how to treat suspected fungus on corys in planted tank.

**Cyberkinetic** · 26th Jul 2012, 22:57

My 2 corys in my 10gallon tank seemed to have developed some fungus on the side of their body. It looks like a greyish slighty "fluffy" patch covering 50% on the middle part of the body.
i've been trying for the past hour trying to get them out, but it's almost impossible without destroying the plants.
I have Paraguard from Seachem and from what i read, the opinion varies on whether they affect plants or not.
Should i just dose the whole tank which includes 5 rosy tetras and 2 otos? They dun seem to be affected as yet.
Hope to receive some advice from experts here. Thanks.

**Cyberkinetic** · 27th Jul 2012, 13:08

Hi, can anyone help me to identify if it's fungus or something else? The description seemed to also match "velvet". Tried my best to shoot some decent photos, but they are still very active so it's really tough.

Many thanks in advance.

Velvet1.jpg velvet2.jpg Velvet3.jpg

**Cyberkinetic** · 27th Jul 2012, 22:42

Managed to get the two corys out of the planted tank. Really tough as they were hiding behind the densely planted area. I did a half dose of Paraguard out of desperation yesterday. Didn't seemed to help but also not affecting the others. Just in case, even though they are in the quarantine tank now, I dosed the main tank one more time just to play safe. Been observing the tetras and otos.. so far still ok as far as I can see.

**Cyberkinetic** · 15th Aug 2012, 15:02

While my corys are almost clear (actually no more white growth that I can see), but I'm just being cautious to keep them in quarantine for a while more.
Now the next issue pop up...same growth.. On my newly introduced platys.. I did put them in quarantine with a dose of paraguard before introducing into the tank. Probably for about an hour dip...
To make matter worse..I've now yamatos and malayan shrimps in the tank. Tried same method of netting the platys out, but they prove too be harder opponents than the corys. But I can't dose with Paraguard now with the shrimps in...
Don't understand how they get this infection as I've been keeping water clean (much cleaner than before)...

**Cyberkinetic** · 28th Aug 2012, 22:31

This thread is like my mini-blog entry of sort.. hehe

Anyway, for the benefit of whoever(unfortunate enough) to be in such a situation, here's my experience so far.

With no luck getting the platys out of the tank, I had a tough decision to make.. either risk them dying in the tank(one died before i decided to go ahead with the treatment) or worse, affecting the other fishes and also the shrimps due to the water quality with their deaths... Or just dose the tank with Seachem Paraguard.

It's risky, but also probably a lesser of two evils. I went with a half dose on a precautionary basis(suggested is 5ml for 40L, I went with 2ml for the first 2 days and then continued with 2.5ml which is 50%). Also, decided to do a 10% WC everyday just to make sure the tank doesn't get too concentrated with Paraguard although it was said to dissipate within 24hours. I also observed the shrimps(yamatos and malayan), other fishes(rosy tetras and otos) as well as the plants. All seemed not affected by the daily dose of Paraguard, in fact my stems are growing very well and I had to trim them as they were reaching the top of the tank.

A week later and I found the white growth diminishing and by last Sunday, all the platys are back to normal. I also noticed they were more active. No shrimp or fish deaths were observed during this period, definitely not the fishes as I do daily count of them

. As for the shrimps, can't really be sure since they could have died hidden by the plants. But one thing is for sure, since i began this routine(daily Paraguard dose and water change), as of current, I get to see more shrimps appearing than before. Either the water quality improved with the WC, or they have grown accustomed to the tank and is venturing freely all over. I don't have to be a tank detective and scrutinize the tank just to catch a glimpse of one now as they are roaming freely it seems.

Anyway, in a nutshell, my personal experience, Seachem Paraguard(in half dose) worked for me in my planted tank with shrimps(no doubt hardy ones) and also does not affect my plant wellness it seemed. It may or may not work for others since there's so many different parameters to consider. Just sharing my personal experience.

Hope this is closure to the current issue.

**framejumb0** · 7th Sep 2012, 13:38

Thank you very much for the description and happy to hear your fish recovered.

**14litre** · 7th Sep 2012, 14:39

Thanks for sharing your experience bro. Glad to hear that it's for closure.

I have similar fungal issue recently but it's on my cherry shrimps. I have posted a thread on it.
Now I would like to add a link in my thread, to this thread of yours, as an easy access to people who needs information on the same fungus on cory.

Are you ok for me to link my thread to yours? Thanks.

**Cyberkinetic** · 7th Sep 2012, 15:11

Originally Posted by framejumb0

Thank you very much for the description and happy to hear your fish recovered.

My pleasure.

Originally Posted by 14litre

Thanks for sharing your experience bro. Glad to hear that it's for closure.

I have similar fungal issue recently but it's on my cherry shrimps. I have posted a thread on it.
Now I would like to add a link in my thread, to this thread of yours, as an easy access to people who needs information on the same fungus on cory.

Are you ok for me to link my thread to yours? Thanks.

Yes of course. I'm definitely fine with it.