taeniacara candidi sick ? Pale/white scales

[Drakal]

Hi, i'm new here, i posted this on reddit and an user told me to come and ask here, so i do.

Sorry if my english is not always perfect, i'm from France
I have a pair of taeniacara candidi, and today one of them is looking really strange, in low light it's "ok" but when the light hits, his scales looks really off, they shine really bright and show less coloration. The last photo is one of his mate who is looking "normal" for comparaison.

He is eating well, not letargic, not in weird places, acting normal, still chasing and flaring at his mate. But he doesn't look really good ?

Is he sick or is it just normal as he grows up to "change" coloration ?

Water is OK (0/0/5, GH 4, PH 6.5), other fishes are all ok.

EDIT : on his tail and fins you can see Bright spots, it's jsut his coloration there is nothing here, but his body scales seems a bit swollen from certain angles

 

[Josh]

Welcome to the forum! I agree he does look a bit off. Strange that you're not noticing any other symptoms. Do you have the capacity to temporarily segregate him? Quarantine him and see if he improves?

 

[MacZ]

Strange that you're not noticing any other symptoms.

Agreed.
I see a pop-eye situation and a fish obviously stressed. Probably a subtile or chronic bacterial infection.

How old is the fish? How long have you had it? What is the full stocking (For dwarf cichlids please add the sexes)? What's the maintenance regimen? What do you feed? Can you post a picture of the whole tank please?

 

[Drakal]

Fish is in since 2 weeks. I don't know how old he is

One male one female, tank mates are pygmy corrys (6) and otos (3)
Live baby brine shrimps, frozen foods, micro worms etc..
Weekly water change (15%) i use RO water remineralized to GH 4
The tank (fluval flex 15g) :

I started to treat the tank today, Esha 2000 and Exit. Hope this can help him.
Fish still doing good, eating well

 

[anewbie]

A few comments - note that I have not kept the fish but have read quite a bit about them:
First they are a warm water fish and proper temp is probably too warm for pygmy cory. I believe the recommend temp is mid 80s.
2nd I believe they are a true blackwater fish and softer water would be preferred with some diffusion of the light beneficial. From what i've read they are also easily upset by changes in water chemistry.
I suspect being tank raised or wc makes a difference in some of these aspects.

 

[Drakal]

Water temp is 26°C, Ph is around 6 to 6.5 (technical soil and dead bio matter )
The shop where i got them keep them at 25°C and PH 7 for months now and everything is fine
Corys are allright if i see something weird i have other tanks to put them in, same for the otos
KH is 0, GH 4 so water is already pretty soft
Floating plants and the fluval light is not really strong either, smartphone auto-exposure make is brighter than it's trully is
Many hidding spots all around the tank, they spend the day chasing litle bugs and eating all the daphnia, pods, worms who lives here (i waited to have strong micro-activity before bying them) they don't care at all about corys or otos, they just chase each others sometimes
Edit : also the posture where the fish don't deploy his fins or tail is "normal" with them, the swim like this and hunt like this, they "flare" only when they stop sometime or when they see each other, this is just how they are most of the time

 

[MacZ]

Fish is in since 2 weeks. I don't know how old he is

I take it the fish were not quarantined?

Esha 2000 and Exit.

Not going to help. And may be detrimental to the catfish which do not react well to copper. I would immediately do waterchanges to remove it!

Weekly water change (15%) i use RO water remineralized to GH 4

Only GH, yes? You could use 100% RO with just humic substances added. This would be preventative of most health problems.

One male one female

Not sure the sexing is correct. But not an expert on this species.

The shop where i got them keep them at 25°C and PH 7 for months now and everything is fine

Far from ideal. Higher conductivity and pH breed more bacteria and softwater fish like these react very sensitive to higher bacteria levels. Softwater fish have adapted to low conductivity probably to avoid bacteria which have a really hard time in it. So these species all are in peril of not overcoming a bacterial infection in higher conductivity.

Edit : also the posture where the fish don't deploy his fins or tail is "normal" with them, the swim like this and hunt like this, they "flare" only when they stop sometime or when they see each other, this is just how they are most of the time

Except the caudal I'm with you there.

