parasites in Corydoras and other fish

[t2000kw]

I would like to set up my discus tank (working on it now) with some corydoras. I understand that they are notorious for carrying parasites of some sort that are very bad for discus.

What are these parasites, and what prophylactic treatment(s) can I do on the corys before I add them to the tank that will have discus?

On the same general topic, what other fish are often put with discus and what do I need to be aware of and treat for in these other compatible fish?

Thanks!!! :computer2:

Donald

[AmberC]

Hmm.. I'll be interested to see the replies to this because I have never heard of that before!

Amber

[Ed13]

As far as I know , properly raised and house corydoras are not more prone to any disease than any other fish. That being said, I first choose a species of cory that can take the environment that discus prefer then look for quality specimens (I often try to avoid mass produced fish). After I acquire the fish, I place it in quarantine for a month(I treat them as if the were a discus) and then slowly bring the parameters in their tank to the one they are going to be housed in.
My favorite cory is C. sterbai, but C. gossei, C.aneus, C.julii and Brochis Splendens seem to take temp slightly higher than others. This does not mean these are the only ones.

Other tankmates include Gold nugget plecos, Sunshine plecos and any pleco of the family Hypancistrus, rams, Rummy nose tetras, cardinal tetra and bleeding heart tetras. Of course it all depends on tank size.

Search the site for info on Quarantine, diseases and proper housing techniques

[Willie]

Wild caught corydoras typically carry very heavy loads of gill flukes. Knowledge cory breeders treat their fish with 4 drops/gallon of formalin for 2 - 4 hours with heavy aeration. Without the treatment, it's hard to spawn them. I do the same before putting them into discus tanks.

In addition to the species described before, I have successfully kept C. panda, C. robineii, C. adolphi and C. davidsandii with discus. Did I mention I love cories too?

Willie

[RyanH]

Hi Donald,

I moved your thread to the Discus tankmates section. You should get more responses and a better discussion there.

-Ryan

[Ed13]

Wild caught corydoras typically carry very heavy loads of gill flukes. Knowledge cory breeders treat their fish with 4 drops/gallon of formalin for 2 - 4 hours with heavy aeration. Without the treatment, it's hard to spawn them. I do the same before putting them into discus tanks.

In addition to the species described before, I have successfully kept C. panda, C. robineii, C. adolphi and C. davidsandii with discus. Did I mention I love cories too?

Willie

That's what I meant by treating them as discus, thanks for clarifying that!
It's always nice to encounter fellow cory lovers!

[t2000kw]

In addition to the species described before, I have successfully kept C. panda, C. robineii, C. adolphi and C. davidsandii with discus. Did I mention I love cories too?

Willie

How well do albino corys take the warmer temperatures of the discus tank?

We have several of those in a quarantine tank right now. I can use them in other tanks or put them in the discus-to-be tank.

[Ed13]

Common albino corys are *usually* C. aneus so you should be Ok

[t2000kw]

Hello, Don's wife, Melis, here. I understand albino corys are usually the bronze or aeneus. The second most common albino cory, according to what I read, is the peppered, or paleatus. Will they, too, do all right in the higher temps?

Our 5 new ones are currently in a low salt solution (1tablespoon in a 10 gal tank) quarantine. Our intention is to treat them there with the formalin once they've settled in. I still can't tell if they're stressed from the move or breathing really hard for some other reason. It's a bare tank and very bright so I've been leaving the light off. That seems to help but they are still puffing and shooting for the top pretty often. It's an uncycled tank, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I thought I'd better ask about c. paleatus. They look a little slim to me to be c. aeneus --though it's probably too early to tell at this point. They are quite young and small.

Melis

[lhforbes12]

Melis,
I would definately check your water parameters and do a large wc if you find high NH3/4 or NO2. That probably is the reason they are surfacing. It could also be due to very different water parameters than they are used to, different GH, pH. Check the water, also doing wc's on a QT is advisable in any case.

Larry

[t2000kw]

Melis,
I would definately check your water parameters and do a large wc if you find high NH3/4 or NO2. That probably is the reason they are surfacing. It could also be due to very different water parameters than they are used to, different GH, pH. Check the water, also doing wc's on a QT is advisable in any case.

Larry

I would think that the water is fresh enough, less than 24 hours old. It was completely new water in the tank as of yesterday evening. So the ammonia and nitrogen compounds should be quite low.

But our GH is high and KH is low, so it could be different than where we got them from (though I think they use the same water system).

We'll check everything once we can find the reference cards for the test kits which got misplaced somewhere.

[Alight]

I treat all new fish coming in to my Discus tanks for gill flukes, nematodes and tapeworm. This involves Praziquantel treatment followed by Levamisole (there are other drugs that will work).

All bottom feeding fish, particularly ominvores can easily have these parasites. Depending on the variety, these can weaken the Cories and the Discus, or kill them, or there may be very little obvious signs --only lack of full growth.