Sick Cory Cat?

[NewTanker]

Hi everyone, my son and I started a 10 gallon freshwater tank in December. We did a fishless cycle before stocking it. It is a planted tank with dirt and gravel substrate. We currently have 8 neon tetras, 2 RCS, 2 pepper Corys, 1 Milena Cory, a Panda Cory, and a Nerite Snail. The tank has been doing great and everyone has been happy and healthy. Saturday we went out of town and I shut the light off in the tank when we left around Noon until we got back Sunday night. I'm not sure if the light has anything to do with it, but this evening my son noticed that the pandy cory was acting weird. He was just sitting in the corner of the tank hardly moving. He is usually the most active fish in the tank, so it seemed a little odd. I watched him for a little while and he didn't move much. One of the pepper corys came over and nudged him a few times until he moved under a plant. While I was watching him, I noticed that there are really tiny little white balls around the tank. Some on the glass, some along the edge of the tank on the gravel. They look like tinier versions of the white balls on snowcap candy. I did a water change and scraped off what I could of the white balls. The panda has moved a few times, but just isn't himself.

Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong with my panda cory or what those little white balls are?

Please help!

 

[trennamw]

You might get some responses in the sick fish threads? Sorry you hVe a sickie and haven't gotten help yet!

 

[NewTanker]

Ok, I will try that, thank you!

 

[librarygirl]

Is the fish eating? Are there any signs of injury or disease (reddish areas, shredded fins, cloudy eyes, etc)? Could you take a photo of the white balls? My guess is eggs of some sort whether from the Cory or something else, but a photo might help. First thing I would do is check the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and make sure all is well there. I would do a 50% water change too just to be on the safe side even if params are ok, maybe something got into the water somehow. Also check the temp, make sure the heater is functioning properly and the water is being properly aerated either from water dropping from the filter or an air stone.

 

[NewTanker]

 

[NewTanker]

Above is a picture if the cory and one if the white balls. The cory does not seem to be eating, but I see no visible signs of injury or disease.

 

[NewTanker]

I checked the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels and all are great. Again, all if the other fish are doing wonderfully, it's just the panda cory that is acting weird

 

[cornflakes]

I think my cory is going through the same thing as yours except no white balls and my tank has no plants/dirt but i use gravel and artificial plants.

All my other corys are fine except this one that also wasn't eating and not moving much just sitting alone. There were no visible signs of injury...no white stuff on the body etc. He was like this for about a week or more. Once in a while another cory would swim by and nudge him and he'd sort of tip over but then move again some place else.

Then about a couple days ago, mine appears to have had the skin flap where the gills are fall off. He's still alive today and is acting the same, but we don't know what it could be. Some told me they think it might be a parasite.

So what I'm doing now is raising the temp back up to about 85-87 F (30 celsius) and will do more frequent water changes for the next week or so and hopefully it'll remove or kill any parasites if that's the cause.

 

[fishman888888]

Stupid idea here....do you have a stucco ceiling?

Lol i swear when i lived in my other building pieces of the ceiling used to fall into my 10g that didnt have a lid.

Looked kinda similar

 

[Aqua_Goddess]

Lol.don't take my word for it cause I got my Cory's when they were old already and they kind of just hang out swimming about in my tank,I've never seen their eggs before but the second picture looks sort of like an egg.what if it just laid eggs and is resting???? DONT TAKE MY WORD ON IT THOUGH.look up what their eggs look like

Sent from my LT28at using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[venymae]

They do look an awful lot like corydora eggs. Maybe google it and see if you think so.

 

[Aqua_Goddess]

Just did some quick Google searches.....lol they spray their eggs everywhere especially on glass and gravel.ur panda must be a female and is in resting after laying her eggs. You can always just let your eggs hatch and have ur fish have a nutritious snack but removing the eggs and having it be successful is extremely difficult.if you want some to survive just lay down plenty of moss for them to feed on and hide in.

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[NewTanker]

I was thinking the same thing, gosh I hope you guys are right!

