Thanks all, I appreciate your help 🙂 bit of a miserable situation but I shall try and make it as easy as possible.
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Very first tank (planted, low tech)
- Thread starter megwattscreative
- Start date
Bradders
Member
Poor Finless has had a bit of a rough run. 😕
He is surprisingly active, but the significant fin loss will contribute to mobility issues (and extra energy requirements to compensate) and stress, making him susceptible to decline. I don't think the ESHA will help, sadly.
He is surprisingly active, but the significant fin loss will contribute to mobility issues (and extra energy requirements to compensate) and stress, making him susceptible to decline. I don't think the ESHA will help, sadly.
chickennublet
Member
He looks to be in bad shape and probably won't make it. It's probably not at all your fault. If you can get him out, you could help him along but netting fish is really stressful.
I've never kept pygmaeus but that has been my experience with dwarf Corydoras as well. I had a small group of habrosus but they slowly died over a few short months. I did have a CO2 mishap so i'm not sure if that might have contributed to them passing so soon. Currently trying to keep hastatus and hoping things go well but I lost 3 of 5 that I bought very quickly.
Whenever possible, it is better to treat a single fish in a separate tank. All you need is a small tank with aeration. During treatment, change the water daily with water from the original tank. I would never add Esha exit & 2000 in particular to a tank if I could avoid it. Always treat in a separate tank.
The Miniaturist
Member
Sorry to read about your poorly Cory, they're so tiny it's difficult to know the best way to treat them.
I have an elderly frail one which has lost his barbels. He pootles around slowly, resting on leaves regularly but is still feeding as he has been like it for months.
I find catappa leaves seem to help, I add pieces to the tank regularly.
I also remember reading on the Esha website that if you dose too much dechlorinator it can prevent their medications from working efficiently due to a build up of unused dechlorinator chemicals in the water.
It may not help Finless but you have done your best to keep him going this long.
I have an elderly frail one which has lost his barbels. He pootles around slowly, resting on leaves regularly but is still feeding as he has been like it for months.
I find catappa leaves seem to help, I add pieces to the tank regularly.
I also remember reading on the Esha website that if you dose too much dechlorinator it can prevent their medications from working efficiently due to a build up of unused dechlorinator chemicals in the water.
It may not help Finless but you have done your best to keep him going this long.
Thanks @The Miniaturist 🙂 I'm really hesitant to euthanise as he is still swimming and feeding, however he is looking incredibly worse for wear and I think probably isn't long for this world. He lost a fin completely in the finrot episode and was regrowing his others, however he seems to have really declined whilst I was away. The person who was feeding them definitely underfed them, which is better than overfeeding in my book, however I think he may have been outcompeted as he's a lot slower than the other fish. This could have sped up his decline, or it could be a bacterial issue again: thing is, one of the other Corys has almost completely regrown their fins from the first episode and there doesn't appear to be any other health issues. I'd rather he go as painlessly as possible, if he has to go. Still, feeling very strange about this!
I'm quite careful with dechlorinator and medication as I also have extremely soft water, so have been changing with the recommended additional dosage and ensuring dechlorinator is fully incorporated.no idea if it works, but it's the advice 😂
I'm quite careful with dechlorinator and medication as I also have extremely soft water, so have been changing with the recommended additional dosage and ensuring dechlorinator is fully incorporated.no idea if it works, but it's the advice 😂
The Miniaturist
Member
Please don't take my last comment as any kind of criticism of your tank husbandry, it was more a nugget of information to add to the memory bank of aquatic information!
I also use soft water, rain & tap mix. I do small water changes so measuring dechlorinator needs, literally, a couple of drops from a 1ml syringe for the volume of tap water I use!
I also use soft water, rain & tap mix. I do small water changes so measuring dechlorinator needs, literally, a couple of drops from a 1ml syringe for the volume of tap water I use!
My quarantine tank has arrived so I will pop him in there tomorrow/the day after and treat accordingly. We shall see what happens without competition. Thanks all for the advice
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
It is a fully cycled tank, it has just been with me, rather than Megan (it is her tank).
cheers Darrel
THE HOSPITAL TANK SO FAR...
hi all, I have the hospital rank (little 30L dennerle nano cube) set up with plants, filtered media, substrate and an insane colony of crangonyx. Finless is in, and looking remarkably perky. Not dead yet! 🎉
He is very active, I think confused as to where his friends are gone, and eating voraciously. I'm really glad I didn't euthanise him right away, as he seems to have improved dramatically since the video I posted previously. It's obviously touch and go, but I'm going to keep him in the quarantine tank for the 3 days of Esha 2000 treatment and hope he can take this time to eat up. I think he may have been being bullied/outcompeted during the lean times when I was away on holiday, so hopefully this gives him a good chance before I reintroduce him.
