Salt Bath Questions

[Doc_Ho11iday]

I have a sick albino Cory. After some research I decided to give him a salt bath. 1/2 tsp aquarium salt and 1/2 gallon of same temp water for 10 minutes. 
I watch him for the whole 10 minutes and after he’s added to the bath he hardly moves. Is that normal? 
 

I use a coffee mug to scoop him out of the display tank and slowly add the salt water over 10ish seconds and dump him in. Could I be shocking him? 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I don't keep Corycats however I keep Otocinclus- I have used salt on them and they have made it through fine. They might do better trying lower concentrations but since I've not had Cory I cannot speak to that. We do have lots of Cory keepers who could pipe in here. 

As to if it's normal for them to just sit there- I think I'd be more concerned if he was zipping about the container which would read as stress to me. I've had both happen with any fish I've put in a salt bath.

Observe him closely after putting him back in the QT or tank and see if there is any off behavior. That might also help to determine if he's stressed. 

[nabokovfan87]

Welcome to the forums. 🙂

If you can, meaning plants aren't an issue and so forth, I just tend to dose my tank.  1/2 cup per 10G. I am not saying to go ahead and do this right now, but that's always an option for corydoras.  I can also point you to a research study someone did spcifically on the type of corydoras you have and salt use if you would like to check it out.

There is an ACO blog article that gives a plethora of great advice.  This is equivalent to their "level 2".
https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

One thing to keep in mind with corydoras is that they LOVE air/oxygenation and they really can be sensitive to temperature in some situations.

Question though, and please feel free to share photos of everything.  In the main tank (not the bath) are you running an airstone and could you add a second short term if need be?  Second, please verify the equipment and make sure things are working correctly (heater, filter pumps, etc).

Second, please test everything you can and post the results, including temperature.

On 12/13/2022 at 8:35 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I don't keep Corycats

Edited December 13, 2022 by nabokovfan87
added link and details.

[Doc_Ho11iday]

@nabokovfan87 thank you for the info!

I use the Aquarium Co Op multi test strips daily since it's a newish setup. No ammonia, no nitrite, 20 nitrate. PH 7.2, KH 120, GH is a little high at 150. Its stayed consistent since 9/3 when I first started logging them. 

I have a 45 gallon tall tank, aquaclear 70 HOB and large ACO sponge filter with air stone. Heater is set to 75 and stays consistent. I feed a mix of flake, pellets, and frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. 

Currently stocked with 9 rummy nose, 10 albino corys and a handful of snails. I haven't witnessed any bullying however the cory in question does appear to have lost his barbells. I don't think I've ever seen him eat in over a week. A friend recommended the salt bath option before setting up a hospital tank and meds. I just ordered the ACO med trio last night, figured it would be best to have them on hand just in case. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/13/2022 at 1:52 PM, Doc_Ho11iday said:

PH 7.2, KH 120, GH is a little high at 150

Everything looks fine. Just make sure PH doesn't get too high. You have a good buffer so that's awesome. GH is fine. Mine is Normally 300+

On 12/13/2022 at 1:52 PM, Doc_Ho11iday said:

I have a 45 gallon tall tank, aquaclear 70 HOB and large ACO sponge filter with air stone. Heater is set to 75 and stays consistent. I feed a mix of flake, pellets, and frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. 

Currently stocked with 9 rummy nose, 10 albino corys and a handful of snails. I haven't witnessed any bullying however the cory in question does appear to have lost his barbells.

Substrate?

Everything else looks fine.

 

On 12/13/2022 at 1:52 PM, Doc_Ho11iday said:

A friend recommended the salt bath option before setting up a hospital tank and meds. I just ordered the ACO med trio last night, figured it would be best to have them on hand just in case. 

Probably just going to be a bacterial thing. Salt is almost always included in that treatment also. Just follow the directions on the back of the box (make sure you have enough packets) but yeah, should be fine with time as long as nothing is actively causing issues. Meaning that salt+ time is a good approach in my view as well.

On 12/13/2022 at 7:52 AM, Doc_Ho11iday said:

I use a coffee mug to scoop him out of the display tank and slowly add the salt water over 10ish seconds and dump him in. Could I be shocking him? 

