Platy with white growth on scales and Cory Doras with bump on head

[CoolCats]

[CoolCats]

Hi this is my first post on the forum, I didn’t see the option to add a description so here goes:

Our tank is 5-6 years old and we have some platys, Cory Doras and dwarf chain loaches. 
 

the test strip image i posted is likely not entirely accurate, the bottle is a little old. We have added prime to help with potential nitrate/nitrate elevation and prior tests showed very low pH so we buffered. 
 

we started treating with ich-x 3 nights ago. Only one platy is visibly affected. We have had a 2 die over the last month, one had scales puffed out so I suspect it was dropsy. The affected platy is one of our oldest and biggest, I think we’ve had it about 2 years.

we have had Cory Doras for many years, most of the time we’ve had our tank, and we have lost some over the years but they have been pretty hearty, and showed no issues until I noticed two bumps on one of their heads 2 days ago, and yesterday one died :,(. They like to hide so photos aren’t great, the photos i think might be different individuals, and look more like a flat white spot. I have seen at least one of our corys with two rounded bumps that are the color of their scales.

our tank is not heavily stocked, we have about a dozen fish, many plants, a large wood item as decor and lots of rocks but we haven’t changed anything recently.

 

thanks for having me on here, any clues about what our fish might be dealing with would be appreciated. 
 

Sometimes the Platy seems to have less white areas so i sometimes think the ich-x is helping but other times it looks about the same. She did have one eye that seemed impacted yesterday-it looked like it had a whitish film- but the eye looks basically normal today. The white areas that look like they are coming out of her scales look a lot different from the white dots in that were shown as Ich in one of Cory’s videos.

[Colu]

What I would do is get some new test strips or lmiquid test kits they are more accurate your KH and pH are to low for platys if your test strips are right what I would do is add crushed coral to your substrate or in a media bag in your filter you will have to add one pound of crushed coral per 10 gallons that will gradually raise your KH and pH spots look raised that could be epistylis that feeds off of gram negative bacteria on the slime coat of your fish and spreads more quickly at temperatures effective treatments are dose the tank with  ick X and do a course of maracyn2 not maracyn in food @CoolCats

[CoolCats]

Hi @Colu, thanks for your reply. I was able to do some liquid tests. Ammonia and nitrate were at zero, pH is 6.7. Nitrates were high, seemed to be either 80 or between 40 and 80 (80 and 40 are similar in color). I don’t have kH in my liquid kit. Going to also do some water changes to reduce the nitrate levels. More of our Corys have symptoms :(.

[Colu]

On 4/25/2024 at 4:14 AM, CoolCats said:

Hi @Colu, thanks for your reply. I was able to do some liquid tests. Ammonia and nitrate were at zero, pH is 6.7. Nitrates were high, seemed to be either 80 or between 40 and 80 (80 and 40 are similar in color). I don’t have kH in my liquid kit. Going to also do some water changes to reduce the nitrate levels. More of our Corys have symptoms :(.

High levels of nitrate can weaken the immune system leading to secondary infection I would get to 40ppm and treat with the medication I recommended with ick X your doing daily water changes so that will help to bring down your nitrates I would start treating maracyn2 food  straight away 

[CoolCats]

Thanks, we started with Maracyn2 food. Is there an advantage to giving it with food? 

[Colu]

On 4/26/2024 at 1:44 AM, CoolCats said:

Thanks, we started with Maracyn2 food. Is there an advantage to giving it with food? 

It's adsorbed by the intestinal tract so the medication gets into the blood which is more effective when treating epistylis