Fin rot is very common in aquarium fish and can treat if noticed in the early stages. Therefore, knowing how to treat and prevent such diseases is important as this kind of disease needs immediate action.
We should also know the symptoms of such diseases; without understanding them, we will not be able to notice if something is going wrong with our fish. Once we are clear that our fish is suffering from a fin rot disease, it will require immediate medication. So, How to treat fin rot in cory catfish? Let us find out.
Follow these steps to treat fin rot in your corydoras:
- Siphon out the solid debris and other waste from the substrate.
- Perform a 50% water change and add fresh water by treating it with a water conditioner.
- Maintain a stable water temperature between 70-82 °F.
- Remove the carbon from the filter.
- Run the antibiotical medications by consulting with the vet.
- Keep testing the water chemistry and maintain ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm
- Feed them high-quality food.
- Add the carbon to the filter once the cory catfish recover its health.
This article will discuss how to treat fin rot in cory catfish. Also, we will discuss the reason behind such issues and how we can prevent our corydoras from fin rot diseases. So, let us get into it.
Contents
What is fin rot, and how is it caused?
Fin rot is a condition caused by pseudomonas, vibrio, and aeromonas bacteria.
However, the secondary reason for fin rot disease is stress and inadequate tank condition.
Stress makes the cory catfish lose their immune system and become weak, which allows the bacteria to affect them badly and take a longer hold on them.
Fin rot disease is something that is easy to prevent but hard to treat.
Fin rot disease is contagious and can spread all over the tank.
If your cory catfish fish is infected by fin rot, it can be dangerous for the remaining fish in your home tank.
What are the symptoms of fin rot disease?
You can notice two types of changes in your cory catfish that indicate fin rot in your fish:
- Physical changes
- Behavioral changes
Physical changes
The fins of your cory catfish will get discolored and appear milky in the early stages of fin rot disease.
It will not be noticeable in the early stages of fin rot disease until it becomes shabby at the edges of the fins.
With time, the infection will spread, and your cory catfish fin will start falling off, leaving the uneven tail shape at the edge.
You will notice that your cory catfish fin will get shorter and shorter over time.
Their fin will appear red and swollen.
So, these all are the physical changes you will see in your cory catfish when suffering from fin rot disease:
- Milky edge
- Frayed fins
- The fin of your cory catfish will appear swollen
- The whole fin will rot away.
Behavioral changes
All these are the behavioral changes your cory catfish will develop when suffering from fin rot disease:
- Your cory catfish will become lethargic and less interested in moving from one place to another.
- They will remain at the bottom of the tank.
- They will stop eating and will avoid food most of the time.
Your cory catfish will lose their appetite and will become weak.
They will remain inactive most of the time.
Symptoms of Mild, Major, and Severe fin rot
| Mild Fin Rot | Major Fin Rot | Severe Fin Rot |
|---|---|---|
| Cory catfish fins will get darker in color | cory catfish fins will get extremely darker in color and will develop white fuzz on the fins edge (If fin rot is due to fungal infection) | This is also known as body fin rot. |
| The tips of the fin will change in color, appearing white, brown, or grey. | You will notice a large amount of your cory catfish fin has been rotted. | At this stage, the fin of your sick cory catfish will get entirely eaten up. |
| The edges of the sick cory catfish fin will look tattered. | The remaining fins will get discolored. | The body of the sick cory catfish will also start rotting. |
| The tips of your infected cory catfish will look sore and worn | Sick cory catfish fish fin will start dying over time in a complete manner. | You will notice the white fuzz on the base area of the fin. (If it is fungal) |
| The infection only be on the edge of the fin and will not appear near your cory catfish body. | Your guppy will show behavioral changes like losing appetite and staying at the bottom of the tank. | Your sick cory catfish will become lethargic and will lose its appetite. |
What causes fin rot in cory catfish?
Fin rot is caused by pseudomonas, vibrio, and aeromonas bacteria.
However, infection with bacteria is the direct cause of fin rot in your cory catfish.
The indirect cause of fin rot’s severity and vulnerability in your cory catfish is stress due to several factors.
Stress weakens your cory catfish as they lose their immune system when they come under stress, which allows the bacteria to affect them and take hold of their body.