 

[NewTanker]

Ok, now I really need help!! I came home to find the cory upside down against the side of the filter. I turned the filter off assuming I would have to remove the fish. Then, he started swimming, but not well. Then he went upside down in one of the plants. I went to remove him, and he swam away. Now he is sitting against the glass. When he does swim, it is not well, almost like he is tipping sideways. What do I do? I can't imagine it is good to leave a dying fish in there?

 

[cornflakes]

Sorry to say, I don't think it's an "egg" issue.

It definitely sounds like your Cory is sick just like mine is (or was).

I wouldn't take him out until he's actually dead. Corys and other fish may look like they about to die and sometimes survive and make it.

I've been doing reading and research about it too and I think it might have something to do with any of the following:

-ammonia levels: if you have lots of leftover food and waste laying around and you haven't done 50% water changes recently, it may be the ammonia levels are up.

-salt: did you add any salt? Corys don't handle salt well.

-parasite: you should raise the temp to 30 C (85-87 F) for a week or so and see if that might help to kill parasites and help the cory to recover in time. This worked for me when battling with ICHs disease with my Neon Tetras. Even though 10 of 12 died, 2 of them who were covered in white flakes actually survived after the heated water treatment and every other day water changes...they made it and are doing well today.

-stress: is there noise in your place? are you constantly putting your hand in the tank...stress affects them tremendously and prevents them from fighting off illnesses.

-overfeeding- are you feeding them a lot? Even the leftover food seems to increase levels in the water of a lot of things (i think ammonia, nitrite, pH etc?).

I have not used or will use any meds. One is because i don't know what sickness it is exactly and two, I can't get them from where I live.

 

[NewTanker]

You were correct, cornflakes, the fish was most definitely sick. I found it dead this morning nestled in one of the plants. very sad. I don't know what was wrong, it was a rather small fish, maybe just wasn't going to make it from the beginning? I tested the water levels two days ago and they were great. I don't put my hands into the tank water almost at all, so that couldn't be it. I feed them the same way every day, just a pinch of food and two algae pellets. Again, the only thing different is that the light was off for a day and a half while we were out of town.

I will keep a close eye on the rest of the fish, but for now they all seem great.

 

[cornflakes]

Sounds exactly like my case. Actually, I haven't been able to find my sick Cory now for the past 2 days. I'm assuming he also has died after being sick for about 1.5 to 2 weeks. I'll be cleaning out the tank thoroughly today so I'll hopefully find him somewhere.

It sounds like everything was in good order on your side. No over feeding, good water quality and levels, no stress. I don't think the lights being off would affect them in that way. I've often left my lights off when I go out of town for the weekend and after a day or two (at most) they are doing fine.

My best guess is that it may have been a parasite or some other internal illness. Maybe it caused him not to eat and he just died of hunger. My Cory actually had a piece of missing flesh around the gills (the flap fell off or peeled off).

 

[NewTanker]

Good luck with yours, hopefully you find him hiding somewhere. I'm going to clean the tank again tonight, still not convinced those white balls are eggs, and I will watch the rest carefully.

 

[cornflakes]

Did a thorough clean of my tank and mysteriously the sick one is GONE! Not a trace of him to be found. Same goes for one of my two Neon Tetras. He looked sick the night before as he was just hanging vertically between on of my plastic plant branches....the next day he was also GONE! No sign of dead bodies or floating bodies in the gravel or anything. My guess is when they died, their bodies must've turned to mush and goo so quickly that they literally just melted away.

I don't have anything else in my tank that would eat them (at least not that I know of: 1 small pleco, 2 ghost shrimp, 1 neon tetra, and 4 cory cats).


Well the good news is everyone else is doing fine now after a nice 50% change and clean of the tank again. I think I'll need to keep up the water changes to make sure the quality of the water stays good (maybe there's too much leftover food that may have elevated ammonia levels?).

 

[venymae]

I'm pretty sure the pleco and the ghost shrimp would both much on dead fish.