Sick Cories...Help!!!

[Sara]

We've had four wonderful panda cories for the past 6 weeks, with no problems until today... Now it looks like we've got some problems:

- One of the panda cories has what looks like cotton fungus (a little white ball on the end of one of his side fins), and has crawled into a small space never to come out again. He is either still very sick, or in the process of dying!

- Two of the three remaining panda cories seem to have lost all of their barbels, while the third one seems fine. These three are all active and seem to be behaving normally.

Our tank is a 10-gallon, about two months old, and contains 4 cories, 6 neon tetras and 1 black phantom tetra (a second black phantom died of unknown causes about two weeks ago). The substrate is epoxy-coated gravel, with fake plants and some hiding places. The tank was cycled with BioSpira and the water parameters are: 0 Ammonia, 0.2 Nitrites, and 2 Nitrates according to the test I just did. We did a water change this morning.

So my questions are:
(1) What do I do with the sick panda cory? We don't have a QT tank (we're starving students - we can barely afford to keep up the one tank!), but can make it to the LFS tomorrow to buy medication if we need to.
(2) What has caused the two cories to lose their barbels? How do we fix it? Will they grow back? We're concerned that they won't be able to find food without them...

Any help would be greatly appreciated! TIA

In a panic,
Sara & Chris

 

[Sara]

Update:

After doing some more research, we decided to add some Melafix to the tank (about 15 drops). I couldn't find anything that says that Melafix and Neons/Black Phantoms don't mix, so we'll see what happens.

Also, the sick cory seems to have made his way out of the cave and was fairly active right after we dropped in a sinking algae wafer.

Still worried though...

 

[patryuji]

Maroxy will get rid of true fungus. I don't know about melafix but from descriptions at online stores it seems more like a treatment for bacterial infections that look like fungus. Maroxy did not negatively impact the corydoras that was in the QT at the time.

 

[jaydro]

One of my first panda cories lost his barbels, and they grew back pretty quickly. Barbel damage is usually because the substrate is too rough, but you say you have coated gravel. My gravel is fairly smooth, and my other cories haven't been losing their barbels, and the one who did recovered pretty quickly, so I haven't worried too much about it. But I've been doing this just two months, so....

 

[Menagerie]

Have you read the article on Ich? However, that would not explain the barbels falling off.
If you are going to the LFS and there are knowledgeable people there--put a cory or two in a jar and ask what they think. Can't hurt.

You should get a QT tank--this is coming from a formerly starving student. It will pay for itself overtime (think costs of replacement fish and extra meds to treat the whole tank, plus you don't want to treat fish that are not sick). Get a 5 gal tank (walmart will do), my fiancé made a wire cover for ours, we have a 50-watt heater (just wait for a sale, or try bigalsonline.com) and get a HOB filter (again, look for a sale or go online).

 

[jsoong]

Cheap QT tank idea:

Get a 5-10 gal rubber maid tub ($5), or a cheap 10 gal tank (I got mine $10 on sale), heater ($10 - if you don't pay for utilities, may be turn up heat in room & skip the heater!), sponge (or box) filter/air pump ($15) or small HOB.

PS - if using heater in plastic tub, make sure it doesn't touch the side or tub may melt.

Also check used stuff - couple weeks ago, an Edmontonian on this forum is selling/giving away used equipment in the buy&sell section, see if you can get some good used stuff.

 

[Endgame319]

Just a random, off-topic question, but where did you get your panda cories? I've been looking EVERYWHERE for them?

 

[Menagerie]

Endgame, I just bought pandas down here! Plenty left at LFS!

 

[Sara]

Just a random, off-topic question, but where did you get your panda cories? I've been looking EVERYWHERE for them?

Endgame319, I got them at Big Al's on 99th, but I got the last of them. We were originally planning on getting three, but there was four in the tank and we just *couldn't* leave that last little guy in there all alone...

 

[Sara]

Update:

The cotton fungus on the cory seems to be getting worse. The only solution I can think of is this: move the sick cory into our 2 gallon betta tank w/ filter, and move the betta into a bowl for a couple of weeks.

My concern, though, is for the betta. Will he be ok with this arrangement? If I take half of the water out of the betta tank for his temporary home, I can't foresee any problems... Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA...again...

 

[Menagerie]

Do a search for bettas (on this site), or look at postings from Christmasfish--there should be PLENTY of info.
Are the barbels growing back on the other cories? Just wondered if fungus is what caused their loss.