Pinecrescent
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2018
- Messages
- 2
Hey guys,
New here. Really would like some opinions/suggestions for my current situation...
Yesterday I noticed my Panda Cory looked like he had been mauled. His tail is almost gone (not severed at the base like in other articles I read, he still has fin tissue but it's definitely damaged) and his dorsal fin is also in bad shape. I assumed a scuffle between him and Norbert (my Betta), until I got a good look at Norbert and noticed his fins weren't in great shape either... my Julii Cory looked okay, but today I can see some dorsal fin damage to him too (don't know if I didn't get a good enough look yesterday or if it did just set in today?)! I have tried to do research about differentiating between tail damage from bites and damage from fin rot, but I just can't figure this one out. If it was just the Catfish, I would blame the Betta (although so far it's been out of character, and they're quick to get away from him). But to have my Betta's tail looking the way it does... didn't notice it before, honestly don't know if I brought him home like that, but I doubt it. I have moved the Panda into a breeder box in my other Betta's tank because he was not looking good and I'm seriously worried about him. It wasn't my top choice, but the breeder box doesn't fit in the tank he was in and I'm concerned that my ammonia sometimes reading 0.5 in between water changes is bad for him. This other tank has perfect readings. Ideally I would have put him in the quarantine tank, but it's not heated and doesn't have a filter so I didn't know if that would just make things worse or not. I do have some pictures, however with the Panda in the breeder box it was hard to get decent ones of him and I didn't want to bother him again. He is able to move, but he prefers not to unless provoked (he wasn't all that active to begin with, but I think he liked to scrounge the tank at night). He can still get to the surface for air. He wasn't interested in the pellet I offered him, but I wasn't all that surprised. The other 2 seem fine, although Norbert has been spending a bit more time at the bottom maybe... but that could also be something I'm noticing more because I'm watching him like a hawk lol. Whenever he sees me, he comes out of the house on the bottom and gets to the surface thinking I'm gonna feed him, so that's good. Eating normally. And my Julii Cory is swimming all over the place and actually trying to clean for once (normal, has always been more active than the Panda). Yes the Julii looks a bit bloated, that was from an incident with an algae wafer that he completely went to town on in one night. Won't be doing that again. He has slowly been losing the weight, or might actually be a she?! Again, couldn't tell the difference between egg-bearing and fat xD
Damaged Panda Cory
https://imgur.com/E01QmCx
https://imgur.com/jn0kBNz
Betta, Norbert
https://imgur.com/P1zkGG2
https://imgur.com/GJUDDiN
Julii Cory
https://imgur.com/2uc6ABa
https://imgur.com/ZWXc2lE
https://imgur.com/Ot8Y824
Anyways, help would be greatly appreciated before it might be too late for these guys. Looking at picking up some stress coat tomorrow, should I get any kind of medication for possible fin rot? Or just stick to water changes and trying to figure out if they're all attacking each other or not? Just really confused by my Betta's fins... otherwise I'd be quite mad at him right now for what he did to my Panda! Required information is below.
