Please help! Betta and Cory cats

[starfish615]

10 gallon tank been setup for about a month now. Cycle completed within a week or two in (did daily water testing and small water changes till no ammonia nitrite and 5- 10pm nitrate) I have continued testing weekly with no ammonia spikes and stayed on top of at least weekly if not twice weekly small water changes. I was finding the airpump I had connected to my double sponge filter was not strong enough so I got a new one but I did have poor water circulation for a bit. I lost 1 of my dwarf cory cats 2 days ago (moved to hospital tank but didn’t make it through the night) it was darting and then floating before death) it was smaller than others and I had noticed not coming for food immediately with others the day before but did eventually come out to hunt around. Now my betta has a sore (picture) and I have noticed my other cory are darting and occasionally rubbing. I thought maybe ich but that doesnt cause sores I dont think? Everyone still left in tank is active and eating well.. I also rechecked my tank when Cory was sick and no ammonia or nitrite and still around 5-10 ppm nitrate. I did a small water change as well that night and added in some stability for good measure.

 

[starfish615]

Oh also PH is between 6.5-7 and tank temp kept around 79 degrees. I also have a 55 gallon been up and running for years the only thing different I have been doing is I use a neutral regulator for my 55 when doing water changes but have only been using prime in this tank due to the small size I didn’t want to use the extra chemicals.

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post some pictures and a 1 minute video of the catfish rubbing?

A pH of 6.5-7.0 is fine for Corydoras and Bettas.

The Betta looks emaciated and sunken in around the head and back. This is possibly from lack of decent food, intestinal worms, external protozoa, or poor genetics. Try feeding him 3-5 times a day for a month and see if it helps. Offer dry, frozen and live foods.

The red spot on the Betta looks like a missing scale and should heal up by itself. If you want to add something, you can add a bit of salt, (see directions below).


---------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[Colin_T]

TREATING FISH FOR INTESTINAL WORMS.

Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And use Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

In the UK look for:
eSHa gdex contains praziquantel that treats tapeworm and gill flukes.
eSHa-ndx contains levamisole and treats thread/ round worms.
NT Labs Anti-fluke and Wormer contains flubendazole.
Kusuri wormer plus (contains flubendazole) - sold mainly for discus, comes as a powder which is quite hard to dose in smaller tanks
Sera nematol (contains emamectin)

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

 

[starfish615]

Got a 30 second clip. Watch toward back under wood at first then happens again a bit into clip near front of tank and Cory kinda skips/rubs again back toward under the wood.. just fyi this took a solid 15 min of me recording tank to catch happening I fed tank after and watched for another 5-10 min and no one did the rubbing again so this was a lucky catch to happen multiple times in 30 seconds.

https://youtu.be/YTgAWITg-Mg

 

[starfish615]

picture as well!

 

[starfish615]

Thank you for the advice on betta I had thought looked “skinny” but was so when I got from store and have been trying to feed more than I normally would (betta pellets and freeze dried blood worms) I have some frozen stuff so will start giving that too and increase feedings to several times a day and look into the medications you recommended for possible worms.. looking forward to any insight you may have on what’s going on with my poor little Cory’s as well I’m really hoping/wishful thinking it’s just stress I also just got more plants for extra hiding places for them

 

[Colin_T]

How long have the catfish been rubbing on things?
If it's been a couple of weeks or longer, and no white spots have appeared on them during that time, they probably have Costia, Chilodonella, Trichodina or velvet. These are all external protozoan parasites and the first 3 can be treated with salt. Velvet needs heat or Malachite Green or copper to kill the parasite.

I would go with salt first. Use 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. Keep salt in there for 2 weeks. If the fish are still rubbing after that, it is probably velvet.


---------------

You can check for velvet by photographing the fish when the tank lights are off. Use a camera with the flash ON. Take pictures of the fish in a dark tank (tank lights off). Look for any gold or yellow sheen/ patches on the fish. If there is any yellow or gold sheen or patches, the fish have velvet.

To treat velvet, either raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2-4 weeks (have the tank light off during this time). Or use a Malachite Green (aka Victoria Green) or copper based medication. But don't use heat and medication because you can kill the fish.

Malachite Green is a carcinogen so handle with care and avoid using the powder form.
Copper kills invertebrates like shrimp and snails.

 

[starfish615]

Seriously thank you so much for the help! I think it has been over a week or so since I first noticed but only noticeably frequent the last few days. There is no white spots I can see on any of them and I did a fair inspection of the one I lost as well. Ive got some aquarium salt ordered to be delivered tomorrow so going to start with that. I do also have a nerite snail in tank should I pull him out before salt treatment and same question for my plants? If I need to pull stuff would it be ok to put in my 55 gallon or should I not risk bringing whatever is going on to my other tank? I’ve been trying to research salt treatment on my own this evening as well but there is a lot of conflicting info lol

 

[starfish615]

Oops sorry just reread your first reply about salt and see you clearly said plants and snail will be ok- wish me luck and again thank you!!

