Sondra Bradshaw

@Odd Duck Hey! I am so sorry my other comment didn't reach you. I'm still learning this website. I thought I had quoted it? I don't even know. This time, I think it'll work. I wanted to say thank you so much for the advice and knowledge you have given me. I told my fiance, "I think I finally found the place to actually get some decent advice" as I've been seeking advice on other type of Facebook groups and on Reddit groups, but no one gives valid info even after providing the information needed to give me it. They provide lazy responses, if any, and I think that's basically because they don't read all of the information so I truly appreciate you for reading it all out and providing me a nice response even though it may be squirrel post! That's how my brain is! 😂 I did want to add that they are panda corydoras, not Pygmy's. Not entirely too sure how big the Pygmy's get but my panda corys were definitely smaller when I got them but they've grown a TON since I've had them. Maybe they were just too small at the time. I'd really love for my corys to breed because I'd love to have more. I initially wanted 10 of them. And at this point, I need more. I have a bladder snail infestation going on and they were doing well eating them. Watched them eat some a few times. But yeah, they need some help 😂 but have to get this sickness dealt with. Speaking of which, I do have a question. Sunday night, I had received Seachem Nourish bottle and it says it's supposed to help boost the immune system. I soaked their pellets in it, and gave it to them. Monday, I started treatment as well as it was on their fast day. So I did the whole keeping lights off for 24 hours and did a 25% water change as suggested. Waiting until Monday to begin the next treatment and was planning to wait a couple more days to dose paracleanse. They looked beautiful right after treatment, their vibrancy was awesome. Their bodies were white, and not the translucent/dulled out tone and really vibrant black. Then yesterday, I noticed a little bit of dulled tone again, and one Cory just wiggling at the glass closer to the bottom most of the day yesterday. At first thought maybe it was trying to eat some snail eggs or something, but he did it the entire day, almost rubbing his front whiskers on the glass? But in a nonchalant way as if nothing was wrong? But he would swim away normally when I bothered him too much by staring 😂 and now today, it looks almost like some of their bodies are a little raised? I guess like I can visibly see they're lines on their body? Swimming around normally. The one who was being weird yesterday is still pretty much doing the same thing but is leaving but going right back. He also seems a little lethargic compared to the rest and dulled tone. Do you have any idea what may be the issue? Or even what I can do to help? Could it potentially be from the nourish stuff? Been giving it to them the past few days, each feed. So probably 5 feeds. Which makes me feel like I should test parameters. Was thinking about the sickness they're dealing with, but maybe my parameters are off as I've put the cap full of nourish in with their food? Not sure if that would make too much of a difference. I'll try and attach a video. My son is watching Peppa Pig, so excuse his show in the background. 😂 Wouldn't let me take any videos... going to test water parameters here in a bit and post those too. @Odd Duck

@Odd Duck PH dropped below 6 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Odd Duck Hi! Thank you so much for the information! I really appreciate it and honestly, the thought of it has crossed my mind with my one angel. He was a BIG 6 month angel. He was going to be HUGE. He was almost twice the size of the other angel who were about the same age. He loved to scavenge the bottom of the tank, after feed, and I noticed a couple times he had gotten confused and darted at the Cory's, thinking it was food and then swam away. It was ALWAYS after he was finished eating when he would act like he was going to eat them but then swim away. I know that had to have caused some stress to the Cory's and my other angel, which is why I initially thought it was stress and everyone getting acclimated to each other. Very, very interesting thought!! And it is a little strange to me after he had died, the remaining corys are still here when I was losing a Cory a day.... hm. Honestly I'm very curious about if you are right and that was the main culprit to these diseases, especially to newly acclimated fish. I know at one point, both of my corydoras that survived before I got the other school, were hiding underneath my spongefilter for two days. I thought I was going to lose them and then out of nowhere they came out-but that's what sparked my idea to get more, to help the Cories not feel threatened in the tank due to the angel. about aeration, I have a 40 gallon HOB filter, sponge filter and a wave maker in a 36 gal with plenty of plants. I have considered putting a bubble wall up closer to the surface, just to provide some more surface agitation, especially during treatment. The only time that I noticed gasping for air, was with the two angels, in different tanks, being treated with Melafix. Both were hanging at the top of the tank and both died two days after the start of treatment. Makes me question Melafix/pimafix products. Will probably only use this during qt before main tank, the first couple days and then observe from there and see if I need to do any further treatments. Do you think maybe adding a bubble wall would improve anything? I don't see them going up for air too often, but they definitely do here and there, as corys should. i would like to backtrack a bit. In the beginning, my cycle crashed a few weeks in due to a low KH buffer with very high PH from tap, pretty much the buffer couldn't keep PH stable and it dropped below zero, killing all bacteria. It took me a LONG time to figure out what was going on until I tested tap. PH 8.6//KH 1.5dkh//GH 12dgh... I had started with crushed coral for awhile and it took my tank an additional two months to cycle again. I had both of my angels at this time and they went through a ton of water changes to get them through. However, maybe a month later is when my first angel got sick. Noticed my PH was fluctuating a ton as even with coral, KH was incredibly low for the PH... so began doing RO/tap mix with alkaline buffer up to 4 and since then, plants seem to be thriving better, same with the fish. My last angel died before the RO water... that definitely possibly played a roll in this, too. @Odd Duck here is a photo of the angel in question maybe a day or so before he passed. It won't let me attach the other photos of the corys with the potential red blotch disease. 😑 it keeps coming up as black for those for some reason.