Any advice on how to quell his loneliness, if possible?
And shall I remove some of the crangonyx whilst dosing Esha 2000? I can put them in my main tank (although they might become a buffet) or in a cold water bowl with some plants.
Thank you all for your support and advice 🙂
hi all, I have the hospital rank (little 30L dennerle nano cube) set up with plants, filtered media, substrate and an insane colony of crangonyx. Finless is in, and looking remarkably perky. Not dead yet! 🎉
He is very active, I think confused as to where his friends are gone, and eating voraciously. I'm really glad I didn't euthanise him right away, as he seems to have improved dramatically since the video I posted previously. It's obviously touch and go, but I'm going to keep him in the quarantine tank for the 3 days of Esha 2000 treatment and hope he can take this time to eat up. I think he may have been being bullied/outcompeted during the lean times when I was away on holiday, so hopefully this gives him a good chance before I reintroduce him.
Any advice on how to quell his loneliness, if possible?
And shall I remove some of the crangonyx whilst dosing Esha 2000? I can put them in my main tank (although they might become a buffet) or in a cold water bowl with some plants.
Thank you all for your support and advice 🙂
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
Sounds promising.
Very likely, they aren't strong competitors for food.
You can do either, I'm pretty sure "buffet" is the answer, but cold water doesn't bother them. We have a thread <"Have you used Esha 2000?">.
cheers Darrel
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chickennublet
Member
That's really good news. It appears that we were too quick to suggest that you ease his pain. His fins won't grow back but he should be able to live a good life with you as long as he gets plenty of food.
Thanks @chickennublet 🙂 to be honest I thought he was a gonner too, I'm amazed he's holding up so well/ holding up at all.
Good luck with your hastatus ❤️ I hope you can work out the problems!
Ratvan
Member
Not sure how much help it will be but I have a few Jars (roughly 4-5 litres) on various window sills with old tank water and some floating plants for my Cranonyx. Unheated as it doesn't seem to affect the populations too much. I have similar for Water Flea's etc as small live food cultures
I also use these to grow algae for my Gobies on the floaters roots as you can see
I also use these to grow algae for my Gobies on the floaters roots as you can see
Attachments
This is a perfect solution @Ratvan, thank you 🙂
Attached some pictures and videos:
finless looking for friends (video). He does seem quite active/ stressed, so I will be putting him back in the main tank as soon as the Esha is done. I am really glad he's as fast/able in the water as he normally is, especially considering the first video I posted. his cloudy/swollen eye has completely gone down and he's no longer lilting to the side. His body also appears less arched, perhaps because he's swimming in a better position. 2 more days of quarantine to go after this morning's dose 🙂
Aquascape a la @dw1305
"Aware of my own ineptitude": my water lettuce (front left) vs my dad's (rest of image)
Edit: this tank runs a biomedia trickle filter and I added an API flow 400 with a jerry rigged foam block to ensure good aeration. I also added this because it's a lot quieter than the trickle filter, and my mum was sleeping in this room so I could turn the trickle filter off overnight. I won't need to do this anymore as my mum has headed home. The flow doesn't seem to bother him - yesterday he rested on the filter block for quite a while. Fingers crossed for a good recovery 🤞
Attached some pictures and videos:
finless looking for friends (video). He does seem quite active/ stressed, so I will be putting him back in the main tank as soon as the Esha is done. I am really glad he's as fast/able in the water as he normally is, especially considering the first video I posted. his cloudy/swollen eye has completely gone down and he's no longer lilting to the side. His body also appears less arched, perhaps because he's swimming in a better position. 2 more days of quarantine to go after this morning's dose 🙂
Aquascape a la @dw1305
"Aware of my own ineptitude": my water lettuce (front left) vs my dad's (rest of image)
Edit: this tank runs a biomedia trickle filter and I added an API flow 400 with a jerry rigged foam block to ensure good aeration. I also added this because it's a lot quieter than the trickle filter, and my mum was sleeping in this room so I could turn the trickle filter off overnight. I won't need to do this anymore as my mum has headed home. The flow doesn't seem to bother him - yesterday he rested on the filter block for quite a while. Fingers crossed for a good recovery 🤞
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Hi all,
cheers Darrel
That really has thrived on benign neglect, I've probably sloshed a little more fertiliser in there (looking <"at the Frogbit">) and it has had a brighter light very close to it.
cheers Darrel
SICKLY CORY UPDATE
Hi all, finless is back in the main tank! He is looking like his usual finless self, however is much plumper and happier following 3.5 days of gorging in solitary confinement. He is swimming at quite a nippy pace (video here), and is back to sassing the tetras when they get too close to cory corner. He is still a bit of a fragile case, however im going to keep an eye on him and ensure he gets enough food. I'm hoping his tail will be somewhat able to grow following this dose of Esha 2000, as he was making quite a good recovery prior to the lean times. Either way, glad I stuck it out and he was able to eat up in the quarantine tank!
