SOS! corry got sick

[irinefish]

Hi, everybody!
Can somebody help me? Peper cory got bulged eyes, then red patch on the head, now he got some kind of "sists" over the body, look like see through bubles. Never saw anything like this.

[irinefish]

Sorry, it is me, Irine again. Continue my SOS! Now another cory- julie got the same simptoms: red patch on the head. Appresiate any comments. Thank you! What is this thing? Pictures of julie

[SLIMESLAYER10]

dose it have any other symptoms? lethargic, gasping for air, not eating ext?

[irinefish]

Active, not letargic, heavily breathing, both ate live black worms tonight, before - did not eat. Theated both of them with Maracyne 2. Signs of bloating body almoust gone. On the picture it is day 3 of treatment, eyes get twice smaller, than they were at the beginning (on peper cory), julii cory was not swallen at all. They are separated. All other fish in other tanks sims to look OK.

[SLIMESLAYER10]

sounds like your treatment is working, witch is good because i have never heard of/seen whats happening to your cory cats. please keep us updated on your situation. it could save someones corys one day!

[irinefish]

I've never seen that thing also. For today (5th day of treatment) the "bubles" on peper cori are still there, some bubles get like "blood" inside, some went away, some become tiny yellow, the size of sesamy sead (they were the size of 1 to 4 cori eggs). Both fish produce a lot of "moon stone" slime that clouds the water. Second fish - corry julie still has the red putch on his head, but no bubbles yet. They are in the different (separated tanks) and have the same treatment. I am wondering - should I continue or I can get them poisoned by Maracyne?
Thank you for your interest in my fish.
Irine

[SLIMESLAYER10]

i don't think maracyn kills fish, (as long as you don't OD) but it can kill bacteria so test water frequently. buuut im just some crazy catfish man from the internet so this is just my advise.

[irinefish]

I change them water every day - as I've told, they are overprodusing slime, and water became "soapy".
I am crezy catfish person myself. I have 2 common plecos and 3 african upside-downs (they eat from my hands, so cute). Whole bunch of peper cory and juie cory, they reproduct so fast! My new one is albino vale-tailed bushy-nose, very shy... Just checked my sick bay - peper corry looks as normal, just tinny yellowish about 1-2 mm long things steaking from under the scales, they look like some parasite eggs or worms... red patch looks like healing, get smaller, not red, but get a bubble on it. Julie looks unhappy, got bubble on the red patch on his head...

[MarcW]

Just a guess here based on you saying that the water became soapy, are there small bubbles around the edges of the tanks? Although, this could be caused by the medication, I don't have any experience with the one you are using.

I'm wondering if whatever is wrong with them is causing (stress or something else) them to release toxins from the glands at the base of the pectoral fins, then they are poisoning themselves?

You mentioned they are breathing heavily, if you don't already, make sure the water is well oxygenated, that could be air stones, air powered sponge filter, lots of surface agitation from a power filter or wave maker, or a combination.

Good luck.

[Lycosid]

I'm wondering if whatever is wrong with them is causing (stress or something else) them to release toxins from the glands at the base of the pectoral fins, then they are poisoning themselves?

I THINK that catfish toxins are released by the physical mechanism of the skin around the spine being pushed down. If so, toxin release from irritation would have to be accompanied by skin erosion, which should be visible.
I believe that bekateen knows more about catfish spine toxins than I do. If I could get the @ thing to work I'd use it to alert him.

[MarcW]

I've not used it before let's see if it works for me, are you there Eric?!

@bekateen

[bekateen]

Hi All,

Toxin secretion requires no stimulus other than the fish feel stressed - no physical contact needed.

By coincidence, I just posted this: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45758#p309582

Cheers, Eric

[MarcW]

Thanks Eric.

In your experience do you think an illness or ailment as shown by the op in this thread, could cause sufficient stress to cause a release of toxin? Or does it need to be a sudden fight or flight type incident, e.g. chased by a predator, or net when being caught?

[bekateen]

Hi Marc,

In my experience the toxin is released only in stress/attack/panic situations. I doubt it would be secreted by a sick fish.

The bulging eyes and red patch on the head often indicates water quality issues leading to bacterial infection. I've been told that when corys eat too much protein, they can develop bubble-like objects on their skin surface. It's happened to me once when my corys ate shrimp intended for plecos.

Regards, Eric

[MarcW]

Thanks Eric, I suspected that would be the case.

OP, I would suggest large (50%) water changes at least once per week. Likely more often, until the fish recover, and as Eric said try to avoid high protein/meaty food for a while and see if that helps.

[irinefish]

Thank you, everybody!
That were my peper cory and julii cory sick.
They are still in the sick bay.
Peper cory have no signs of sickness at all! Eat well too.
Julii still have bump in a size of maches head on his head, bump become grey. Eating well.

Answering the questions:
I do change water for them everyday
Water is "soapy", but no bubbles on the surface
I feed them with alive blood worms. Should I stop it?
That can be stress: I transfered 15 cories to bigger tank, and found 3 sick fish few days after this. One died. Two are in the sick bay
Maracyne 2 doesn't make water soapy, I've treated the whole tank (just in case) for 5 days. All other fish are OK.

Any suggestions?
Should I continue maracyne in sick bay?
Thank you very much for your support.
Irine.

[Lycosid]

I feed them with alive blood worms. Should I stop it?

Those would be high protein, so to follow MarcW's suggestion you should back off on those.

[MarcW]

I would reduce the amount of bloodworms, as Eric mentioned too much protein can cause issues. Once each week or so should be ok, but I wouldn't use them as the main part of their diet.

I've not used that medicine before so I can't make a recommendation on continuing with it. Personally I avoid medication unless its necessary and I'm confident I know what is causing the issue so the correct medication can be used.

I would suggest that you leave the affected fish in your quarantine tank, with frequent water changes, and close monitoring until things improve.

Good Luck!