Ok. Anyhow, I'm pretty certain it's a bacterial problem. Your best bet is not using meds but soft water and lots of humic substances. And waterchanges. I'd switch to 100% RO, via a row of 25% waterchanges every 48 hours for 5 days. Prepare the water each time with a liter of a brew from RO, 10 alder cones (they are reusable, can be dried and used a 2nd time), 1-2 small (10cm) catappa leaves and a bag or two of pure rooibos tea (organic, no aromas, no other additives). The leaves can be added to the tank afterwards.

That's pretty much all we can do in the EU, as we lack access to certain meds. Long term I'd recommend sticking to that water preparation.

 

[Drakal]

hi, thanks for the reply

Fishes were quanrantained at the store, this is why i buy here he quarantained all the fishes

Only GH yes, and it's "pure" RO filtered with resin (0 TDS)

Shop owner is pretty confident about the sexing, me, not so sure but it's the 1st time à have them

I have everything exept the rooibos tea, i will try to do a you described.

 

[MacZ]

Allright. Maybe add some drops of a vitamin preparation to the food. 1-2 drops per feeding are enough with one drop do that for 3 days in a row and then once a week. Any brand will do, just have to be specialized vitamin drops for ornamental freshwater fish.

 

[Drakal]

For my frozen food i mostly feed Ocean Nutrition Artemias, the one with spirulina and garlic and the enriched one with vitamins and stabilized Vitamin C

 

[MacZ]

First they are a warm water fish and proper temp is probably too warm for pygmy cory. I believe the recommend temp is mid 80s.

The temperature is

2nd I believe they are a true blackwater fish and softer water would be preferred with some diffusion of the light beneficial.

Definitely softwater. Tue blackwater... I don't have the time to look up right now.

From what i've read they are also easily upset by changes in water chemistry.

Upward changes in conductivity are detrimental.

I suspect being tank raised or wc makes a difference in some of these aspects.

For decidedly softwater species that doesn't change much.

For my frozen food i mostly feed Ocean Nutrition Artemias, the one with spirulina and garlic and the enriched one with vitamins and stabilized Vitamin C

You don't defrost and rinse the frozen food?

 

[Drakal]

i defrost (just waiting at ambiant temp), i don't rince (at least Artemias, i do rince bloodworms and other worms, but they have no supplementation, copepods, daphnia, artemias etc... i never rince)

 

[MacZ]

As unrinsed frozen food can lead to bacterial problems, you might want to rule that out aswell.

 

[anewbie]

It has been asked but not answered - what temp are you keeping the aquarium ?

 

[Drakal]

Water temp is 26°C

 

[anewbie]

That is on the cool side for this species and the high end for pygmy. My crude understanding of keeping a warm water fish cooler is it will live longer but it weakens the immune system; i'm sure Mac will comment further on this matter.

 

[MacZ]

My crude understanding of keeping a warm water fish cooler is it will live longer but it weakens the immune system

That's what it boils down to, while the other way round you set the metabolism of cooler water species on overdrive and shorten their life-span. 26-27°C is acceptable as a compromise. Also only the C. pygmaeus have a problem, Otocinclus inthe trade are usually from equatorial populations.

 

[Drakal]

Did a WC, using only RO, added some catappa leaves.
Can i boil some alder cones and catappa leaves in RO water then cool it down and use this water to add tanins in the tank ?

 

[MacZ]

Can i boil some alder cones and catappa leaves in RO water then cool it down and use this water to add tanins in the tank ?

Don't boil them. Just brew over like with a tea. And yes, the extract should be added. That's what I described above.

 

[Mike Wise]

Otocinclus inthe trade are usually from equatorial populations.

From equatorial areas, yes, but warmer water? No. On the many times I visited the exporter Stingray Aquarium in Iquitos, Peru I always stopped to visit the pond outside their office. This pond, other than some aquatic turtles, contained swarms (no other word for it) of Otocinclus, which they periodically netted for export. The water at the surface was warm but where the otos lived was much cooler, around 24°C/75°F.