You would have the water ready beforehand. Let him sit in the bath for a little bit, then remove him. You don't want to use a coffee cup for this.

Some of your plants won't like salt, so getting a QT tub or tank is a better option for treatment.

You'll want an air stone of the fish is in there long term.

Finally, your prefilter sponge on the left looks choked up, be sure to check and clean it. Filter is sucking it in.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 12/13/2022 at 1:12 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

On 12/13/2022 at 8:35 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I don't keep Corycats

Edited 2 hours ago by nabokovfan87
added link and details.

Haha, sorry, I like the Cory, just have a lot of Otos! 

[Doc_Ho11iday]

On 12/13/2022 at 4:17 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

your prefilter sponge on the left looks choked up, be sure to check and clean it. Filter is sucking it in

Haha it's a zip tie to keep it on the tube. It was a little too big and kept floating off. I filed down the sharp end so it wouldn't stab anybody lol

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/13/2022 at 3:23 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Haha, sorry, I like the Cory, just have a lot of Otos! 

All good 🙂

I was admiring my Otos today, they are chunky monkeys and doing really well.

On 12/13/2022 at 3:28 PM, Doc_Ho11iday said:

Haha it's a zip tie to keep it on the tube. It was a little too big and kept floating off. I filed down the sharp end so it wouldn't stab anybody lol

Oh. I use a zip tie on the tube itself, then the little block on the head of the zip tie holds the sponge in place. Learned that from somewhere...

[Odd Duck]

On 12/13/2022 at 9:52 AM, Doc_Ho11iday said:

1/2 tsp aquarium salt and 1/2 gallon

Are you using 1/2 teaspoon salt per 1/2 gallon or 1/2 tablespoon per 1/2 gallon of water?  1/2 teaspoon per 1/2 gallon water is a “level one” treatment (by ACO recommendations) equal to 1 tablespoon per 3 gallons.  You can generally treat the entire tank at this level and rarely have issues, even with most plants.  If you are not getting anywhere with that, you can gradually go up to as much as one tablespoon per gallon.  You will likely start having issues with most plants at this level and might start to have issues with a few species of fish, especially scaleless or other sensitive species.  I would not consider cories to be especially sensitive.

A few minutes salt bath at a low level dose isn’t likely to gain you very much, though.  One of the main goals is reducing metabolic stress on the fish and a few minutes won’t do that and certainly wouldn’t gain enough to justify transferring the fish back and forth, IMO.  That would be kind of like giving a heart patient a few minutes of oxygen only, not worth the trip to the hospital.  Very exaggerated to make the point, but it’s a little like that.

If you could provide pics or video or more description of his behavior and how he seems sick, we could hopefully give much better advice specific to what’s going wrong.

If it’s just his barbels, that’s often a bacterial infection, which may, or may not, respond to salt treatment.  Usually needs antibiotics.  Kanamycin (Kanaplex) or Minocycline (Maracyn 2) would be my first choices (shouldn’t need both).

[Doc_Ho11iday]

Video  from 4 days ago. He was super zoned out and hadn’t eaten in a few days. 

 

I can’t get a good picture of him. He’s definitely thin and no visible injuries, redness or worms. 
 

And 1/2 teaspoon to 1/2 gallon of water in a separate container for 10 minutes was the advice I was given. So far I don’t think it’s made a difference yet. 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Doc_Ho11iday
Add salt info

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/13/2022 at 8:56 PM, Doc_Ho11iday said:

Video  from 4 days ago. He was super zoned out and hadn’t eaten in a few days. 

Definitely different. I wouldn't say good or bad. Looks like it's playing in the flow. Also could be a female trying to prep to lay eggs.

Is it possible that the fish damaged itself on the lid? (I try to give a good amount of room for corydoras so they don't hit the lid, but they are always usually pretty good about it)

If there was a big bump or something that might explain the behavior and you'd probably see some redness on the body somewhere.

I have a request if you can whenever you get a chance. Record a video showing the fish breathing. Usually the nose is how I tell how "rapid" the breathing is.  Let me grab a video I have to show you a corydoras showing high stress breathing.

Let us know the substrate as well.