I have only seen 5 out of the theoretically 6 pygmy Corys recently, however I'm not worried: my dad recently saw all of his for the first time in 2ish years (if I remember rightly), so I expect it's probably alright.
I also cleaned the Czech uplift in the mattenfilter for the first time since setting up the tank in late January of this year. the airline tube input was gummed up with debris, most likely from when I was fiddling with the other filter and stirred up sediment. Ran tap water through the mattenfilter, had a quick scrub of brown algae on the exterior and poked out anything blocking the holes. Do I need to do anything else? This is the first time I've needed to clean out the mattenfilter, which I think is pretty good going. Dreading cleaning the sponge as the roots of the emergent plants have gone through it like a sieve😅
Here are some tank pics. It's a bit of a mess at the moment as the emergent plants are burning on the lights, however I'm experimenting with potential workarounds with the lid that:
The moss wall is looking decidedly bare and I'm quite close to giving up on it. I have no idea what I could replace it with/ bulk it out with, so any ideas welcome. I'm going to fiddle with the lights and see if I can DIY something that will prevent them from frying the leaves/top of the moss wall, as this seems to be the main issue.
Finally, I'm seeing a huge surge in what I think our snail eggs. Found a potentially snail eating leech in the quarantine tank, so debating moving it over to help with population control. It's a bloody massive thing (semi disturbing pic in thumbnails).
I'm hoping I will rescape the quarantine tank too soon, to make it a little easier to net fish in and possibly slightly less mulmy (sorry, @dw1305). I don't want to bother the resident crangonyx population too much, so will have a v light touch.
Thanks all for your help and advice! 🙂
Hi all, finless is back in the main tank! He is looking like his usual finless self, however is much plumper and happier following 3.5 days of gorging in solitary confinement. He is swimming at quite a nippy pace (video here), and is back to sassing the tetras when they get too close to cory corner. He is still a bit of a fragile case, however im going to keep an eye on him and ensure he gets enough food. I'm hoping his tail will be somewhat able to grow following this dose of Esha 2000, as he was making quite a good recovery prior to the lean times. Either way, glad I stuck it out and he was able to eat up in the quarantine tank!
I have only seen 5 out of the theoretically 6 pygmy Corys recently, however I'm not worried: my dad recently saw all of his for the first time in 2ish years (if I remember rightly), so I expect it's probably alright.
I also cleaned the Czech uplift in the mattenfilter for the first time since setting up the tank in late January of this year. the airline tube input was gummed up with debris, most likely from when I was fiddling with the other filter and stirred up sediment. Ran tap water through the mattenfilter, had a quick scrub of brown algae on the exterior and poked out anything blocking the holes. Do I need to do anything else? This is the first time I've needed to clean out the mattenfilter, which I think is pretty good going. Dreading cleaning the sponge as the roots of the emergent plants have gone through it like a sieve😅
Here are some tank pics. It's a bit of a mess at the moment as the emergent plants are burning on the lights, however I'm experimenting with potential workarounds with the lid that:
- will let the leaves grow out the top
- won't cause too much damp in the flat or evaporation in the tank.
The moss wall is looking decidedly bare and I'm quite close to giving up on it. I have no idea what I could replace it with/ bulk it out with, so any ideas welcome. I'm going to fiddle with the lights and see if I can DIY something that will prevent them from frying the leaves/top of the moss wall, as this seems to be the main issue.
Finally, I'm seeing a huge surge in what I think our snail eggs. Found a potentially snail eating leech in the quarantine tank, so debating moving it over to help with population control. It's a bloody massive thing (semi disturbing pic in thumbnails).
I'm hoping I will rescape the quarantine tank too soon, to make it a little easier to net fish in and possibly slightly less mulmy (sorry, @dw1305). I don't want to bother the resident crangonyx population too much, so will have a v light touch.
Thanks all for your help and advice! 🙂
Attachments
Connswater
Member
A good mix of very healthy looking plants especially like the river bank appearance, a very natural look.
