Injured eye- Julii Cory

Hello, something happened to my Julii Cory sometime between last night and this morning. Only one eye is injured. The other is normal. None of the other fish are showing signs of sickness or injuries. I have not checked water parameters since the 7th, however, I don’t think it’s a water quality issue.
I noticed my danios are being very aggressive this morning. Chasing each other and nipping. I wonder if I’m dealing with a bully? Or a couple.
I put some Stress Guard in there for the time being, but is there something else I can do for the eye injury? Salt?
Also, I have 8 danios... should I get more to curb the aggression?
I wish I could upload a video, they are acting like it’s a full moon or something.

 

Please give us the water parameters when you are able. What is the temperature? Sometimes a temperature swing or a PH swing can cause the type of “full moon” behavior you are describing.

In general, it does look like it was caused by some type of physical impact. Good water quality should allow it to heal on its own. I know salt can help with injuries, but Corys can be sensitive to salt and I don’t have experience with dosing salt for Corys.

If this tank is 55 gallons, you could definitely up the danio count to 12.

 

Please give us the water parameters when you are able. What is the temperature? Sometimes a temperature swing or a PH swing can cause the type of “full moon” behavior you are describing.

In general, it does look like it was caused by some type of physical impact. Good water quality should allow it to heal on its own. I know salt can help with injuries, but Corys can be sensitive to salt and I don’t have experience with dosing salt for Corys.

If this tank is 55 gallons, you could definitely up the danio count to 12.

I just tested water parameters. Keep in mind I’m still at the tail end of cycling my tank... I just did a 40% water change on the 7th, due to nitrite spike.
Ammonia is 0.25 - Nitrite spiked again at 2.0 - Nitrates holding steady for 1.0 and PH is 8.0. It’s slowly coming down since the 28th (it was 8.4). Temp of the tank is 74/76F.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.

 

I just tested water parameters. Keep in mind I’m still at the tail end of cycling my tank... I just did a 40% water change on the 7th, due to nitrite spike.
Ammonia is 0.25 - Nitrite spiked again at 2.0 - Nitrates holding steady for 1.0 and PH is 8.0. It’s slowly coming down since the 28th (it was 8.4). Temp of the tank is 74/76F.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Of course! I would recommend 50% water changes daily or at least a 50% water change any time the nitrite gets above 0.5. Temp sounds good. The issue is the nitrite, nitrite and ammonia are almost certainly the cause of the weird behavior. Do you have Seachem Prime? Also that PH is a bit high, we’ll see if anyone else recommends doing something to lower it a bit and/or keep it level. mattgirl

 

Of course! I would recommend 50% water changes daily or at least a 50% water change any time the nitrite gets above 0.5. Temp sounds good. The issue is the nitrite, nitrite and ammonia are almost certainly the cause of the weird behavior. Do you have Seachem Prime? Also that PH is a bit high, we’ll see if anyone else recommends doing something to lower it a bit and/or keep it level. mattgirl

I have been doing water changes every other day, but I’m worried the nitrates aren’t getting a chance to spike. Don’t I want them to come up a little?
I did dose with Prime after testing the water. I’ll have to do a WC this evening.
The PH is coming down, but definitely still high. I don’t want to use anything to lower it because I don’t want to have to continue to treat the water.

 

I have been doing water changes every other day, but I’m worried the nitrates aren’t getting a chance to spike. Don’t I want them to come up a little?
I did dose with Prime after testing the water. I’ll have to do a WC this evening.
The PH is coming down, but definitely still high. I don’t want to use anything to lower it because I don’t want to have to continue to treat the water.

Yeah I don’t mean treating with anything, maybe using Indian almond leaves or driftwood though. But we’ll see what Mattgirl says regarding PH.

In regards to nitrates, when you’re doing a fish-in cycle you need to keep nitrite at or below 0.5ppm because nitrite is so deadly to fish. Having a low nitrate number isn’t a problem, the goal is just to get to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and have some nitrate.

 

Yeah I don’t mean treating with anything, maybe using Indian almond leaves or driftwood though. But we’ll see what Mattgirl says regarding PH.

In regards to nitrates, when you’re doing a fish-in cycle you need to keep nitrite below 0.5ppm because nitrite is so deadly to fish. Having a low nitrate number isn’t a problem, the goal is just to get to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and have some nitrate.

ahh gotcha. That makes sense. I do have several pieces of driftwood in the tank, but I have Purigen in the filter which is pulling the tannins out. Should I remove it?

Yeah I don’t mean treating with anything, maybe using Indian almond leaves or driftwood though. But we’ll see what Mattgirl says regarding PH.

In regards to nitrates, when you’re doing a fish-in cycle you need to keep nitrite at or below 0.5ppm because nitrite is so deadly to fish. Having a low nitrate number isn’t a problem, the goal is just to get to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and have some nitrate.

looks like his other eye is starting to swell. So probably not an injury caused by the danios.

 

ahh gotcha. That makes sense. I do have several pieces of driftwood in the tank, but I have Purigen in the filter which is pulling the tannins out. Should I remove it?

Let’s wait to see what Mattgirl says regarding PH. Might not be an issue. I know the main thing regarding PH is just to keep things stable and most aquarium fish can adapt, but above 8 is pretty high so that’s why I’m not totally sure in this case. The most important thing right now is a water change, as Prime only detoxifies nitrite levels up to 1ppm.

ahh gotcha. That makes sense. I do have several pieces of driftwood in the tank, but I have Purigen in the filter which is pulling the tannins out. Should I remove it?


looks like his other eye is starting to swell. So probably not an injury caused by the danios.

Yeah that’s almost certainly because of the nitrite levels. Just for future reference, Corys are pretty sensitive to bad water conditions, so I would definitely recommend not having any in a tank that is cycling.

 

Let’s wait to see what Mattgirl says regarding PH. Might not be an issue. I know the main thing regarding PH is just to keep things stable and most aquarium fish can adapt, but above 8 is pretty high so that’s why I’m not totally sure in this case. The most important thing right now is a water change, as Prime only detoxifies nitrite levels up to 1ppm.

Yeah that’s almost certainly because of the nitrite levels. Just for future reference, Corys are pretty sensitive to bad water conditions, so I would definitely recommend not having any in a tank that is cycling.

while waiting for Mattgirl... I’m also wondering if a fungal infection is possible? My spiderwood is covered in what google says is fungus. But it also says it will go away on its own.

 

while waiting for Mattgirl... I’m also wondering if a fungal infection is possible? My spiderwood is covered in what google says is fungus. But it also says it will go away on its own.

Yeah that shouldn’t be an issue. That is completely harmless and will eventually go away on its own. My driftwood did that as well in the first few months. Once your tank is cycled, you can get a snail or some other type of clean up critter/crew that will eat that also.

 

Yeah that shouldn’t be an issue. That is completely harmless and will eventually go away on its own. My driftwood did that as well in the first few months. Once your tank is cycled, you can get a snail or some other type of clean up critter/crew that will eat that also.

I did a 50% WC, so hopefully I see some improvement. Thanks for all your help