Flukes or Just Itchy? (Continued)

[tetra]

I decided to switch the topic to diseases though I really don’t think a disease is going on.

I haven’t seen flashing since I’ve added a heater. Temp is at 75F. The previous temp was 64F. Maybe I just didn’t see it? Though it’s been more than a week since I’ve added the heater and I haven’t seen one flash or barrel roll from the adults. This is the longest I’ve seen them not flash before. Even though the API test says I have 0.25-0 ammonia. Today though, I saw one of the fry flash. I also noticed that its caudal fin rotted away a bit, fortunately it’s growing back now. The fry are still pretty active, always looking for food. The adults are usually always under a piece of driftwood and usually sit there for most of the day until some food drops in. (I’m not feeding heavy as there is ammonia and only occasionally feeding every few days.) All of them like to sit together under there until nighttime. When I shine a flashlight in there, I see them looking for food.

I thought about getting an ammonia pad to absorb most of it as it’s not going away. Is that a good idea?

[Colu]

What type of fish do you have in the tank what's your nitrite nitrate pH any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy spitting food out sunken belly white stringy poop @tetra

[tetra]

On 1/19/2024 at 12:42 AM, Colu said:

What type of fish do you have in the tank what's your nitrite nitrate pH any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy spitting food out sunken belly white stringy poop @tetra

This is the same post I made on general discussion but brought it here so it could be seen easier.

The same bronze Cory’s and their 2 fry, none of those symptoms, and water parameters are the same as the other posts. The PH is 6.4, hardness is 300ppm, nitrite is 0, and nitrate is still at 50 (possible 25 maybe I’m just seeing it wrong.) also, the ammonia in my tap has rose from 0.25-0.50 ppm which is pretty bad now. So I got an ammonia absorber to hopefully assist in removing it so I could get the nitrates down without causing ammonia spikes. I put the heater in last week after being recommended to rise the temperature and I haven’t seen a flash since I’ve added it. Could maybe temperature cause flashing?

[Colu]

On 1/20/2024 at 8:20 AM, tetra said:

This is the same post I made on general discussion but brought it here so it could be seen easier.

The same bronze Cory’s and their 2 fry, none of those symptoms, and water parameters are the same as the other posts. The PH is 6.4, hardness is 300ppm, nitrite is 0, and nitrate is still at 50 (possible 25 maybe I’m just seeing it wrong.) also, the ammonia in my tap has rose from 0.25-0.50 ppm which is pretty bad now. So I got an ammonia absorber to hopefully assist in removing it so I could get the nitrates down without causing ammonia spikes. I put the heater in last week after being recommended to rise the temperature and I haven’t seen a flash since I’ve added it. Could maybe temperature cause flashing?

I think  ammonia in your tank is causing the flashing if you have the room I would get a bin or tote fill it the two days before your water change  and add a small heater to being it upto temperature run a small filter with an ammonia removing  pad to try and remove as much ammonia as possible before your water change 

[tetra]

On 1/20/2024 at 2:04 AM, Colu said:

I think  ammonia in your tank is causing the flashing if you have the room I would get a bin or tote fill it the two days before your water change  and add a small heater to being it upto temperature run a small filter with an ammonia removing  pad to try and remove as much ammonia as possible before your water change 

Fortunately, I already have a heavy duty tote from Home Depot to hold water. But it’s currently being used as a quarantine tank for a bristlenose pleco and 2 Malaysian trumpet snails. I was wondering if I could move the other corydoras in quarantine to the larger Cories’ tank so I could move the bristlenose and the snails to that tank then I could use the tote for water changes. It was previously used for soaking driftwood, but I didn’t have anywhere else to hold the BN and snails temporarily until I could move them to the quarantine tank, so I used the tote.

Also, if I use the tote, how am I gonna get water in the tank after doing a water change since the tote is gonna be on the ground and the tank will be high up? The tote is 27 gallons and I don’t want it breaking if I put it on a chair or something I don’t think even a chair will work either. But of course I’m not gonna fill it all the way up, maybe just half way?

[Colu]

On 1/20/2024 at 6:58 PM, tetra said:

Fortunately, I already have a heavy duty tote from Home Depot to hold water. But it’s currently being used as a quarantine tank for a bristlenose pleco and 2 Malaysian trumpet snails. I was wondering if I could move the other corydoras in quarantine to the larger Cories’ tank so I could move the bristlenose and the snails to that tank then I could use the tote for water changes. It was previously used for soaking driftwood, but I didn’t have anywhere else to hold the BN and snails temporarily until I could move them to the quarantine tank, so I used the tote.

Also, if I use the tote, how am I gonna get water in the tank after doing a water change since the tote is gonna be on the ground and the tank will be high up? The tote is 27 gallons and I don’t want it breaking if I put it on a chair or something I don’t think even a chair will work either. But of course I’m not gonna fill it all the way up, maybe just half way?