 

[Colin_T]

Plants and snails will be fine. If you're worried, start with 1 heaped tablespoon of rock salt per 20 litres and increase it a couple of days later. But for most external protozoan infections you need it at 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.

Don't move fish or plants into different tanks at this stage because you can cross contaminate the other tank, assuming it isn't already infected.
You should monitor all aquariums for any signs of fish rubbing on objects.

Good luck. Go get em

 

[starfish615]

Update- after doing a salt treatment as suggested my cory are all fine and acting normally now however I am at a loss about my betta still emaciated, scale issues seem worse, and now has a clouded over eye (see pics) betta has been consistently active and eats readily and I did try feeding multiple times a day as suggested as well with no changes . I was hopeful I could get this gal back to healthy but I’m at a loss to what’s wrong.

 

[Colin_T]

Have you tried deworming the fish?
If not, that would be the first step.

If you have dewormed them and it's been a month with lots of regular feeding, and the fish is still wasting away, then it's time to euthanise the fish.

The cloudy eye is probably caused by a scratch and a really weak immune system due to the fish losing condition.

I don't think there's a lot of hope for that fish unless it can gain some weight.

 

[m.j.gomez]

Update- after doing a salt treatment as suggested my cory are all fine and acting normally now however I am at a loss about my betta still emaciated, scale issues seem worse, and now has a clouded over eye (see pics) betta has been consistently active and eats readily and I did try feeding multiple times a day as suggested as well with no changes . I was hopeful I could get this gal back to healthy but I’m at a loss to what’s wrong.View attachment 324292View attachment 324293

Hello, this may or may not work but if you've exhausted all other options it may be worth a shot.
I bought 3 clown loaches & one started to waste away. If I left unchecked I would lose all. I researched & found that this is common. Most were not sure if it's from parasite or bacterial but they did agreed that it can be treated w/api general cure. You follow directions on package & you mix some w/food. It worked, he's a little smaller than the others but he's doing great. Hope this helps!!!!!
View attachment 324297View attachment 324298

 

[Colin_T]

API General Cure contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole.
Praziquantel treats tapeworm in all sorts of animals, birds and fish.

Metronidazole treats internal protozoan infections in fish. Internal protozoan infections usually cause a fish to lose weight over a week or two. They don't eat as much as normal and do a stringy white poop.

Tapeworm can cause fish to lose weight over months and the fish eats normally and might or might not do a stringy white poop.

If the fish is eating well but losing weight over months, then try deworming it.

 

[starfish615]

Thanx! I finally found cloverleaf absolute wormer + which is flubendazole! The instructions just say to use 1 time per month for prevention though? Any recommendations on dosing and how long before might see improvement? I was considering separating betta to a 5 gallon hospital tank for treatment and till doing better before adding back to tank just in case this gets worse I’d rather not risk the other fish in with a sick fishy

 

[Colin_T]

Deworming products should be used once a week for 3-4 weeks to kill any worms that hatch from eggs. If you treat them once a month, the worms hatch form eggs, grow to maturity, produce more eggs and the cycle never ends. You simply keep buying deworming medication and wasting money. Treat them each week for 3 or 4 treatments and you will kill any adult worms as well as any that hatch form eggs. Then you shouldn't need to treat them for worms ever again, unless you introduce worms back into the tank.

The treatment times of 3-4 doses is usually based on 3 doses for tropical and 4 for cold water. The worm eggs develop and hatch sooner in warmer water so 3 doses is normally sufficient. In cold water, the worm eggs take longer to hatch and 4 treatments is usually recommended.

Post number 4 has more information about deworming fish.

You should treat all your tanks at the same time because there will be worm eggs in the aquariums. If you move a fish out and treat it, then put it back in an infected tank, the fish will simply be reinfected.

I'm pretty sure Flubendazole kills shrimp and snails as well as worms. These should be removed if you treat the tank.

Shrimp and snails do pose a potential risk to the fish because snails can carry parasitic worm larvae and shrimp can also carry worms, their larvae and eggs. If you move the shrimp and snails out during treatment, they can potentially reinfect the tank after you move them back. If you leave the shrimp and snails in the tank, they can die.

Considering the state of the fish, I would move the shrimp and snails out and treat the fish where it is. The less you handle the fish, the less stress it will have to deal with.

 

[starfish615]

Thank you, your correct says right on package “eradicates pest snails” lol ughh “keep fish, it will be fun” they said..