Panda Cory Fin Problem

[sonorasage]

Hi everyone!

I'm new here and new to the hobby. I have a 10 gallon tank with 1 Betta, 5 Panda Corys and 4 Neon Tetras.

The Betta has been in for about 3 weeks now, and is looking really healthy. I added the corys and tetras last week, and some of the corys have started developing fin problems like in the attached image. Their fins were very healthy looking when we brought them home. The tetras and betta seem to be happy and healthy.

I have not noticed any fin nipping happening, the Betta seems pretty chill and I haven't seen him chase or harass anything, but I don't really know how to tell the difference between nipping and fin rot, so any help would be greatly appreciated :)

Water test from this morning:

• Under 0.25ppm ammonia (I have a really hard time reading the API Test Kit so it could be 0, it could be 0.25ppm)
• 0 Nitrite
• Under 5ppm Nitrate
• 8.0 pH
• 78F temp.
• Exact water hardness is unknown, but it is pretty hard (I'm in southern AZ and we get lots of minerals in our water)
• Tank is well planted, and everything is doing decent (except some water wisteria and salvinia minima that are trying to take over the entire tank)
• I have been having trouble getting brown algae/diatoms under control :(

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

[Whitecloud09]

It could be ich. Most likely a fungal infection @sonorasage. Or maybe even cotton wool disease. Or something else, you can do maracyn and maracyn 2 + I would do some aquarium salt.

[Colu]

 am not seeing any Reddening to edges of the fins I would indicate an active infection possible your betta attacking the fins of you Cory's when your no there it looks like something been nipping at the fins I would watch your betta just make sure he not the cause i would add some Indian almond leaves as they have antibacterial and antifungal properties you might have to add one leaf per gallon to get a beneficial effect give an update in 1 week before then if it gets worse @sonorasage

[Whitecloud09]

@Colu yes, could it be the neons? I was wondering if that could be it, but I am probably wrong.

[MattyM]

I was just reading that a betta's territory typically expands up to 3 feet around him. He may seem chill, but so does mine before he attacks a snail or something. I have had neons for years and they are about the chillest fish around, almost boring they are so chill.

Typically a Betta would get his own 10 gallon tank. In the meantime you could try putting a cave or something for the cories to take refuge in. The neons are probably just out maneuvering the Betta when he gets worked up. 

[Tony s]

I keep 6 bettas in 6 community tanks. Have had a few go after snails, but not after anything else, ever. Except each other. Tried a sorority. Wouldn’t do that in les than a 40. And have one with a group of pandas and neons. No issues.

that being said, bettas are highly variable in their aggression levels. It’s entirely possible it’s the betta. Some bettas are just born nuts 

[sonorasage]

As far as I can tell, the betta spent the whole night in the same spot (at least, I was also asleep, betta was in sleeping spot when I went to bed, and in the same spot when I woke up). The betta will approach the corys, then just swim away, no flaring or anything, even when they swim in his face. The corys seem unbothered by him, but they do seem to avoid the neons (they seem to be competing for the same hiding spots maybe?). Absolutely understand it can be the betta harassing them, and at least while I am still new to this, I am adopting a new house rule: only add one species at a time.

The pandas seem worse off this morning, lethargic and not responsive to me approaching the tank. They did not eat last night. This one has developed/picked up some fuzz/fungus? on this tail :(

Also wanted to add this picture of a different one from last night

Edited March 26 by sonorasage

[Tony s]

Well, okay, that looks much different than the first picture. Looks like it’s shedding something 

[MattyM]

Could it be fin rot? https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/fin-rot

Poor guys, they really need to be treated ASAP with at least some salt, quarantined if possible. 

[sonorasage]

Yeah, treatment will be starting soon, as soon as I know what to treat and what I need to go get (yay for working from home).

I have Maracyn and Ich-X on hand and can get aquarium salt when I go pick up supplies for a hospital tank - or should I just treat everyone in the tank and do salt dips for the corys? I don't think I can add salt to a planted tank (if I want my plants to live) correct?

