Found a recently deceased cory that looked fine except for a circular "gouge" between the eye and gill on one side. Until last night, the cory seemed fine. Last night it appeared logy and had lodged itself in some anubias.
If corys do get hole in head disease (something I thought pnly occurred in cichlids), what is the treatment option? This tank gets regular water changes but no other dosing of any sort.
Blaise
Can corydoras get hole in head disease?
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B Considine
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I think any fish with a lateral line can get 'Hole in the Head'. Lots of marine fish suffer from this.
Michael Hill
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aquariumdepot
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They can defiantly carry the parasite that can cause hole in the head (Hexamitia parasite) amongst a slew of other intestinal parasites that can cause similar problems, a very common cause for Cory catfish deaths within the first few months especially if they are wild caught specimens.
I would be skeptical to think that hole in the head killed it without you noticing well in advance as the actual holes in the head come from long term nutritional deficiency. Which in some fish is caused by internal parasites chewing at the intestinal cell walls and slowing nutritional absorption. The holes usually only appear on larger fish that can survive long periods of malnutrition, small fish succumb to the parasite much earlier, long before the wasting stages of hole in the head. Not to say that the catfish my not have had a parasite, but for the damage behind the eye I would suspect it was by another fish scavenging the corpse or damage caused shortly before death by other fish biting him or him hitting himself as he was spinning. Cory cats more often exhibit a sunk in belly (looks like a depressed triangle from underneath) the eyes sink into the skull and the spinning and wobbling that you mentioned above when they are heavily infested by internal parasites.
If any of the other fish show serious signs I would start to think about treatment, but not unless it seams like it has gone beyond the initial Cory (sometimes you just get a weak one). For internal parasites, Hexamita and other protozoa in particular a medicine called Metronidazole (Flagyl under some drug distributors), for larger worm parasites Levamisole, and Praziquantel is a very effective treatment. Try to separate fish from the species that show signs into a hospital tank for treatment. If the fish are still eating I find using a smaller dose (usually a dose for 10 gallons on a tablespoon of food, but check with the medicine first) works pretty well on frozen food or small pellets and gets eaten and absorbed right into the gut of the fish killing the parasites quickly. Give the fish about a week or so in the treatment tank to get their bearings again before re introducing them to the tank
Hope this helps you, and I also hope that it is an isolated problem. Nothing sucks more than losing cory cats, I love those little guys
I would be skeptical to think that hole in the head killed it without you noticing well in advance as the actual holes in the head come from long term nutritional deficiency. Which in some fish is caused by internal parasites chewing at the intestinal cell walls and slowing nutritional absorption. The holes usually only appear on larger fish that can survive long periods of malnutrition, small fish succumb to the parasite much earlier, long before the wasting stages of hole in the head. Not to say that the catfish my not have had a parasite, but for the damage behind the eye I would suspect it was by another fish scavenging the corpse or damage caused shortly before death by other fish biting him or him hitting himself as he was spinning. Cory cats more often exhibit a sunk in belly (looks like a depressed triangle from underneath) the eyes sink into the skull and the spinning and wobbling that you mentioned above when they are heavily infested by internal parasites.
If any of the other fish show serious signs I would start to think about treatment, but not unless it seams like it has gone beyond the initial Cory (sometimes you just get a weak one). For internal parasites, Hexamita and other protozoa in particular a medicine called Metronidazole (Flagyl under some drug distributors), for larger worm parasites Levamisole, and Praziquantel is a very effective treatment. Try to separate fish from the species that show signs into a hospital tank for treatment. If the fish are still eating I find using a smaller dose (usually a dose for 10 gallons on a tablespoon of food, but check with the medicine first) works pretty well on frozen food or small pellets and gets eaten and absorbed right into the gut of the fish killing the parasites quickly. Give the fish about a week or so in the treatment tank to get their bearings again before re introducing them to the tank
Hope this helps you, and I also hope that it is an isolated problem. Nothing sucks more than losing cory cats, I love those little guys
