something is eating my cory's mouth!

[vero]

Hi,

I have 2 corys in my tank. One of them is doing fine and the other one has no barbels. He looks like parts of his mouth are missing. His mouth looks like a big gap. They are very very shy and I barely every get to see them. I thought he had something like mouth rot so I started treating the tank with pimafix this morning.

Tonight, the one with the missing barbels was resting at the bottom, facing the front of the aquarium and not moving. So I got to look at his mouth more carefully. I can see something whitish in his mouth. There is a tiny black dot, which looks like an eye. And I can see something that could look like a leg. It really looks like he has a critter in his mouth. It's gross... I wish I could take a pic but I don't have a camera.

What is it? What can I do about it? Will it spread to my aquarium? Would it be better to just euthanise this fish? In which case how?

Thanks

 

[krap101]

no, the barbels will grow back. it can be another fish. but im guessing your sig is up to date, do the corys are the only ones in the tank?

i think ph can wear the barbels away, but not make them fall off... the gravel can wear them away but still not make them fall off..

 

[odobenus]

Can you post the water parameters for your tank? (the level of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates) That would help. How long have the fish been in your tank? How long has your tank been set up?

What you are describing, parts of the mouth missing and the whiteish stuff, might be columnaris, also called cotton mouth, or some kind of fungus. This website has pictures of a bunch of different diseases. Do any of them look like what is happening with your cory?

 

[talloulou]

You need to make sure you keep corys on rounded gravel or sand. Sharp gravel can wear down their barbels. Also the substrate must be kept clean. If the substrate gets too dirty, even with rounded gravel, that will deteriorate their barbels as well.

Columnaris can affect the mouth on fish but from my understanding corys don't get this disease.

It is quite possible he has something stuck in his mouth. If so hopefully he can resolve that issue on his own. If not you may have to help him with tweezers. I definitely wouldn't euthanize him right now cause you don't even know what the heck is going on yet. Is it possible that his barbels wore down along time ago and you are just noticing now due to the fact that he has something stuck in his mouth?

If he attempted to eat some sort of bug that fell in the tank that could be what's stuck in his mouth. Very unusual though.

 

[vero]

Hi,

So... Really, it looks like a bug. It's not like some moss or fuzzy stuff or a fungus or rotting or a cut. And it's not just the barbels that are shorten, the whole mouh is missing and I don't see how a fish could do that by rubbing on something. There is something in his mouth and it is not food. Do corys carry ther babies in their mouth? I'll see if I can borrow a camera. I couldn't find anything similar on the website odobenus gave.

My profil is not quite up to date. I just added 4 guppies over the last two weeks. So I have 2 corys and 4 guppies in my tank.

The gravel is very well rounded. I do a pwc with a deep gravel vaccum about every week (about 30% water change).

Water parameters are ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrate 5 (it is very low), pH about 8.2.

Thanks for your help.

 

[rubysoho]

I have one cory (out of 6) who came to me and after a month lost his barbels. My perameters were perfect and the gravel wasn't causing it because the rest of the cories were fine. It kept getting worse and this one cory ended up losing what seems like its entire mouth! Completely freaked me out while it was happening because I couldn't figure out what was happening. I treated the tank with an anti-fungus as well as some melafix. Since then, the "recession" has stopped and this same cory is just as active as the rest, but never really healed. It just looks like the cory has no mouth. The cory has no problem eating (which I origionally thought I would need to euthanize this cory because I didn't know if it would be able to eat) and is just as active and plump as the rest.

I know this doesn't clear up your questions but I thought it might be helpful to hear a success story. Good luck!

 

[krap101]

hmm the only thing "wrong" is the ph. 8.2 is fine, but i know that acidic ph will "melt" off the barbels (very slowly) but im not sure about alkanic?

 

[talloulou]

Hi,
Do corys carry ther babies in their mouth? I'll see if I can borrow a camera. I couldn't find anything similar on the website odobenus gave.

.

No they don't carry their babies in their mouth. They will eat their babies though! Is it possible your guppies had babies and the cory ate one? Wish you had a pic, sounds very interesting to say the least.

 

[vero]

Hi,

Sorry, I couldn't get my hands on a camera....

Update: I decided to treat the whole tank with Primafix as per instructions (add same amount each day for 7 days and then do a 25% pwc).

I can't see what I saw in the cory's mouth anymore. It even seems like the gap where his mouth his is not as big as it was before. It seems like he his healing.

Thanks for your help.

Vero

 

[odobenus]

I'm glad your cory is getting better.

Columnaris can affect the mouth on fish but from my understanding corys don't get this disease.

That's interesting. Do you know why?

 

[vero]

Update

Update:

My cory seems to be doing better. It seems like his mouth is healing. The hole is much smaller and he seems to be growing a "chin". I had bought two corys of the same kind at the same time. The other one is much much (almost twice) bigger then the sick one. The sick one is really always hungry. He gets to the food as soon as it gets to the bottom and picks at it until there is almost nothing left. I can't be sure if he's really able to eat or if the food just falls in small pieces in the gravel. If he was really eating that much, he would be bigger, no? Also, although he is very active, he is getting very pale.


I was looking at him last night; he was facing me and not moving so I could have a really good look at his mouth. It really looked to me as there was no hole left. As if his mouth had healed and closed completely.
Is it possible that his mouth is healing shut? (that would be so weird...)

Thanks
Vero