All these factors can cause stress in your cory catfish and other fish:
- Physical injury
- Poor water conditions
- Aggressive mate
- Overcrowded tank
- Poor diet and irregular feeding
Physical injury
The fins of your cory catfish are sensitive and can easily get injured by sharp objects like decors present in the tank.
Also, getting nipped by the aggressive mate is common, if any is present in their tank.
Nipped or injured fins will be vulnerable to various bacteria and parasites, resulting in fin rot disease.
Poor water conditions
Poor water quality is the common reason behind stress in your cory catfish.
Only a little ammonia and nitrite can make your cory catfish suffer from life-threatening conditions.
They are freshwater fish and require clean water conditions to thrive.
Keeping them in poor water quality will make them come under constant stress.
Also read: Can Cory Catfish Live In Brackish Water?
Aggressive mate
Corydoras are peaceful fish and will prefer to live with other non-aggressive fish in a community tank.
Aggressive fish will constantly nip your cory catfish, and your cory catfish will keep hiding and running from them.
Your cory catfish will not even fight back and will hide most of the time in the tank.
All these will make them come under constant stress and become prone to various diseases and parasites.
Also read: Can Cory Catfish Live With Neon Tetras?
An overcrowded tank
An overcrowded tank full of fish looks very amazing and attractive.
However, an overcrowded tank comes with all these issues:
- It will become polluted faster than usual
- There will be oxygen deficiency in an overcrowded tank.
- Your fish will not be able to swim and live comfortably in a crowded tank.
- There will be a high risk of an ammonia spike in a crowded tank.
All these will make your cory catfish come under a high level of stress.
Poor diet and irregular feeding
Malnutrition is also a common reason for stress in fish.
Feeding them poor nutritional food and not feeding your cory catfish regularly will make them come under stress.
Poor quality food and irregular feeding will make them weak and lose their appetite.
How to treat fin rot disease in corydoras catfish?
When treating fin rot disease, you have to first look at the severity of the disease.
If your cory catfish is not poorly affected and only has mild symptoms, you can treat them in the main tank.
And if they show major symptoms, you have to isolate them in a hospital tank and treat them accordingly.
Follow these steps to treat your cory catfish with mild symptoms in your main tank:
- Firstly clean the substrate by siphoning all the waste debris and uneaten food. Such debris and waste are food for the bacteria causing fin rot.
- Perform 40% water change by first treating fresh water using a water conditioner.
- Run a check on ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and chlorine. Make sure to maintain ammonia, nitrite, and chlorine at 0ppm, whereas nitrate should not be more than 20ppm.
- Remove the carbon in your filter as it will absorb the medicine and eliminate the medication treatment.
- Now, you can treat your sick cory catfish with antibiotics by consulting the vet.
- Usually, the API stress coat will do the work, but we recommend consulting the vet.
- You can add the carbon back to your filter once the treatment process is completed and your cory catfish has recovered its health.
If your cory catfish have poorly affected by the fin rot disease, you have to isolate the sick fish in a hospital tank to treat them appropriately.
If the reason behind the fin rot disease is bacteria, then antibiotic medicine like Seachem ParaGuard or Maracyn is helpful.
And if the fungus is the reason, then special treatment will be necessary.
However, we recommend consulting the vet before applying any treatment with medicines.
These are some things you should take care of when treating the fish in a hospital tank:
- Keep the tank clean and perform a daily water change of 30%.
- If treating your cory catfish with aquarium salt, perform a 100% water change daily.
- Maintain chlorine, ammonia, and nitrite at 0ppm, whereas nitrate below 20ppm.
- Keep the water temperature between 70-82 °F.
Also, perform a 100% water change of your main tank to make sure the safety of other healthy fish present in your tank.
How to prevent our cory catfish from fin rot disease?
Ensure all these things to prevent your cory catfish from fin rot disease:
- Ensure good water conditions of your cory catfish tank.
- Ensure adequate and stable water parameters.
- Don’t aggressive fish to your cory catfish tank.
- Avoid overfeeding your cory catfish.
- Make sure not to overcrowd your corydoras tank.
Good water conditions
Providing good water conditions to your cory catfish will help you prevent fin rot in them.
Regularly do a weekly water change of 35% to ensure clean water quality.
Make sure to treat the water using the water conditioner to dechlorinate it.
