Corys Gasping

Hi,

Yesterday dosed 120g tank with methylene blue for one sick fish. LFS thought it might be mouth fungus and recommended methylene blue. 5ml/5g. Everything is good for 24 hours. Then just did a 25% H2O change on my long running 120g tank.

At least three corys are now at the surface gasping.

The 2 clown loaches, 2 upside down cats, 9 barbs, 4 red eyed tetras and 9 other bronze cories appear fine. I'm assuming the bristlenose is okay cuz I can't see him.

As far as I can tell the only thing I did differently from the last 15 years are the following two things

1. It takes us about 30 to 60 seconds to get the temperature right on the siphon from the tap in the kitchen this time it took probably a couple of minutes and then I had a problem with my Water Conditioner (Peter's step 1) so let's say that took another couple of minutes so the time from the water first hitting the tank to the time the conditioner went in was probably... well it could have been 5 minutes but it's usually 30 seconds to a minute. Maybe I'm overestimating.....it felt like 5 minutes.

2. For some bizarre reason my husband who has helped me for more than 5 years with water changes decided not to run the tap until it was warm and the water that came out of the hose into the tank was ice cold. I would say it took us a good minute to get it to the tank temperature of 84.

3. This is not something I did differently it's something I always do but without Cory's in the tank. I have always super vacuumed my gravel. I vacuum to the bottom of the tank so if there is 2 inches of gravel I suction the whole thing. Granted, only 1/4 to 1/3 of my tank is gravel the rest is sand and I didn't vacuum that tonight.

So far I propped my filter return bar up so that 8 or 10 streams of water hit the surface creating lots of bubbles. I already had an AirStone with 10 streams of bubbles. My other filter outlet is already pointing up so that it hits the water.

45 min later the three corys are still gasping at the surface and my sick fish that had started schooling again today is now back in the top corner breathing rapidly...no more white mouth.

Any thoughts?

Sorry about the font. I have no idea why some things are dark black and underlined other than I'm doing this on my cell phone

Thank you

 

Hi,

Yesterday dosed 120g tank with methylene blue for one sick fish. LFS thought it might be mouth fungus and recommended methylene blue. 5ml/5g. Everything is good for 24 hours. Then just did a 25% H2O change on my long running 120g tank.

At least three corys are now at the surface gasping.

The 2 clown loaches, 2 upside down cats, 9 barbs, 4 red eyed tetras and 9 other bronze cories appear fine. I'm assuming the bristlenose is okay cuz I can't see him.

As far as I can tell the only thing I did differently from the last 15 years are the following two things

1. It takes us about 30 to 60 seconds to get the temperature right on the siphon from the tap in the kitchen this time it took probably a couple of minutes and then I had a problem with my Water Conditioner (Peter's step 1) so let's say that took another couple of minutes so the time from the water first hitting the tank to the time the conditioner went in was probably... well it could have been 5 minutes but it's usually 30 seconds to a minute. Maybe I'm overestimating.....it felt like 5 minutes.

2. For some bizarre reason my husband who has helped me for more than 5 years with water changes decided not to run the tap until it was warm and the water that came out of the hose into the tank was ice cold. I would say it took us a good minute to get it to the tank temperature of 84.

3. This is not something I did differently it's something I always do but without Cory's in the tank. I have always super vacuumed my gravel. I vacuum to the bottom of the tank so if there is 2 inches of gravel I suction the whole thing. Granted, only 1/4 to 1/3 of my tank is gravel the rest is sand and I didn't vacuum that tonight.

So far I propped my filter return bar up so that 8 or 10 streams of water hit the surface creating lots of bubbles. I already had an AirStone with 10 streams of bubbles. My other filter outlet is already pointing up so that it hits the water.

45 min later the three corys are still gasping at the surface and my sick fish that had started schooling again today is now back in the top corner breathing rapidly...no more white mouth.

Any thoughts?

Sorry about the font. I have no idea why some things are dark black and underlined other than I'm doing this on my cell phone

Thank you

If no one else is gasping for air, chances are that low oxygen is not the culprit. Corys are hardy fish and the slight fluctuation in water temperature would be unlikely to bring them down. However, they are indiscriminate in what they ingest - that's one of the reasons they are popular. They are the ultimate scavengers. I'm willing to bet they ate something that was bad for them in the substrate. A hospital tank with a warmer temperature might help speed up the digestive process and expel the toxin, but, I'm no expert.

 

If no one else is gasping for air, chances are that low oxygen is not the culprit. Corys are hardy fish and the slight fluctuation in water temperature would be unlikely to bring them down. However, they are indiscriminate in what they ingest - that's one of the reasons they are popular. They are the ultimate scavengers. I'm willing to bet they ate something that was bad for them in the substrate. A hospital tank with a warmer temperature might help speed up the digestive process and expel the toxin, but, I'm no expert.

Thank you for replying Raan...going to check on them soon and see how they fared over night.

