Self Isolating Peppered Cory

Good Evening everyone, I'm trying to find out if anyone has advice on my P. Cory. This is the only Cory in the group of 6 behaving this way and has been acting this way since Sunday when he was introduced into the tank with the rest of the shoal. He played "dead" when added to tank after floating him and adding a small amount of tank water to his bag over the course of 1hr. He would swim to surface take a gulp of air then just float along the surface. This morning He was chilling in one of the fake plants just kind of resting. If he isn't wedged in the plant he is laying on the log or substrate. This is the only Cory behaving in this manner. Appears to not be eating during feeding time and occasionally joins the shoal for maybe a couple minutes then goes back to laying down. Only other fish in the tank is my group of (5) Kuhli Loaches. Everyone but him is active and in general looking like they are having a good time.

 

Welcome!
How's he doing today? It sounds like he is likely unwell.
Is the tank you added him to fully cycled?
As long as he shows no outward signs of infection or parasite and isn't itching against objects I wouldn't be too worried about him passing anything to the other tank mates.
As long as the rest of the fish are unstressed and the water is clean their immune systems should be in top condition, and they should remain unaffected.
He may fight off whatever he has and improve, or he may simply succumb to it.
Since we are unaware exactly what it is, and it is just this one fish and medication causes stress.
I would just do an extra water (50%) change this week to keep overall free swimming (usually harmless) bacteria levels down.
Best of luck!

 

The tank was fully cycled before anyone was added. He was resting by the filter this morning when I checked on everyone before work. I’ve been doing little 10% water changes daily and was planning on doing a 50% water change Friday night. He isn’t rubbing anything that I can tell. He seems lethargic and “lazy” only moving when he drifts into the out flow of the filter does he swim to a new spot to lay back down.

 

So for anyone interested I believe I have identified the cause and have started with corrective actions. It looks like He was the Vector for Velvet. I’m new to the hobby and didn’t have any type of quarantine protocol (I do now) he looks to have it in the later stages. Where he is lethargic non eating and always “resting” I inspected everyone else in the tank and it looks like all the Corys have Velvet in different stages. These were all in the same tank at the location I purchased them from. Once I identified the “gold dust” I immediately performed a 50% change, introduced 2 tbsp (20gal tank) of Kosher salt to help with mucus development removed the carbon filter. After performing the water change and salt treatment I noticed an improvement in his behavior with in an hour. I also put a blanket over the whole tank to remove the light needed by Velvet. I just picked up MetroPlex to start a full tank treatment for everyone due to the whole tank already being infected. I think he might be a lost cause but I’m gonna try to keep everyone going. Fingers crossed I don’t lose anyone especially not this guy! He’s the smallest of the Corys and I think he is the only male out of the group as well.

 

Be careful cories are very sensitive to salt and treatments. Good luck!

 

Be careful cories are very sensitive to salt and treatments. Good luck!

thats what everything I was reading stated.The “recommended dose” of salt was 2 per 10gal but I went with just 2 total to minimize impact while still helping them until I could get the right meds.

 

Update: Had everyone in the HT and started treatment with half dose MetroPlex and everyone seemed to react positively. Woke up on day 3 of treatment and everyone had passed. Inspected everyone and all the Corys looked like late stage velvet. The Kuhlis had no visible signs of disease or damage. Only thing I can think of is possible over stress from environment change or bad reaction to the dosage.

 

I'm so very sorry, It's the absolute worse parasite but I had hope as you are in the US and the medications there are incredibly good.
Here in the UK, I've lost quite a few fish to velvet as it thrives in my low ph. I've had fish die of velvet with no external symptoms. It hides in the gills and will also infect the intestines, so I'd treat for flukes to no avail.
The only way I got rid of it was copper or, before I was willing to use copper, physically removing the fish from the tank and placing them in heated buckets and doing 100% wc daily and blasting the bottom of the buckets with hot water to kill the cysts for 3 weeks.
I really hope this hasn't ruined the hobby for you.

 

fortunately it hasn’t turned me away from the hobby. It just made me more cautious and picky about where I get my livestock from and ensuring I do a good inspection of everyone along with a QT. It’s sad but everyone has to learn at some point. I’m just glad it didn’t happen with an costly reef setup.