@Colu Seriously, thank you so much! I am definitely going to start researching and getting the medication for them as you suggested! I REALLY appreciate the advice on this. I have asked numerous groups, pretty much just as lengthy. But I know a lot don't care enough to read it all. However, in this case I felt it was necessary because each time I have tried to ask for help about this, people go straight to Melafix. But actually going deeper into research with it on reddit and such, realizing pretty much a bandaid. Man, I wish I would have known earlier but Google was throwing so many different diseases.. wasn't taking into account that they can get multiple illnesses at once like that. Poor babies! They are some strong fish!

Okay, so I think I figured out what I did wrong and why it wasn't replying to you. I didn't know you had to quote a comment. Didn't even know that was a thing. Now I know 😂 Anyways, I wish I would have copy and pasted this information but here it goes again 🙂 hopefully this'll give you all the information you need to help me out! Starting from when deaths began, was when I received a school of 6 panda corydoras from live aquaria on January 12th, 2024. The next day, I lost one. Beforehand, it was going nuts in the tank... so I was worried about that one to begin with and thought it was due to acclimation. Fast forward to February 6th, I set up a quarantine tank for my angel, who was lethargic, had shown white spots and fin rot that would come and go, and I saw her move her mouth oddly, like she was choking, and noticed white in her mouth. Put her in a quarantine tank with aeration, a little aquarium salt and Melafix (people's suggestion). She died February 8th. Very weak, at the surface for air, and had swam to me to say goodbye it seemed, and then swam in a corner, laid on her side, and died a few minutes later. thought this was happening due to aggression with the other angel. lost a Cory February 12th and its eye was missing? There was my sand substrate in his eye socket... disturbing. Down to 4 Cories and my one angel. Was lethargic before it died. By February 24th, I lost 2 more Cories. Both had similar behavior to the previous one on the 12th: lethargic, spiraling around in the water, reddish gills and sunken belly. Now am down to 2 Cories and my one angel. Not realizing this was parasites (I am so new in the hobby. Kept thinking acclimation/stress issues... but at the same time, I knew something was up). I decided to go to my local fish store 2/26 (an hour away) and get 6 more panda corydoras. They gave me a plus 1. I did the whole floating bag in the water for 15 min, dump water out of bag in the sink and added tank water, let sit for about 25 min and netted into tank. Now I have 9 panda corydoras and one angel. (My reasoning- I had an experienced hobbyist telling me that it was due to acclimation and nothing else so figured he was right). 2/27 and 2/28 lost a Cory each day with red blotch disease. Down to 7 Cory's. Lost another Cory 3/1 in the am with white fungus and it's tail gone. Lost ANOTHER Cory 3/1 in the pm with no sign of illness. Megan melafix on 2/27 but had lost my angel 2/29 in the pm which he executed the most symptoms of parasites. He broke my heart. Pale/blue tone, bulging eyes, loss of appetite (didn't eat for 3 days), red gills, skinny/sunken belly, lethargic, trying to get air at top of tank, I and kept getting his poor self stuck in the current. Oof. Now I have gone through all of the deaths and looked through my notebook. Everything seemed fine but with everything that happened, I knew something was serious so I tried figuring it out. I used EM Erythromacyn starting on 3/13. Had to find the medication and research. I had originally gotten paracleanse but I was worried about its use. Finished treatment 3/18. They seemed alright and the most active but then noticed them all really lethargic and just displaying some familiar symptoms the others had shown. And that's where we are at. With paracleanse. Started paracleanse 3/21 and have been finished since 3/26. 3/27 I noticed a Cory trying to poop brown, with white closer to his butt... figured normal, trying to get parasites out. Gave them all some algae wafers and siphoned the tank 3/28. 3/28 and today (3/29) I have noticed some flashing behavior, and a couple more Cories with the same type of poop as the one on 3/27 I noticed. Fed them some veggie wafers tonight to help with that. sorry for all of this information. Blah. Just really trying to get this figured out with any possible information that could help me. I really love my tank and fish and I want to add more fish eventually and such but I just can't until this is figured out. I'm worried it may not be the right medication as I've noticed their gills a little more red today as well as they just seem skinny but continuously eating. I'm just concerned and am wondering if I need to use a different medication, or maybe begin another treatment with paracleanse at the week mark, or do my original plan and wait 2 weeks. Any advice/help is much appreciated. Again, sorry for such the long message. Also, no change in parameters. When things are going weird in my tank/during treatment, I check every other day. When things are normal, I check every week.

@Colu hopefully you have gotten my replies. I do not see them on here at all.

