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Hi all,

I wanted to write to see if you all had any ideas as to what is going on with one of my new metea cories. I just got them home yesterday, and I did an exam of everyone, which all six appeared fine. Today I noticed that one has a white patch, a little tuft, on the end of his left pectoral fin. I have thought this to be a fungal infection, so I began treating with fungus clear. Once I got home tonight, the tuft seems to have slighty spread further along the fin, which the cory does not seem to move. I also had one of the six pass away Do you think that treating with fungus clear is the right decision? I undertreated somewhat too, so as not to shock the tank too extremely. My tank readings are as follows:
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Hardness: Moderate
Alkalinity: 120-180 - Ideal Range
pH: 7.2-7.6 Ideal Range
Ammonia: 0
This tank has been established now for quite sometime. I did do a water change before the new meteas came home, but it does not seem that that would cause any problems. Any thoughts or ideas? Please let me know! I don't want to loose anymore of my new kids. Thank you for your help!

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-28 23:47][/span]

You should have a nitrate reading it can't be 0, use full dose on the packet of the medicine to your tank size.

Jungle fungus clear is a great choice IMO, it's a nice anti-fungal that also contains a broad spectrum antibiotic just in case. If you're dosing that, just follow the instructions on the package.

I do have a few questions, though: As kitty mentioned, nitrAtes in an established tank shouldn't be zero. You might have a problem with your test kit if you tested it yourself, or the reading may have been wrong somehow. Maybe you could test it again, just to be sure. I would do ALL of the water parameters again and post them up here so we can figure out what's going on.

Did the cory that passed seem weird at all? Any spots or anything that didn't look quite right? Also what size tank is it and what else do you have in there?

For now I would continue with the fungus clear and watch for other signs of infection. HTH

Hey all,
Thanks for the responses. It is unfortunately too late for my little cory The fungus clear did clear his fin of the white tuft, but he still passed away. The remaining four seem very healthy and have been behaving just fine. There were no spots on any of the fish...I did a thorough exam of both of the fish that passed away, and other than the white tuft that had been on the one's fin, they were both clear of all other indications of illness. I have them in the eclipse system 12, biowheel filtrated, aquarium. The nitrate reading was an oops on my part, the way in which I typed it up...it is within the "safe" zone. I just retested and it is right around 20 on the readings. The other readings remained relatively the same as before. I am newer to using the test kit, so it was simply my misposting. It is only these metea cories in the tank now, and like I said, the remaining four seem to be doing well - no signs of illness, no lethagic behaviors. And although these guys are new to the tank, it has been an established tank - I have just recently upgraded my other fish to a larger tank. I thank you for your responses, and if you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it! Thanks!

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-09-01 00:03][/span]

Sorry for the loss of your fish.