Cory Behaviour Strange?

[Sonia]

Hi!
I started my 50 GAL FW tank 2 months ago. The cories have been in my tank for about a month now - 3 Albino and 3 Emerald.
About two weeks ago, one of the cories had a cottony fungus, which was cured very quickly with a week-long treatment of Pima-Fix. Apart from that, all cories seem very happy, are active and eat well.
However, since the treatment (maybe coincidence), just about every one of them, on seperate occasion, have acted weird: They could be just swimming or eating and they get a kind of weird "spasm" where they dart to their side and immediately right themselves (doesn't seem controlled). It'll usually happen 2-5 times within 5-20 seconds while they just continue about their business like nothing is happening. The PH is at 6.5, the temp is at 77F and all pollutants are very low. Has anyone seen this before? Is it typical Cory behavior? Might it be the sign of some illness I don't know about? Thanks for your help!!!

 

[Menagerie]

[center:301c0b3af3] Welcome to AA, Sonia! [/center:301c0b3af3]

all pollutants are very low

What are the exact water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)?
When the cories dart to their sides, are they hitting the ground or decor? Do they look as though they are trying to scratch themselves?

 

[Sonia]

I changed about 20% of the water last week (after the treatment)... I just tested the water and got about 0ppm for each of Nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonia.

They aren't scratching on anything... they could happen to rub up against a plant if they "spasm" while they're sucking on it, but most often it doesn't make them touch anything.

 

[Sonia]

...and thanks for the Welcome!!!

 

[Meredith]

Its strange that I just saw this post. I saw my older cory doing something like that the other day. But it was when the angel fish was trying to take his sinking pellet. He would swim around the angel all crazy and then flip on his side and bounce off the sand. It scared me the first time he did it. I immediately thought ICK! He did that 4 or 5 times until he actually conked the angel in the face and got his food back. I haven't seen him rub or anything since. It was actually pretty creative, for a cory.

 

[FawnN]

about 0ppm for each of Nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonia.

In a cycled tank, there should always be a NitrAte reading. If your not getting a reading, there is definitely something wrong.

In my opinion, cory's are sensitive to changing water conditions and should not be added to a newly established tank. I waited 6 months before I added my cory's.

I would suggest that you recheck your water parameters. And be sure to do your weekly water changes. What are you feeding them?

Oh yeah, welcome to AA. You will love it here.

 

[Mofo2713]

It is possible to have 0 nitrates if you have enough plants that "eat" them up

 

[Sonia]

Hi! Thanks for the welcome and for the advice!

I'm using Lifegard brand strips to measure the ammonia. The reading isn't quite white (white indicating 0ppm) but just about.... nitrates might be at 5ppm or so. Could it be because there are a lot of plants (like mofo says) and because there are only about 18 inches of fish right now (most fish not full-grown)?

After menagerie suggested that they might be scratching themselves, I read up more on velvet and I think that's what it might be. Many sources say that I wouldn't necessarily see a powder on my fish, that they can keep eating and being normal until advanced stages and that they feel like they want to get the parasites out of their gills, so they'll dart around and flash". I also find that they are looking a LITTLE cloudier than usual (very hard to tell with the albinos...). Hypothesis: may be velvet.

Apparently parasite flakes aren't too bad for the fish, so I'm going to try feeding them those for a few days and see if it gets better, because I really think something is wrong. I'm using Tetra Parasite Flakes. Any comments?

I was under the impression that cories were rather hardy and I thought that they would be ok in the tank... wish I'd known, I would have waited. I am feeding them Hakari Sinking Pellets every day and a treat of bloodworms every other day. They also eat any of the tetra's regular or spirulina flakes that fall to the bottom. My water parameters are pretty constant now, so hopefully they'll be ok...

I appreciate your help!

 

[Menagerie]

I was under the impression that cories were rather hardy and I thought that they would be ok in the tank

No, some are over bred and the immune system is weaken and soem are taken from the wild, go through all the transporting and just cannot handle it.
They would also appreciate some veggies, such as zucchini every once in awhile

 

[Sonia]

Thanks, for the info... I'll try feeding them some zucchini as soon as I'm done with the parasite flakes (which they seem to love!!?).

 

[Sonia]

I've been feeding them tetra anti-parasite flakes and they've just about stopped flashing!! I'll use it for just a few more days... The bottle said that it can be used for treatment AND for prevention. Should I feed them these flakes every month or so to prevent parasites? I'm not sure if there would be any negative repurcussions to doing this...