We use the API water conditioner as it will help eliminate chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrite, and heavy metals from the water.
You can buy this product on amazon: API TAP WATER CONDITIONER.
| Particulars | Cory Catfish |
|---|---|
| Water condition | Clean water condition |
| Ammonia | 0ppm |
| Nitrite | 0ppm |
| Nitrate | Below 20ppm |
Consider adding a good filtration system with biofilter media and carbon to protect the water from harmful toxins and keep the water crystal clean.
You can consider using a Fluval high-performance aquarium filter for your tank, as it will ensure that your water is clean and protected from harmful toxins like ammonia and nitrite.
You can buy this product at amazon: Fluval High-Performance Aquarium Filter.
You should also add plenty of live plants to your corydoras tank as it will keep the tank well oxygenated and provide them with good hiding spots.
Test the water regularly and maintain the ammonia and nitrite at 0 ppm, whereas nitrate should be below 20 ppm.
We recommend using the API freshwater master test kit as it will show you accurate results and help test the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH level of your corydoras tank water.
You can buy it from amazon: API FRESHWATER MASTER TEST KIT.
Also read: Ideal pH Level For Cory Catfish?
Adequate and stable water parameters
Ensuring adequate and stable water parameters will help prevent cory catfish fin rot.
Provide your cory catfish with a water temperature between 70-82 °F.
Maintain the water pH level between 7 and 8.
The water TDS level should be between 400-600ppm.
And the water hardness should be between 5 and 19dGH.
A stable water temperature is necessary as the unstable water temperature will make your cory catfish come under stress.
Consider adding a heater to your corydoras tank to stabilize the water temperature.
We recommend using the Fluval M200 Submersible heater for your tank.
You can buy this product at amazon: Fluval M200 Submersible Heater.
Also read: Ideal Water Temperature For Cory Catfish.
Avoid adding aggressive fish.
As discussed above, cory catfish are peaceful fish and will love to live and interact with other non-aggressive fish in a community tank.
Adding any aggressive fish will bully them constantly, and they will come under stress.
Consider adding peaceful fish to your corydoras tank as they will thrive living with them.
These are some best tankmates you can consider adding to your corydoras tank:
- Guppies
- Mollies
- Platies
- Neon tetras
- Gourami
- Shrimp
- Snails
- Zebra danios
Also read: Can Cory Catfish Live With Guppies?
Avoid overfeeding
Overfeeding your cory catfish will make them suffer from issues like constipation and bloating.
They will not be able to swim and move fine because of their bloated belly.
They will stop eating and will come under stress.
To make sure that you are not overfeeding your cory catfish, feed them food in a quantity that they can finish eating in one to two minutes.
If you feed them only once a day, feed them in a quantity that they can finish eating in 3-4 minutes.
If your fish takes longer to finish their food, you are overfeeding them. Shorten the quantity every next time until they finish it in one to two minutes.
Also read: How Often To Feed Cory Catfish?
Avoid overcrowding
Overcrowding will put your cory catfish under stress and become prone to diseases and parasites.
Follow the one-inch one-gallon rule to avoid overcrowding your corydoras tank.
The one-inch one-gallon rule means one inch of fish per gallon of water.
Cory catfish can be as long as 4 inches in size, with an average of 2-2.5 inches.
Also, they are schooling fish and prefer to live in a large group.
You have to keep at least 5-6 cory catfish together to create a good school for them.
A 20-gallon tank is the minimum size tank you can keep your corydoras in.
We recommend keeping them in a large tank with other peaceful fish as they are social fish and will thrive living with others.
Also read: How Many Cory Catfish In A 10 Gallon Tank?
Conclusion:
The primary cause of fin rot in cory catfish is a bacterial infection.
Constant stress makes them vulnerable to such bacterial infections and allows the disease to remain in the body for a long time.
Performing a regular water change, keeping the substrate clean, feeding regularly, and providing a stress-free environment will prevent such issues.
Solid debris and other waste in the aquarium are food for such bacteria, and they will grow by feeding on them.
If the fin rot is in the early stages, then treating your cory catfish with the API stress coat will work.
Antibiotic treatment is necessary if the disease has poorly affected your cory catfish.
We recommend consulting the vet before treating your cory catfish with any medications.
Reference: Wikipedia