[Tony s]

On 3/26/2024 at 1:10 PM, sonorasage said:

should I just treat everyone in the tank

If it’s ich. Everyone in the tank. I haven’t seen any thing like this. @Colu might have 

 

[Colu]

Looks like over production of the slime coat and saprolegniasa on the tail fin of your Cory its no a true fungal infection it's a water mould recommended treatment is ick X and a broad spectrum antibiotic treatment such as maracyn to prevent any secondary bacterial infection  if your going to use aquarium salt i wouldn't go above 1 table spoon for 5 gallon with cory they can be more sensitive to salt over production of the slime coat can be caused by poor water quality a parasitc infection like body or Gill flukes do you use a water dechlorinator when doing water changes as chlorine can cause over production of the slime coat  @sonorasage

[sonorasage]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it.

At this point, I am pretty sure that we are dealing with Ich at least - I noticed some of the white spots on the tetras late last night, and there are a few more this morning, and just saw the first ones on the betta's tail :( but at least we have somewhere to start!

@Colu I use Seachem Prime for dechlorinator with water changes. Do you recommend doing the Ich-x and Maracyn simultaneously, or one at a time?

My best guess is that this was caused by more poor vacuum gravelling habits prior to adding the corys - they sure stirred up a lot of junk that first day.

[Colu]

What I would do is dose both daily add your maracyn and ick X then every 24 HR do 50% water redose ick X and add half a pack of maracyn to keep the medication at a therapeutic level dose the maracyn for 5 days keep treating with  ick X for three days after you see the last spots and add small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 10 gallons as ich causes massive electrolyte loss salt adds back in essential electrolytes  only put back in what you take out so if you do  a 5 gallon water change put half  a table spoon of salt back in as salt only removed though water changes @sonorasage

Edited March 28 by Colu

[sonorasage]

Thank you so much @Colu I'm going to start this protocol this evening and hopefully they can recover.

[sonorasage]

Just wanted to give a quick update. Today will be the 4th treatment following the protocol Colu suggested (along with increasing the water temp to 81 degrees)

One of the corys passed yesterday :(

Today is the first day where I feel like things are actually improving. The corys no longer have excess slime coats, and I am not seeing any more of that fuzz on any of them. One of them had lots of fuzz over their face/eyes yesterday, but it is gone today :) They all seem to be doing a lot better, still resting a lot, but slightly more active, and I have been able to entice them to eat by soaking their pellets in garlic juice and letting them have lots of time to eat. Most of their fins (tail and dorsal primarily) are still looking ragged, but aren't getting worse.

The tetras and betta both developed more Ich spots, but there don't appear to be new ones today. I realized this morning that I had accidentally been under dosing the Ich-X, for at least one day and possibly all of them - I ordered some new droppers to help out with that. The tetras and betta are still eating well. The betta seems a little slower and is definitely resting more during the day (or I am paying more attention and noticing how much he rests now).

One thing that I think made a huge difference was going back and watching videos on how to properly gravel vacuum (the Aquarium Co-op one in particular) and holy moly I have not been doing it well for a couple months and it made a big difference last night.

As a newbie, it's been really hard to deal with this, so I wanted to share some progress for anyone else that finds themselves in a rough spot. Right now, I really think it can get better, I really hope so anyway :) It has for sure been discouraging and really tough emotionally, but hopefully it will get better.

[sonorasage]

Final update just to close out this topic. I did the last Ich treatment on April 6, so it's been a bit over a week. One more of the tetras wound up passing, leaving just one that I moved to a new tank because it seemed incredibly stressed (hiding all the time, not eating, etc), but seems to be a bit better on it's own for the time being. The corys and betta are doing great! The fin damage the corys had is mostly gone and they are so enjoyable to watch playing around the tank :)

Thanks to everyone for your help!