@MattyM I had to take new photos off of the website for some reason to upload so sadly the good photo I got of my Cory eating the bladder snail didn't get posted 😩

HELP! I used to have 15 fish. 13 panda corydoras and 2 angelfish. I am now down to 5 panda corydoras after a month of havoc and losing all of my fish, to these survivors who have survived an extra month compared to the rest. ph: 7.5 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 ppm kh 4dkh gh 10dgh Temp 75 Fahrenheit They have been undergoing treatment pretty much the entire month, but different medications. First- Melafix. Second- EM Erythromacyn Third- Paracleanse (mostly metronidazole with a little praziquental in it). Paracleanse has only been over for 3 days but plan to do another course of treatment in two weeks. However, I'm not even sure if I'm using the correct medication. I am only 6 months into the hobby and this has been a disaster. before medication, all similar symptoms included: weak, sunken belly, eyes popping out, red gills and recently noticed 2/5 Cories doing some flashing (a day after treatment of paracleanse) as well as poop sticking to their butt... kinda like parasites would do. now here are some current photos of them. They look to be struggling more than before the medication? But I don't know if it's normal? Should I be doing a different medication? Can someone please advise me on this? and yes! They're eating some bladder snails with their pellets 😂❤️

@Colu they did have sunken bellies after they died but didn't notice any other behavior with the Cories, however, now that you mention it, both of my angels before they passed had spit out food a few times that they normally loved. I have noticed some rapid breathing but it's not all of the time. But every now and then. And yes, I use api stress coat and stability I have prime but I only do smaller water changes so I'm nervous to use too much. Read that it could bind the oxygen or something? Not sure if I'm 100% right on that. I've always used the stress coat since I started the tank.

Please help me... even if you do not know. What would you do? I have no clue on what to do when it comes to treatment. I would like to use this paracleanse I have but I have no clue if that is the right call. I have a 36 gallon bow front tank with only 5 panda corydoras at the moment. My water parameters are PH 7.5// ammonia 0//nitrite 0//nitrate 5ppm//KH 4dkh//GH 12dgh. It's been set up for approximately 5 months with a lot of changes. Please note I am a beginner and I am learning and have learned literally a TON within a few months. But the knowledge keeps flooding in 😂 All of my fish started dying left and right one day and it started with my younger angel. She had shown very little interest in food before death, lethargic and had a couple white spots on her and fin rot. The spots and rot would go away over night, be gone for a few nights, and then come back but was eating fine. I thought it was stress the entire time. The loss of interest in food happened, tried quarantining with Melafix (per other hobbyists suggestion) but no improvement. A week later, I started losing Cories every single day, all similar symptoms, whirling around before death and very hard time swimming in general (going upside down, etc) and lethargic. Usually the next day, I would lose them after they exhibit the whirling behavior and their bellies were sunken in 😭 then I lost 3 more cories in a matter of a few days and they all had red blotch disease symptoms besides one, who was already partially eaten when I found him that morning, with white fungus on him. At this point, I was thinking parasites but I went for advice as I have no clue what medications are for what, etc. I had people telling me to dose Melafix in the tank. Again and see what happens... but then my other angel I had randomly got ill. Very lethargic, would not eat a THING. A few weeks prior to this, he did slow down on eating. But this was right after the other angel died. So I figured he didn't have a reason to eat crazy fast. I thought he was eating like that DUE TO AGGRESSION towards the other fish and since she wasn't in the tank anymore, he could chill out. Nope, two days after using Melafix, he died. Red gills, bulging eyes, and very weak. Had a hard time keeping himself up and would get himself stuck in the current. He was pale, almost blue after death. The red gills, bulging eyes, weakness, all happened a few hours before death. I honestly really hate myself with this one. I see his dead body vividly when I talk about him and get heartbroken. I wanted so bad to put him out of his misery but we didn't have any clove oil. I just hate it. After he died, I ordered paracleanse from here, thinking that I've been right, and there are parasites present. I thought maybe wasting away disease since they all were very skinny after death. Even the Cories who were always scrummaging for food right before they started whirling around. I posted online to ask if anyone had experience with this, and if paracleanse has crashed their cycle. I was nervous to use it due to reading that on the pack. I had people telling me that Cories don't get wasting away disease and blah blah blah and that it's something else. So I put the paracleanse in my cabinet and someone suggested EM Erythromacyn and I just finished the treatment 4 days ago and followed the directions. However, now it seems to me I have a Cory who is sick, again, and a couple of them are showing the symptoms they had prior to medication. What should I do from here? I have a picture of my Cory who is acting lethargic to see if anyone can tell what's going on. To me, he looks fine, but I'm new to fish keeping and even newer with Corys. After treatment, I did notice two white things. They were dead, if worms, one was really tiny but a little thicker than a detritus worm, and the other one was long and thick but it was stuck in my wave maker but I'll provide that picture too, as well as a full tank shot with my Cories a day after treatment. Thank you for the help and for reading this all of the way through. I really appreciate any help. I'm just nervous. I really want a thriving tank 😭