~What type of fish is afflicted?~
- 1 male Betta fish, 2 Cory Catfish (one Julii Cory, one Panda Cory)
~What are your tank parameters?~
- Currently only have test strips, looking into getting the proper kit tomorrow... Nitrites=0, Nitrates=0, Ammonia=0-0.5, PH=7-7.5, Temp=78F
~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?~
- 5gallons, fairly new tank (about a month old)
~What type of filtration are you using?~
- Top Fin "Element" filter
~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?~
- 3 fish total (as mentioned above, 1 Betta and 2 Cory Catfish), I would say they're mostly all mature size but could be young enough to still be maturing
~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?~
- Today I did a 30% change/vacuum, on a weekly routine of 10-20% changes and gravel vacuums (essentially removing a gallon or so of water)
~How long have you had the fish?~
- I have had the Cory Catfish for just over a month, and the Betta for a week and a half
~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?~
- No
~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?~
- Betta gets mainly gets New Life Spectrum Betta Formula, or Nutrafin Max flakes or frozen brine shrimp to change things up. Freeze dried bloodworms as a treat. The Catfish get whatever the Betta doesn't eat, and if I feel they need supplementation I have the Fluval Bug Bites. No unusual changes
Backstory: I like Betta fish. The goal was to get a 20gallon long tank and divide it into multiple sections, to be able to have my multiple male Bettas in one tank running off one main filter/heater/etc. However those tanks are hard to come by, so I currently have 1 Betta in a 10gallon tank all to himself and the other in a 5gallon tank shared with 2 Cory Catfish. Obviously I would've preferred for the larger group of fish to be in the 10gallon tank, but my Betta in there was very stressed when I brought him home (always on the move, never took a rest, very intense with his food, etc.) and was going after my Catfish for fun. The 5gallon is a taller model, so I wanted him in the longer 10gallon tank with plenty of room to do his laps. He is still very active and takes full advantage of that tank, but is much more relaxed. I originally had a different Betta who was in with the Catfish, unfortunately he passed. I'm not 100% sure on the cause as it was very sudden, but it was in the 5gallon tank which I am not all that fond of since that happened. So I acquired a used 10gallon, however it still needs some work. Before I had that tank ready to go, I somehow acquired another Betta lol (Norbert). I went out and bought a different 10gallon kit as I was keeping new Betta in a small quarantine tank, set it up for aggressive Betta (Perry), and finally was able to move Norbert into the 5gallon with the Catfish. He established his dominance but was otherwise disinterested in them. Norbert is chill, enjoys the height of this tank as he likes to rest on all the different leaves, and doesn't swim around in a panic like Perry. He fit in well with the Catfish, apart from the odd flare to get them to move out of a certain hiding spot if he wanted to be in there. Everything was great until yesterday when I noticed this situation
Healthy Perry
https://imgur.com/cEZPzma
New here. Really would like some opinions/suggestions for my current situation...
Yesterday I noticed my Panda Cory looked like he had been mauled. His tail is almost gone (not severed at the base like in other articles I read, he still has fin tissue but it's definitely damaged) and his dorsal fin is also in bad shape. I assumed a scuffle between him and Norbert (my Betta), until I got a good look at Norbert and noticed his fins weren't in great shape either... my Julii Cory looked okay, but today I can see some dorsal fin damage to him too (don't know if I didn't get a good enough look yesterday or if it did just set in today?)! I have tried to do research about differentiating between tail damage from bites and damage from fin rot, but I just can't figure this one out. If it was just the Catfish, I would blame the Betta (although so far it's been out of character, and they're quick to get away from him). But to have my Betta's tail looking the way it does... didn't notice it before, honestly don't know if I brought him home like that, but I doubt it. I have moved the Panda into a breeder box in my other Betta's tank because he was not looking good and I'm seriously worried about him. It wasn't my top choice, but the breeder box doesn't fit in the tank he was in and I'm concerned that my ammonia sometimes reading 0.5 in between water changes is bad for him. This other tank has perfect readings. Ideally I would have put him in the quarantine tank, but it's not heated and doesn't have a filter so I didn't know if that would just make things worse or not. I do have some pictures, however with the Panda in the breeder box it was hard to get decent ones of him and I didn't want to bother him again. He is able to move, but he prefers not to unless provoked (he wasn't all that active to begin with, but I think he liked to scrounge the tank at night). He can still get to the surface for air. He wasn't interested in the pellet I offered him, but I wasn't all that surprised. The other 2 seem fine, although Norbert has been spending a bit more time at the bottom maybe... but that could also be something I'm noticing more because I'm watching him like a hawk lol. Whenever he sees me, he comes out of the house on the bottom and gets to the surface thinking I'm gonna feed him, so that's good. Eating normally. And my Julii Cory is swimming all over the place and actually trying to clean for once (normal, has always been more active than the Panda). Yes the Julii looks a bit bloated, that was from an incident with an algae wafer that he completely went to town on in one night. Won't be doing that again. He has slowly been losing the weight, or might actually be a she?! Again, couldn't tell the difference between egg-bearing and fat xD
Damaged Panda Cory
https://imgur.com/E01QmCx
https://imgur.com/jn0kBNz
Betta, Norbert
https://imgur.com/P1zkGG2
https://imgur.com/GJUDDiN
Julii Cory
https://imgur.com/2uc6ABa
https://imgur.com/ZWXc2lE
https://imgur.com/Ot8Y824
Anyways, help would be greatly appreciated before it might be too late for these guys. Looking at picking up some stress coat tomorrow, should I get any kind of medication for possible fin rot? Or just stick to water changes and trying to figure out if they're all attacking each other or not? Just really confused by my Betta's fins... otherwise I'd be quite mad at him right now for what he did to my Panda! Required information is below.
