Healthy Fins....?

Shannara

Okay…I have more questions for you all…this time regarding fins. First let me post my water parameters as of a few minutes ago:

Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrites 0 ppm
Nitrates around 5 ppm (lower than usual)
PH about 7.6-7.8

Here is the situation. I have cories, loaches, danios, rainbows, and a pleco in my tank. I have noticed that my peppered cories fins look…ragged. I know this can be a sign of fin rot but am not sure if you can have ragged looking fins without fin rot. There fins just don’t look healthy, mostly their tailfin. I don’t see this issue on my danios or rainbows. My loaches sometimes have fins that look slightly ragged or maybe a small tear, but not as severe as the cories. I did have a cory about a month ago that I isolated and treated for fin rot. The barbels are gone on the poor guy and his fins are now improving, but still, none of my cories fins look as healthy as I’ve seen in various photo’s.

Other than fin rot what else could be going on that fins would look unhealthy? If you think this is fin rot then what could be causing this? I would like to know if there is something else I should be doing to promote healthy fin growth.

I perform water changes at least once a week, sometimes twice. Usually I change about 25-40% and use Stress Coat during those changes. I’ve been adding half doses of melafix for the past week or so and I don’t see any improvement on the cories. I have some Jungle Buddies fungus tabs if you think treatment would be necessary.

Just FYI…..About 3 weeks ago I put a new canister filtration system on my tank. I had two biowheel filters and I removed the smallest one. I kept the biowheel from that filter in the tank while this new system establishes itself.

Any ideas are welcome….I just want to help these little guys flourish.

Shannara~

Lupin

Finrot is caused by bacterial infections and poor water quality. Are the edges whitish? I would isolate and treat them with Binox and do plenty of water changes. Do water changes twice or thrice a week instead of weekly.

Shannara

The edges don't look white to me. How would I know if this was from poor water quality though? My parameters always seem to check out and I keep up with my water changes so....why would they have this issue? I am trying to figure out not just what is wrong but what could be causing it.

I don't know if this is finrot or if their tails can be worn for another reason. Is the only thing that can cause ragged unhealthy fins finrot or could it be another issue like malnutrition or something....?

Shannara~

Lupin

Do you have pictures of them?

Shannara

Okay...sorry it took awhile to try and get pics of one of the cories and he wouldn't stay still. It appears now that this ones dorsal fin looks torn. It makes me think more of finrot but I don't just want to treat it.... I want to find out what could be causing it.





Here is one of my rainbowfish...his fins look fine to me:



This issue seems to keep happening to my cories and sometimes to a lesser degree on other bottom dwellers. I can't figure out why though...

If I do end up having to treat the cories would tank buddies fungal treatment be appropriate?

Thanks,
Shannara

Matty_808

it could be that you have an overload of bottom feeders....maybe that is why the ocurnace only happens to them......just a suggestion.....by the way nice pictures......how do u take such clear pictures? if you dont mind me asking you.. thx

Shannara

Well, I know I can't add anymore bottom feeders at this point...and as of this past week one of the dojo's jumped ship somehow and died. So that could be a possibility, but I am not sure. The kuhli's are still pretty small at this point...about 2 inches and are all piled under a driftwood slate. 3 dojo's are about 3 inches and one is about 5 inches. I bought my new canister system so my filtration needs would hopefully exceed what my fish need and keep the water column healthy.


As for the photo's...the cories came out pretty bad but usually I put my camera on a tripod, turn off the flash, adjust the shutter settings to my tank lighting, and set each picture on a timer of about 3 seconds. I don't have a remote for the camera so the timer allows me to remove my hands so I don't shake the camera as it snaps the picture. I only find that necessary though when I am not using a flash.

Usually the best thing to do is turn off all the lights in the room your in and only use the tank lights. Keep adjusting your shutter settings until your letting the right amount of light in.

HTH

Shannara~

Lupin

You said this...
none of my cories fins look as healthy as I’ve seen in various photo’s.
..which in my opinion could be because they were probably kept in poor water conditions by your lfs thus resulting in rather poor health condition overall. How long have you kept the cories? Did they appear to be rather stressed when you bought them?

Shannara

I've had them for a couple of months. At the lfs they didn't seem particularly stressed that I can recall. All I know is they looked healthy when I bought them and slowly deteriorated in my tank. Last night when I went to feed them I found one had died ....and I can't figure out why. I didn't see anything wrong with him other than his frayed fins. I have always had a hard time keeping cories but these peppered cories seemed the most successful of the bunch till this past week.

I have noticed something that might or might not be a coincidence...right after I perform water changes is the time when I see fish die. Not that they are dying after every water change, but when one does die it usually happens then. I just performed a water change Friday and that cory died yesterday. I've tested my tap water before and the results didn't show anything that would make me think there was something wrong with it. I just dunno what the deal is here...it's getting to the point where its discouraging me, but I still don't want to give up.

If I am doing something wrong I want to figure out what it is. I have purchased the best filtration system I could afford. I have a python for my weekly water changes and I use stress coat at those times. I have a variety of foods for their diet which I alternate throughout the week. I have a nice 130w satellite compact lighting system on a timer that also has LED moonlight. When I get new fish I turn off the lights and acclimate them slowly over an hour and 15 minute period....I honestly can't figure out what else I need to be doing???

Sorry for the rant...I am just very frustrated at this point and hate it when a fish dies.

Shannara~

Lupin

Peppered cories happen to be one of the hardiest corydoras available along with Corydoras aeneus and are often suggested even to beginners.
It may be because your weekly water changes by 40% is rather too much for the cories. I do every other day basis just to satisfy them as extreme changes may be too much for them to handle but thrice a week should be sufficient enough.
Your whole maintenance process is rather impressive and I don't see a problem with that at all. Perhaps doing a more frequent water change may satisfy them better thus lessening the chances of seeing them deteriorate gradually.:)
I understand that.:) If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to ask. That's what we are here for.;)