Cory Catfish Quarantine?

I have 2 albino Cory Catfish and had 3 goldfish, one goldfish ended up getting finrot and I took him out as soon as I noticed and put him in a 1.5 gallon bowl and treated him with medicine for finrot and did daily water changes and he ended up passing away. Now my one Cory Catfish has finrot. I transferred him to the bowl and gave him medicine the first day and then did daily water changes after that and completely cleaned out my big tank so my other fish don't get it. The Cory Catfish has improved over the course of a week, he's swimming so much now and eating. How long should I wait to transfer him back to the big tank?

 

Hi,

If you could fill out the template below it will really help everyone give their best input. Any photos you might provide about the cory in question, and even your tank, would be very helpful.

Fish Emergency Template | Freshwater Fish Disease 376562

 

Tank

What is the water volume of the tank? 27 gallons

How long has the tank been running? 6 months

Does it have a filter? Yes

Does it have a heater? No

What is the water temperature? 72 degrees

What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
2 goldfish, 2 albino Cory Catfish, 6 snails

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Once a month

How much of the water do you change? All of it

What do you use to treat your water? Aquasafe water conditioner

Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
I change all the water, and wash the rocks and wipe out the inside before replacing the water

*Parameters - Very Important

Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes

What do you use to test the water? Complete test kit

What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Twice daily

How much do you feed your fish? As much as they can eat in 3 minutes

What brand of food do you feed your fish? Started off feeding goldfish flakes then changed to pellets and algae wafers for snails and Cory's.

Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? No

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 10 months

How long ago did you first notice these
symptoms? A week ago

In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Fin rot, on his tail and fins

Have you started any treatment for the illness? Yes I used a fin rot treatment

Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No

How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all?

His appearance is almost the same but not getting any worse and he's swimming a lot better and eating now

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

His tail started rotting away along with his fins and he was laying at the bottom of the tank on his side. I switched him to a "quarantine bowl" and he's been resting and healing for over a week. I've been doing daily water changes. He seems a lot better I'm just wondering how long i should wait before returning him to the 27 gallon tank

 

I read over your post. One thing so you can prevent the fin rot in the future, I would start doing 50-75% water changes every week(leaning towards 75 percent more since you have goldfish too). You don't need to wash the rocks or wipe the tank, just take out half the water and replace it with water thats the same temp and treated with dechlorinator. When you do these water changes I would also vacuum the gravel to get rid of poop and debris.

 

Thanks! First thing that jumps out at me is water quality in the 27 gallons. Water changes really should be weekly, especially since you have goldfish. And there's no posting for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate or PH. What method did you use to cycle your tank and how long did it take?

What do you do with the goldfish, cories and snails when you drain and wipe down the whole tank. Is rinsing the rocks the same as rinsing gravel? Is this all happening with tank or tap water?

What kind of filter are you running?

So far, I'm thinking water quality and stress. Address those issues moving forward and your cory's fins should grow back.

 

I cycled my tank for 4 weeks before I got the fish, and I put them in bags from the pet store while I clean the tank and I acclimate them for a good bit of time before I put them back in to make sure the temp will be as close as possible. My fiance did the water testing and he said everything seemed right on track. I have the tetra whisper filter with the charcoal carbon filter

 

Hi Beccaradke,
Most of the advice is how I would answer. I however recommend 50% as a maximum water change. with goldfish you may very well have to do two 50% water changes each week to keep nitrates at your chosen level ( about 40ppm ?) .

It is a common beginners mistake to remove fish for working on a tank . I can are assure you everyone leaves the fish in the tank always.

22 degrees centigrade or 72 f is the bottom of the range for albino corydoras. I wonder if the temperature sometimes drops a bit lower at the substrate level we’re the Cory’s mainly swim?

 

Hi Beccaradke,
Most of the advice is how I would answer. I however recommend 50% as a maximum water change. with goldfish you may very well have to do two 50% water changes each week to keep nitrates at your chosen level ( about 40ppm ?) .

