• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Do Corydoras dislike Easycarbo?

Sacha

Member
Joined
3 Jan 2014
Messages
992
Location
London
A couple of years ago I had a Cory apocalypse- about 15 died on me in the space of 6 weeks. I never diagnosed the problem but guessed it was some kind of infection.

I've been keeping about 20 Trilineatus very happily for about a year now. I've just had one die on me with the same symptoms as the previous outbreak- shrivelled tattered looking fins and barbells, ultimately losing swim bladder control and swimming upside down, in circles etc.

The only thing that's changed in the past couple of weeks is that I've started dosing Easycarbo (5 ml daily in 125 litre tank, double dosing as I have many plants). So here's my question. Could the Easycarbo have compromised the Cory's immune system?
 
I'm unsure. However if all other possibilities have been ruled out, it could very well be.
 
Personally, I don't think so. I've used all variants of LC with corys for many years and had no issues. Once I accidentally put 20ml into my tank (the standard dose was 3 to 4 ml) when I picked up the wrong bottle. Never even noticed I'd used the wrong bottle to about 10 hours later! Everything was fine.

Can't speak for the initial "cory apocolypse" but this one might just be coincidence. Is it the same tank you are using and has it been stripped down in between? Diseases just sit dormant in the tank waiting for an under the par fish host to come along same as with cold sores and flu in humans. Maybe this fish just had a weak immune system or damaged its barbells which was enough for the disease to get a hold. Would maybe be an idea to treat with a general bactericide to prevent the disease from spreading. There is a post somewhere on this forum with what people use in quarantine tanks which have been effective. I tend to not reach for the medicine cabinet if it only affects one fish though.
 
I've had corys in my tank for two years and use easycarbo and never seen any issues.
So I would suggest its something else.
 
Given that it is a toxic chemical, it's very possibly a contributing factor IMO. In many tanks, shrimp will instantly react very badly to a normal dose, often quickly dying so it must quickly irritate them, I presume it would irritate fish too, at least their gills of fish and other areas not covered in slime coat. If you value fish health over limiting algae growth, it's not something I would ever recommend you add to your aquarium. It's a broad-spectrum biocide used mainly for killing bacteria and algae, while also providing a tiny amount of usable carbon for plants as bonus. It is not good for fish or shrimp, simple as that.

In heavily planted aquariums without shrimp, most people don't notice it affecting the behavior of their live stock, but who knows about any chronic long term health effects... It's not been used for this purpose that long really, and those who use it are generally aquascapers who focus more on aesthetics than long-term fish health.

Recent thread so you can see more opinions to from your own: https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/liquid-co2-warning-by-jbl.48590/

Having said this, I very much doubt it killed your corys alone, I think there is some other underlying issue which adding a biocide to the water exacerbated.
 
Having said this, I very much doubt it killed your corys alone, I think there is some other underlying issue which adding a biocide to the water exacerbated.

No point raking over it as there's another thread running. I can only comment on my personal experience. I have used both excel and my own DIY glute mixes for probably 4 years and can't say I have had fish losses I could point in the direction of excel. There's so many things that could weaken a fish even just the other fish pestering is enough. I have had a Krib lived to a ripe old age of 6 years old raised from an egg which probably spent 2/3rd's of its life in an excel dosed tank so as for long term health that's inconclusive. There's also lot's of information about the long term health effects of nitrates but we quite happily dose levels of 20ppm and up. Again inconclusive.

Not sure what the actual lifespan of a fish is based on actually, in the wild they would suffer from predation so a full life span would be based mainly on luck. In our tanks we are dealing with enclosed systems with inherent fluctuations of all parameters so again there are many issues that could shorten the life of the fish. In the scale of these issues I suspect dosing LC is quite low. I don't suppose anybody in the wild has pulled out a fish and been able to age it within any degree of certainty other than adult or young

I only got into shrimp keeping about 2 and a half years ago and my RCS which only have a lifespan of about 12 months have never knew water without LC in it without detriment to their health and that's with my own brew of LC. I hope Seachem has better qc and control methods than me :D

Don't get me wrong I'm all for not putting hazardous chemicals in my tank but I always weigh up the pros and cons. A lot of the worries I read about are more related to Glute(not even attempting to spell it :rolleyes:) but people need to bare in mind that they are two separate chemicals. Yes they are loosely related but there are many cases where a totally harmless chemical can be converted to a toxic chemical without much change to the structure or vice versa. On top of that the Glute used in hospitals which is responsible for occupational asthma used mainly for sterilising surgical instruments is 50% Glute. The diy stuff I mix when out of excel is diluted with 242ml water to 8ml 50% glute. A very week solution.

Ideally I don't want to be breathing that in or getting any on my skin so I treat it with care the same as I would with say Meth Blue or other biocides. Meth Blue is supposedly extremely carcinogenic but I bet you'll find some or a variant of it in most fish keepers cabinets. Just needs handled with care is what I'm saying but that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad for fauna in the small doses we dose it. I don't drink tetra aqua safe for this same reason.
 
An after thought, just had a think about this which is the first time I've considered it. Glute fair enough is a hazardous to humans but unless my maths is wrong where there's every chance it is :D the breakdown would be as follows....

Cons
Glute= dangerous chemical
50% Glute=still found to irritate skin and eyes and responsible for breathing issues after long term occupational contact
Glute mixed for use=0.03 % rather not get any on skin or use in confined space
Glute dosed in tank at 3ml per 100ltrs=0.0003305%

So at full strength in the tank even though it bio-degrades instantly there should be no more than 0.0003305% glute in the tank at any time at standard dosing.

Pros
I read that although not as effective as co2 because the plants use energy utilising the LC it still provides the equivalent carbon as 1/3rd of co2. So if you prefer to not run your gas on the ragged edge of yellow and risk gassing your fish you can get a safe level and top off with LC as well as the benefits of algae don't like it.

And that is if Glute and excel are indeed the same chemical, for all we know seachem have chemically altered it to make it even safer which is their "trade secret" and the reason the can sell to the general public without any warning labels. I'm pretty sure if there was any doubt in this day and age it would be plastered in HSE signs.

So low risk to us and inconclusive risk to fauna. I think as far as long term health goes we should be more concerned at why there is 35grams of sugar in a can of coke!
 
Back
Top