You could move  them  you have two options siphon it in to a bucket then add it to your tank or you could get a pump and some tubing pump it from the tote to your tank 

Edited January 28 by Colu

[tetra]

Unfortunately, I don’t have space for the tote long term as it will get in the way. But I thought I might add the ammonia pad to the filter so it could remove ammonia along with the denitrifying bacteria within the 24 hours time provided with Prime so I could do a water change without the ammonia stressing them.

I’ve already added the Cories from quarantine with the larger ones and all seems to be going well so far. Though something strange happened before I added the ammonia pad. It was probably 10 or so minutes before I added the pad in there, I took a sponge that I had in the filter out and it let out of ton of waste, which I was expecting. But what I wasn’t expecting is that a peppered Cory (the same one that had the epistylis) started laying on its side, breathing fast on top of a piece of driftwood. Fortunately though, after I added the ammonia pad, it got back up and started looking for food again, I haven’t seen it at all again fortunately. But it was just weird. It was probably all the waste shooting out of the filter though that probably caused some sort of shock.

There’s only 2 peppers right now so I’m assuming they’re a bit lonely. Also the BN pleco and Malaysian trumpet snails from the tote they were in are doing fine right now (they are in quarantine until hopefully next week.) But the pleco kept trying to go up into the Hob filter outtake, it did it probably once a day, before I put an ammonia pad on the filter so I can’t get in, and also so it removes some ammonia that is in there from the tap. I did see some biofilm there where it was grazing on, and also it’s dark in there. I did see that BN plecos really like biofilm, so it’s probably eating whatever’s in there. I know this isn’t related, but I just wanted to know why just in case.

[tetra]

I’ve tried everything I could think of that this point, but that ammonia still won’t go to zero. The tank is barely stocked at the moment, cleaned most of the filter (not the left completely but I’m gonna go over it this weekend), did 25% water changes every week for the past 4 weeks, kept testing every few days, and removed as much mulm and detritus in the tank I could find. I’m out of ideas. But what’s confusing me is, why isn’t the denitrifying bacteria eating this ammonia over the course of a few days after the water changes? I even have plants in there and it’s still not helping. Dosed prime every few days nearly double the tank volume. Am I missing something?

As well, for the past couple of days, I’ve noticed some white spots on the Cories that were flashing, it doesn’t really look like epistylis or ich. But looking at a large spot on a female cory, I did see it is outwards, not flat like ich, but doesn’t look like epistylis. It almost looks like a fungus since it’s sort of fuzzy but not really, but I’m not a 100% sure. The photo below is a little grainy, so you can’t really tell if the spot is fuzzy. The photos taken below were before the lights turned to blue. The circled areas are where I noticed them mostly. Also, that large spot is the only spot so far that looks fuzzy. Every other spot looks like grains of sand or something like that. Most of the adult Cories have these spots but only one or two. Some on the tail as well.

I suspected that it could be the BN pleco I added a few weeks back, but that wouldn’t make sense cause the Cories would have caught something a few days after being introduced. Also, the pleco’s back looks sort of weird, it changes color in the morning or during the day. I don’t know if it’s camouflage or if it’s an injury. Photo below.

None of these fish are gasping at all at the surface, but the pleco occasionally opens its gills widely for a second, then closes them. For now, I’m monitoring them to see if it’s gets worse or if it’s sand stuck to them.

 

They are all acting normally, no strange behaviors.

[Colu]

The problem is every time you do a water change your adding ammonia back in I wouldn't clean the side or back glass and  leave the mulm don't clean your filter to often only clear the filter pads in bucket of tank water if you can get room for a bin or tote to pretreat your water for a couple of days before a water change that would be best add more plants the spot I would just monitor for now it could be sand stuck to its side @tetra

Edited March 3 by Colu
Stupid autocorrect

[tetra]

On 2/23/2024 at 3:22 AM, Colu said:

don't clear your filter to often only clear the filter pads in bucket of tank water

I’ve have and almost always have been cleaning my media inside tank water, I never wash it off, as I actually find putting a ziplock bag in the tank and filling it up with water far less messy/easier compared to walking to the sink and getting poop water all over the floor and having to clean it up afterwards.

I saw the spots on the female cory increasing but she has not showed any symptoms yet. After, most of the spots disappeared except for 2. But the scariest thing I noticed was that one of those spots turned red. It’s not flat, it’s like a small pimple. I think this could be an injury, because I have a lot of driftwood in the tank with some sharp points (not ridiculously sharp though,) But I don’t know if that’s the case or if it’s a sign of ammonia poisoning. The lights are already out so I’ll have to take a photo tomorrow.