Help ! White stuff on Adolfoi Cory - what is it?

[gillaroo]

Hi fellow fish keepers. 

Water pH 7, kH 8, gH >7, Nitrate 50ppm, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Temp 23C or 74 F. 50 % water change every 10 days

 Can anyone identify the disease so j know what to do? Also would it stress fish out more to move to hospital tank? 

 

[clownbaby]

Unsure exactly but it looks like Columnaris... could also be a fungus. I would recommend moving the cory into a hospital. Even if this causes a lot of stress for the individual cory, you do not want to risk whatever this disease is spreading to your other fishes. 

For the hospital tank: I would recommend using aquarium salt. Start low and increase as needed. Up the temperatures, higher temps fight bacteria and disease faster. Feed high quality foods and remove any waste with a siphon. Add an airstone!! Airstones have saved my fish before. Daily water changes, about 20 - 50% each day. add a cave so they feel comfortable. I would recommend bare-bottom. Catapa leaves can help as well. 

If the disease gets worse you could dose Erythromycin - this is the only medicine I have ever used on fish (pygmy cories with bacterial gill disease) and it worked well. 

[Colu]

Looks like part of the slime coat is falling off that can be caused by an  irritant in water such as chlorine or high levels of ammonia nitrite nitrate or parasitic infection  do you use a water dechlorinator when doing water changes any rapid breathing loss of appetite flashing @gillaroo

[gillaroo]

There is loss of appetite.  Nitrates are high at 50ppm, but no Ammonia, Nitrate or Nitrite.  I fear I may be too late. I don't see it in usual hide spots. I'll have to go investigate now in all the plants. I just didn't know what to treat it for... It's hard to know what disease it had. I've had ich kill tetras and chilli raspboras in the past, as you said,it looks more like it's slime coat sloughing off . Unfortunately I'm in Europe, so no antibiotics available

[Colu]

On 9/29/2024 at 10:07 PM, gillaroo said:

There is loss of appetite.  Nitrates are high at 50ppm, but no Ammonia, Nitrate or Nitrite.  I fear I may be too late. I don't see it in usual hide spots. I'll have to go investigate now in all the plants. I just didn't know what to treat it for... It's hard to know what disease it had. I've had ich kill tetras and chilli raspboras in the past, as you said,it looks more like it's slime coat sloughing off . Unfortunately I'm in Europe, so no antibiotics available

I would test your water for chlorine and get your nitrate below 40ppm 

[Justnotrook]

Looks similar to ick for me. I usually put any fish with possible ick in a separate quarantine tank. I usually use methylene blue, aquarium salt, and an antibiotic feed. If it spread to other corydoras, you might want to put all of them in a quarantine tank and do a deep clean on the tank with the cory’s. 

Edited September 30 by Justnotrook

[Tony s]

On 9/29/2024 at 8:16 PM, Justnotrook said:

Looks similar to ick for me. I

Columnaris looks very similar to ich. But it comes in more clumping patches. Ich looks like the fish has been evenly salted. It’s not raised and is usually more uniform. Columnaris can also get on the eyes. The problem is they have 2 different methods of treatment. For ich, you use ich-x, salt, and higher temps. For Columnaris, heat speeds up the disease and makes it worse. You need meds, and low temperatures. Salt still helps.  
 

@gillaroo I’d still test for chlorine. Just to make sure. And while nitrates are not poisonous unless at high levels. I’d still keep them down. Think of it this way. Nitrates are kind of like being in a smoke filled room. It’s not going to kill you, but it’s very irritating. And can cause longer term stress and health problems. And something is irritating the corys. Whether it’s bacterial or not is hard to say. 
 

you might see if you can get some broad spectrum antibiotics through Amazon. Maracyn2 might be easiest 

[Justnotrook]

On 9/29/2024 at 8:30 PM, Tony s said:

Columnaris looks very similar to ich. But it comes in more clumping patches. Ich looks like the fish has been evenly salted. It’s not raised and is usually more uniform. Columnaris can also get on the eyes. The problem is they have 2 different methods of treatment. For ich, you use ich-x, salt, and higher temps. For Columnaris, heat speeds up the disease and makes it worse. You need meds, and low temperatures. Salt still helps.  
 

@gillaroo I’d still test for chlorine. Just to make sure. And while nitrates are not poisonous unless at high levels. I’d still keep them down. Think of it this way. Nitrates are kind of like being in a smoke filled room. It’s not going to kill you, but it’s very irritating. And can cause longer term stress and health problems. And something is irritating the corys. Whether it’s bacterial or not is hard to say. 
 

you might see if you can get some broad spectrum antibiotics through Amazon. Maracyn2 might be easiest 

Thank you for the info on that. 

[gillaroo]

On 9/29/2024 at 8:27 PM, gillaroo said:

Hi fellow fish keepers. 

Water pH 7, kH 8, gH >7, Nitrate 50ppm, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Temp 23C or 74 F. 50 % water change every 10 days

 Can anyone identify the disease so j know what to do? Also would it stress fish out more to move to hospital tank? 

 

Just to update you all who replied to this post. Thank you all for the information. Sadly this fish died as I was setting up the hospital tank. 

Coincidentally, I thought another fish was unwell on Friday... was trying to observe it when I noticed this fish was poorly. So it was dead within 36 hours of seeing it was unwell. Does that give anyone added info to ascertain what killed it? 

[Tony s]

On 9/30/2024 at 8:56 AM, gillaroo said:

Does that give anyone added info to ascertain what killed it? 

Could be fast acting bacterial infection. But without meds you can’t really do much.
I would still check the chlorine. Sometimes the city will overdose the chlorine seasonally to clear their system out

Excess chlorine would cause all of the symptoms 

Maybe you can find a vet in your area to get a couple of samples and prescribe a medication?

[Colu]

You should be able to source sera bactopur direct tablets active ingredient nifurpirinol is a broad spectrum antibiotic treatment @gillaroo