fairly high in pH). Even my nitrate levels are better than I would expect, which I attribute in equal parts to Heavy plantation with live plants and blind luck.

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your old friend. I have three albinos, which, I believe, are the same species (Coydoras Aeneas). I have had them only for about 2 weeks and have to admit I am hooked.

(Note to Mats and Jools: I appologise if i have overstepped the bounds, as far as plugging products, or retailers.)

[DJ-don]

but still having a a cory for 10 years just means that you have been keeping him very well.
i'm sorry to hear about that
with this death you could try getting a different fish to satisfy you

[gordon]

cheers guys. buried him this morning next to the rabbit, by the way the rabbit also is dead.will take the tip with regards to bacteria. when i get the tank back to normal am going to get at least six corys as they are so good.alan.