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A week ago, I added some (4) trilineatus cories to my 75 gallon tank. Today I noticed one of cories rubbing the left side of his head along the gravel. I looked carefully for signs of ich and see none. Other than this, the cory seems OK: it's not gasping at the surface, it's eating, and seems reasonably active. When I first got them some of the cories' gills seemed a bit red, but the color has decreased. All of the other fish seem fine and I haven't seen any other signs on the other cories.

I went through the disease ID thing here and it seems that the most likely candidate is gill flukes. But I want to be sure before I start doing anything. For those of you with more experience, does this sounds like gill flukes? If so, what should I do? I'd try the salt bath, but I understand that cories don't take to salt very well. Also, are gill flukes contagious?

Just to give the full details of the tank, the other inhabitants include a pair of angel fish, two full-grown platies, five or so platy fry (2-3 months old), and a bristlenose. The tank is very well filtered with a Penguin 330 and an AC 500. The temperature is 78 degrees, the pH is 7.8, ammonia and nitrite are undetectable and nitrates are less than 5 ppm. I do a 25% water change weekly. I realize the pH is on the high side, but I acclumatized these cories very slowly useing the drip method and the store where I bought them had a pH of 7.6 (I actually tested the water in the bag I brought home).

Thanks in advance for any help.

Sounds like they are doing fine. I've noticed this with cories when they first go into a different tank and it seems to subside with time. Also, if the fish truly have some type of parasite or fluke, they will be rubbing and scraping constantly, not every now and then, so it is important to know how often they do this.

I too noticed a little redness when I added both sets of my cories, but like yours, it seemed to decrease with time.

I believe they can get debris stuck in their gills and then they "slam" against the gravel trying to break it off. I've seen this when I fed tiny bloodworms to my cories. A piece will be hanging out and then, "BANG!" - they slam the gravel sideways and it breaks off. I see mine do this every now and then when they are sifting. Could be a piece of aquarium debris that got stuck in a gill as it was coming out. If you ever watch a cory eat, they will eat large amounts, but almost more comes out the gills . They can't just spit it back out like other fish do.

I would monitor and, if anything, put some freshwater aquarium salt like Doc Wellfish into a small, new Glad disposable container, poke some holes into it and sink it. I would put half strength which would be 0.5 Tablespoon per 5 gallons or 1.5 tsp. While there are warnings about cories and salt, the key is gradual exposure. Putting it in a container within the tank, it will take days to completely dissolve. With this method, they could actually tolerate even higher doses. My intent here is to provide some soothing electrolytes.

One more thing is to try to take note if the scraping comes soon after water changes or throughout the week.

EDIT: My cories do well at 7.8, which is common in my part of the US (metro Detroit).

You aren't by any chance near Windsor or Sarnia are you? If so, hop across the border and pic up some Jungle Anti-Parasite Medicated feed to keep on hand. It would be ideal if at any point you feel parasites are involved. It's new, by Jungle and only available at Petsmart at this time.


Last edited by Cory_Di at 05-Dec-2004 21:35

Thanks for the reassuring reply!

These are my first cories, so I'm not familiar with their habits. It just caught me off guard when this one started doing it. This was happening while eating, so it may be the food thing you mentioned. It isn't happening in conjunction with water changes.

I will try to get some of the anti-parasite food next time I'm in the USA. I live in Alberta, but fairly close to the border, so I'll pick up some of the Jungle food next time I'm in Montana.

Last edited by DoctorJ at 06-Dec-2004 08:55

Jungle only sells it at PetSmart, maybe because it was just recently introduced and they wanted to test the market. I wonder if it would get held up at customs if it was ordered from Petsmart.com.

They also make an anti-bacteria medicated food. That one I would get for sure as oral antibiotic always beats waterborne. And, it doesn't mess up the tank and biofilter.

What you want to watch for is almost a continous, violent type of scratching. If they are doing it any time you are near the tank, then that is a good sign you may need something.

I watched for it again yesterday and they're all back to normal. It must just have been food stuck. False alarm! But I learned something new, so that's good. Thanks very much, Cory_Di!!! I've always appreciated your posts to others and learned a lot from you and I certainly did in this case! Thanks!

I always see mine doing an occassional "body slam" when they are sifting. I'm sure you will too You gotta admit, they are cute aren't they

I always figured them to look more like dogs than cats. They sift and wag that tail just like a dog sniffing the grass.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 07-Dec-2004 18:57