If no one else is gasping for air, chances are that low oxygen is not the culprit. Corys are hardy fish and the slight fluctuation in water temperature would be unlikely to bring them down. However, they are indiscriminate in what they ingest - that's one of the reasons they are popular. They are the ultimate scavengers. I'm willing to bet they ate something that was bad for them in the substrate. A hospital tank with a warmer temperature might help speed up the digestive process and expel the toxin, but, I'm no expert.

Well there are no more corys gasping at the surface so hopefully that means they're okay. It's hard to tell for sure because there is12 of them and it's hard to count them at the best of times and right now the lights aren't on fully so I can only count nine.

Unfortunately the fish that the tank was dosed with methylene blue for is back in the corner on the surface looking very ill

Urgh I haven't got new fish in such a long time. It's probably been over a year. Then even before that I hadn't got new fish in a few years. Now I remember why I don't get new fish because someone inevitably gets sick and it's very stressful and sad.

Well either it was too late to treat this fish(red eyed tetra) or the treatment isn't what this fish needed?

I really couldn't get a good shot for the LFS. It looks like a white blob on the fishes lips but it was really hard to tell if it was fluffy or what. My cam and my eyes just aren't that good.

 

Thank you for replying Raan...going to check on them soon and see how they fared over night.


Well there are no more corys gasping at the surface so hopefully that means they're okay. It's hard to tell for sure because there is12 of them and it's hard to count them at the best of times and right now the lights aren't on fully so I can only count nine.

Unfortunately the fish that the tank was dosed with methylene blue for is back in the corner on the surface looking very ill

Urgh I haven't got new fish in such a long time. It's probably been over a year. Then even before that I hadn't got new fish in a few years. Now I remember why I don't get new fish because someone inevitably gets sick and it's very stressful and sad.

Well either it was too late to treat this fish(red eyed tetra) or the treatment isn't what this fish needed?

I really couldn't get a good shot for the LFS. It looks like a white blob on the fishes lips but it was really hard to tell if it was fluffy or what. My cam and my eyes just aren't that good.

That's a lot of methylene blue for one fish. Next time I would try removing it to a hospital tank.

 

That's a lot of methylene blue for one fish. Next time I would try removing it to a hospital tank.

Yea I'm planning on setting 1up especially since this fish doesn't look like it's getting any better

His mouth is looking bad again.

 

Update:

I've counted the corys several times and the most I can get is 10 so I'm pretty sure 2 of the ones hanging at the top of the tank died

My red eyed tetra died in the hospital tank this morning. Two more that I added are looking pretty good....fingers crossed

 

This happened to me and ironically it was from a couple of cories whose bodies I could not locate. Check your ammonia level. Dead fish are a major cause of ammonia spikes. If you can't find the corpses, get ready for major water changes.

 

This happened to me and ironically it was from a couple of cories whose bodies I could not locate. Check your ammonia level. Dead fish are a major cause of ammonia spikes. If you can't find the corpses, get ready for major water changes.

Okay this maybe a dumb question but if I can't find the bodies doesn't that mean they've been eaten? Like if I'm checking frequently. Or can they deteriorate that quickly?

 

In my experience, most aquarium fish avoid carrion. Even frozen brine shrimp will get spit out after it's been in the tank for too long. Your best outcome would be that a couple of dead fish not cause much of a spike in a hundred and twenty gallons of water.

EDIT: In thinking this over, I see that you do have a lot of cories. And, as unwholesome as it may sound, I wouldn't put it past them to eat rotting food. So, there is that possibility.

 

In my experience, most aquarium fish avoid carrion. Even frozen brine shrimp will get spit out after it's been in the tank for too long. Your best outcome would be that a couple of dead fish not cause much of a spike in a hundred and twenty gallons of water.

EDIT: In thinking this over, I see that you do have a lot of cories. And, as unwholesome as it may sound, I wouldn't put it past them to eat rotting food. So, there is that possibility.

Ah ok....thanks....good to know

I think you said the other day the corys might have killed themselves inadvertently from eating something that came out of the gravel during my aggressive vacuuming. Boy whatever it was did them in quick ...that was less than 12-18hrs.

 

Ah ok....thanks....good to know

I think you said the other day the corys might have killed themselves inadvertently from eating something that came out of the gravel during my aggressive vacuuming. Boy whatever it was did them in quick ...that was less than 12-18hrs.

yeah, I would watch your cories for the next couple of days. I love them, but I don't trust their eating habits!

 

yeah, I would watch your cories for the next couple of days. I love them, but I don't trust their eating habits!

Omg...I just counted them and there's 12! I'm fairly certain. Hard to know 100% cause they move so quickly when feeding.

 

Omg...I just counted them and there's 12! I'm fairly certain. Hard to know 100% cause they move so quickly when feeding.

Ahh! I'm so happy for you. There's nothing like the return of a lost pet.

 

Thank you.... ....omg they are hard to count!