It is a common beginners mistake to remove fish for working on a tank . I can are assure you everyone leaves the fish in the tank always.

22 degrees centigrade or 72 f is the bottom of the range for albino corydoras. I wonder if the temperature sometimes drops a bit lower at the substrate level we’re the Cory’s mainly swim?

Just wondering but why do you recommend 50% max(not to be rude or anything, I'm curious)? Agreed, 72 is on the lower side. I think the temp would be the same throughout the tank assuming the filter is big enough for the tank size.

 

I`m logging off after this post but you are in good hands. Please post numbers for the tank parameters-someone saying they`re ok means nothing. We ask specific questions to get a better picture of your tank and maintenance habits. We are here to help but need your help too. Still would like to know the following:

• How did you cycle your tank? what was your process?
• Edit: saw you mentioned filter...tx
• How are you cleaning rocks etc. Running them under tap water? This is not the way to clean them so please let us know so we can offer suggestions.

As above, do NOT remove your fish during water changes. It is very very very stressful on your fish which weakens their immune systems and leaves them vulnerable to disease and infection. There are lots of videos on Youtube showing how to properly do a water change. You can buy a siphon with a bulb for around $20 at the big chains. Doesn't have to be fancy.

Finally, feeding for 3 minutes is also contributing to poor water quality. Your fish really don't need much for than they size of an eyeball per feeding. "Better to underfeed". Please research how to properly feed goldfish as they might have different requirements. Cory's do need to be fed however, and should not be relied on just to clean up.

 

I`m logging off after this post but you are in good hands. Please post numbers for the tank parameters-someone saying they`re ok means nothing. We ask specific questions to get a better picture of your tank and maintenance habits. We are here to help but need your help too. Still would like to know the following:

• How did you cycle your tank? what was your process?
• What filter is on your tank?
• How are you cleaning rocks etc. Running them under tap water? This is not the way to clean them so please let us know so we can offer suggestions.

As above, do NOT remove your fish during water changes. It is very very very stressful on your fish which weakens their immune systems and leaves them vulnerable to disease and infection. There are lots of videos on Youtube showing how to properly do a water change. You can buy a siphon with a bulb for around $20 at the big chains. Doesn't have to be fancy.

Finally, feeding for 3 minutes is also contributing to poor water quality. Your fish really don't need much for than they size of an eyeball per feeding. "Better to underfeed". Please research how to properly feed goldfish as they might have different requirements. Cory's do need to be fed however, and should not be relied on just to clean up.

Thankyou! I missed parts of ops post earlier . The feeding twice daily for 3 minutes combined with the fact that you did a water change once a month is, imo, a big contributing factor. I would feed the corys food that have more protein in them, and the goldfish will do better on a dedicated diet. For goldfish, its hard to pin point the exact amount but usually I would feed as much as they can eat in around 30 seconds(yes, they are pigs), maybe 45 seconds. As for 2 corys,1 to 2 pellets per cory sounds pretty good to me.

 

Tetra whisper IQ is for 30 gallons. Wondering if maybe more filtration would be suggested for goldfish. If no one addresses in this thread, please start another and goldfish keepers will help.

 

Tetra whisper IQ is for 30 gallons. Wondering if maybe more filtration would be suggested for goldfish. If no one addresses in this thread, please start another and goldfish keepers will help.

The filtration is probably okay, but personally I would add another sponge filter for extra filtration and oxygenation.

 

I recommend what I do myself NOW. I have found it to be a way to keep temperature and parameters stable. I understand many people change lots more in at one time. Perhaps I have more time on my hands and can do multiple water changes per day or per week more easily than some people?

Think of it this way we change water because the parameters are not how we would like them to be. If you think of the water as not being suitable and needs changing then it’s parameters are not the same as new water?

Unless we change water 2 or 3 times per week there is a difference in the parameters . Surely?
The whole business of weekly water changes is based on our 7 day week not on trying to do the right thing for fish.