At 12:09 and also a little earlier at 10:12

 

On 12/13/2022 at 7:44 PM, Odd Duck said:

You can generally treat the entire tank at this level and rarely have issues, even with most plants.

I had issues with the grass shown in the back of the tank. The salt might just really do a number on it. (Looks like a long variety of hair grass to me).  That's the only thing I think I wouldn't dose the tank for. But I personally have every time I need to. Plants get replaced, it happens.

Edited December 14, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Odd Duck]

On 12/13/2022 at 10:56 PM, Doc_Ho11iday said:

Video  from 4 days ago. He was super zoned out and hadn’t eaten in a few days. 

 

I can’t get a good picture of him. He’s definitely thin and no visible injuries, redness or worms. 
 

And 1/2 teaspoon to 1/2 gallon of water in a separate container for 10 minutes was the advice I was given. So far I don’t think it’s made a difference yet. 

It isn’t enough to do 10 minutes soaks at that dose.  Your little guy will be much better off staying at that dose of salt.  The main goal is to reduce osmotic difference between the inside of the fish and the water.  This reduces metabolic load on the fish and by reducing metabolic load it reduces overall stress, and reduces immune suppression.  That’s a fairly low dose of salt and can be added to the tank and maintained at that level for at least a week at a time with minimal worries other than plants and sensitive species.  If you’re worried about using that dose, drop it down to 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons water.

For me, I would move the sick one to a quarantine tank or tote so you can focus on treatment without worrying about affecting other fish.  I would treat the QT with salt at the dose you’re using as a bath.  Treat with the Maracyn 2 mixing it into the food.  Having this little guy by himself will let you monitor his appetite more easily.  When fish stop eating, it’s a really bad sign.  If you can’t get him eating, try the Maracyn in the water like the label says.

He’s thin enough, I would treat him with dewormer, too.  Levamisole (Expel-P) is my first choice since it should get the parasites most likely to affect him.  Treat once weekly for at least 3 doses following label directions.

He’s your kiddo, so only you can decide what to do.  Just so you know something more about me, I’ve been keeping fish since 1975 (took about a decade off primarily due to job burnout, been back in it for about 2.5 years now, and already back up to 25 tanks).  But I also have few more resources available to me than the average fishkeeper with a couple textbooks on fish medicine and surgery, one on fish diseases, several exotics formularies, and nearly 30 years experience treating exotics including fish.  Take the advice if you like, ignore it if you like.  It’s up to you.  I’m only here trying to help.

Sharon Hollars, DVM

[Doc_Ho11iday]

I really can’t thank you both enough for the help. It’s definitely hard to see him struggle and not be the playful derp like the rest of them. I’m going to get the quarantine tank set up and start the Maracyn and Levamisole today (if I can find them locally. Might have start salt first and order off Amazon). Would it be worth the effort to treat the whole tank in addition in case anything’s been passed to the others? I have no problem replacing plants. I have a slight plant addiction lol. 
 

Substrate  is a mix of eco complete and Fluval stratum. 

[Doc_Ho11iday]

On 12/13/2022 at 11:41 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Record a video showing the fish breathing. Usually the nose is how I tell how "rapid" the breathing is.

Here’s a video I got this morning right before feeding time.Video 2

Definitely not good since he still won’t eat. 

[Odd Duck]

Thank you for the video, that helps.  He looks like he has some spots of discoloration?  Are those spots raised at all?  They could be external parasites.  What do they look like to you?  Can you see raised spots?

[Doc_Ho11iday]

He’s a bit ashy in some spots but no raised bumps. I do worry about the others. Would it be worth just treating the whole tank with meds just to be safe?

[Odd Duck]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:20 AM, Doc_Ho11iday said:

He’s a bit ashy in some spots but no raised bumps. I do worry about the others. Would it be worth just treating the whole tank with meds just to be safe?

I would probably at least do very low dose of salt, only 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons unless you have very sensitive species in there.  It can help reduce stress overall and thereby helps the immune system work better.  Unless we see something that indicates parasites, I would hold off on treating the entire tank with meds if you can treat him separately in a QT.  Watch everybody else for any symptoms but if you see any, start treatment immediately.