~What type of fish is afflicted?~
- 1 male Betta fish, 2 Cory Catfish (one Julii Cory, one Panda Cory)
~What are your tank parameters?~
- Currently only have test strips, looking into getting the proper kit tomorrow... Nitrites=0, Nitrates=0, Ammonia=0-0.5, PH=7-7.5, Temp=78F
~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?~
- 5gallons, fairly new tank (about a month old)
~What type of filtration are you using?~
- Top Fin "Element" filter
~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?~
- 3 fish total (as mentioned above, 1 Betta and 2 Cory Catfish), I would say they're mostly all mature size but could be young enough to still be maturing
~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?~
- Today I did a 30% change/vacuum, on a weekly routine of 10-20% changes and gravel vacuums (essentially removing a gallon or so of water)
~How long have you had the fish?~
- I have had the Cory Catfish for just over a month, and the Betta for a week and a half
~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?~
- No
~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?~
- Betta gets mainly gets New Life Spectrum Betta Formula, or Nutrafin Max flakes or frozen brine shrimp to change things up. Freeze dried bloodworms as a treat. The Catfish get whatever the Betta doesn't eat, and if I feel they need supplementation I have the Fluval Bug Bites. No unusual changes
Backstory: I like Betta fish. The goal was to get a 20gallon long tank and divide it into multiple sections, to be able to have my multiple male Bettas in one tank running off one main filter/heater/etc. However those tanks are hard to come by, so I currently have 1 Betta in a 10gallon tank all to himself and the other in a 5gallon tank shared with 2 Cory Catfish. Obviously I would've preferred for the larger group of fish to be in the 10gallon tank, but my Betta in there was very stressed when I brought him home (always on the move, never took a rest, very intense with his food, etc.) and was going after my Catfish for fun. The 5gallon is a taller model, so I wanted him in the longer 10gallon tank with plenty of room to do his laps. He is still very active and takes full advantage of that tank, but is much more relaxed. I originally had a different Betta who was in with the Catfish, unfortunately he passed. I'm not 100% sure on the cause as it was very sudden, but it was in the 5gallon tank which I am not all that fond of since that happened. So I acquired a used 10gallon, however it still needs some work. Before I had that tank ready to go, I somehow acquired another Betta lol (Norbert). I went out and bought a different 10gallon kit as I was keeping new Betta in a small quarantine tank, set it up for aggressive Betta (Perry), and finally was able to move Norbert into the 5gallon with the Catfish. He established his dominance but was otherwise disinterested in them. Norbert is chill, enjoys the height of this tank as he likes to rest on all the different leaves, and doesn't swim around in a panic like Perry. He fit in well with the Catfish, apart from the odd flare to get them to move out of a certain hiding spot if he wanted to be in there. Everything was great until yesterday when I noticed this situation
Healthy Perry
https://imgur.com/cEZPzma