Add to this what would appear to be a beginner still removing the fish in a bag and temperature acclimating back into the tank. I am not sure if Beccaradke understands the importance of temperature matching water?

yes I have deliberately shocked fish in an attempt to stimulate breeding with cold rain water , but I have also put tetras on the substrate with cold water in winter on one occasion by accident .

please don’t take this personally Beccaradke. Changing water once a month is definitely going to be changing to water of different parameters. If it was me I would start with lots of small 20% changes for days before starting 50% or indeed 75% changes as others do.

bgntoc have you thought about or read about nitrate shock ? ie a sudden change in nitrates being just as bad as any other parameter swing .

 

As stated previously, a weekly 50-75% wc without removing the fish, especially because the tank is small for two goldfish (who produce a lot of waste/ammonia). No need to wash the decorations or change the filter media monthly (they contain your good bacteria). A siphon to vacuum the bottom leftovers and poop will help, and a lot less food.

What are you using for fin rot treatment? Typically, fin rot goes away in clean water (aka, more water changes) and a low stress environment (not removing from the tank and definitely not being put in a bowl, that isn’t cycled). The fin rot will keep coming back if we don’t get the water cleaned up. Medications for treatment are hard on the fish, so using them only when essential is recommended.

 

I recommend what I do myself NOW. I have found it to be a way to keep temperature and parameters stable. I understand many people change lots more in at one time. Perhaps I have more time on my hands and can do multiple water changes per day or per week more easily than some people?

Think of it this way we change water because the parameters are not how we would like them to be. If you think of the water as not being suitable and needs changing then it’s parameters are not the same as new water?

Unless we change water 2 or 3 times per week there is a difference in the parameters . Surely?
The whole business of weekly water changes is based on our 7 day week not on trying to do the right thing for fish.

Add to this what would appear to be a beginner still removing the fish in a bag and temperature acclimating back into the tank. I am not sure if Beccaradke understands the importance of temperature matching water?

yes I have deliberately shocked fish in an attempt to stimulate breeding with cold rain water , but I have also put tetras on the substrate with cold water in winter on one occasion by accident .

please don’t take this personally Beccaradke. Changing water once a month is definitely going to be changing to water of different parameters. If it was me I would start with lots of small 20% changes for days before starting 50% or indeed 75% changes as others do.

bgntoc have you thought about or read about nitrate shock ? ie a sudden change in nitrates being just as bad as any other parameter swing .

I think what you are saying does make sense, and yes, I know about nitrate shock. If you do a big water change right now, there may be a parameter "shock" since the last time op did a water change was probably at least a week or two ago. HOwever on a regular schedule I don't see the issue with big water changes, I and others have had no problems doing larger water changes on a regular basis. This isn't meant to disrespect you in any way, btw. What works for you works for you of course.

 

I recommend what I do myself NOW. I have found it to be a way to keep temperature and parameters stable. I understand many people change lots more in at one time. Perhaps I have more time on my hands and can do multiple water changes per day or per week more easily than some people?

Think of it this way we change water because the parameters are not how we would like them to be. If you think of the water as not being suitable and needs changing then it’s parameters are not the same as new water?

Unless we change water 2 or 3 times per week there is a difference in the parameters . Surely?
The whole business of weekly water changes is based on our 7 day week not on trying to do the right thing for fish.

Add to this what would appear to be a beginner still removing the fish in a bag and temperature acclimating back into the tank. I am not sure if Beccaradke understands the importance of temperature matching water?

yes I have deliberately shocked fish in an attempt to stimulate breeding with cold rain water , but I have also put tetras on the substrate with cold water in winter on one occasion by accident .

please don’t take this personally Beccaradke. Changing water once a month is definitely going to be changing to water of different parameters. If it was me I would start with lots of small 20% changes for days before starting 50% or indeed 75% changes as others do.

bgntoc have you thought about or read about nitrate shock ? ie a sudden change in nitrates being just as bad as any other parameter swing .

Thank you so much for the tips, I did a 50% water change today and I will continue to do it more often. Everyone has to start somewhere and learn along the way and I want to keep them as healthy and happy as possible. So thank you!