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hey there .. i have 5 young little panda cories and just got them a couple of days ago.. they all seem to be doing fine except for one.. who seems to be loosing skin?? and his fins are torn apart.. he is breathing very fast and is hardly mooving.. his not far from dieing .. what could this be and is there anything i could do to help him out??
water quality is perfect no sign of nitrite or ammonia.. ph is 7 and nitrate is fine..

somebody help please .. and identify what could be wrong so if this so i can treat it in future..

r0b3y:#(

Sounds like finrot in the advanced stages. Possibly brought on by an injury. You could try treating with Melafix and Pimafix together, or go for a stronger medicine such as Jungle Brands Fungus Clear, or Maracyn or Maracyn 2, one of them treats finrot I would think.


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1 problem is that i wont be home for the next 2 days as i will be on camp.. and no lfs is open atm .. if i was to get my mum to do it.. could i treat it in my community tank or should i move it to a medi tank.. will the move stress it even more?

r0b3y

Last edited by r0b3y at 01-Mar-2005 02:11

to late RIP lil panda

As sad as it is, it is better that he expired while you could take him out. It would not have been good for the dead fish to be in the tank while you were away.

Maybe your mom can put some melafix in the tank while you're gone in case others are sick too.

The only thing is that I wonder how the pH is. If the pH is really low or crashing they can get lots of mucous. Some parasites can cause it too.

Make sure they are not overfed while away. They'd be better off not eating at all for a couple days, then for the tank to get polluted accidentally.

Sorry I got here too late.

When this Panda started to go downhill, did he start shedding threads of opaque white mucus all over the body?

Teh reason I ask is this. Normally, if that happens, it's a sign of a pH crash. And a gunky gravel bed as the underlying cause thereof. But your pH is 7, and your other Pandas seem to be fine, so we can temporarily rule that out. But now that I've told you about this, watch out for it. If it happens, a water change and gravel vac will be needed FAST. Quite literally, seconds count.

The less than happy side of keeping Pandas is this. Many fish have a steady curve declining from robust health to terminally sick. Which gives you a margin of error and a window of opportunity to treat them. Pandas, on the other hand, seem to have a steep curve going from well to terminal. Which means that when they are ill, you have to act fast. Pandas go downhill very quickly if they are hit with a disease. Plus, isolating them for treatment is complicated by the fact that a lone Panda will pine for its companions. Double the trouble.

Before you leave, do a big water change (50% recommended) and a thorough gravel vac to make sure that there's as little mulm as possible in the substrate. And make the last feeding before you leave one of live food if you can, so that you don't leave uneaten flakes rotting while you're away and unable to tend to them.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002