Injured albino corys

[Eggheadfish]

Hi all,
I've had three fish die in the last week and can't figure out what's going on. One swordtail and two albino corys...
Just to give you the stats:
I have a 55 gallon tank, and I know my mix of fish isn't desirable but I took over the tank from someone else . I have two ten year old red hook luna silver dollars, one black phantom tetra, three boesemani rainbows, two hi fin lyretail swordtails, two leopard corys, four panda corys, and now five albino corys. Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates around 20ppm, Dh 8, Dkh 8, ph 7, temp 74, kh 8.
I have had the tank for about a year and a half but it was up and running about fifteen years prior. I added four juvenile albino corys about three weeks ago. The two that died were the adults I already had. The first one I thought got injured because he had major road rash on his face. The second magically lost half of his barbels in the time I was at work and the others were red and droopy, and his face was rather white. They both eventually had trouble staying upright. All the other fish are in good health. Any ideas? I thought maybe and infection from injury but two in the span of two days seemed odd. Also, I have small gravel substrate and no issues with corys up to this point.



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[PNWaquarist]

Do you have sharp gravel or other sharp rocks in the tank? That would explain the barbel damage.

 

[Eggheadfish]

The gravel is small and not very sharp but not rounded either. Some of the corys have been in there for years with no issues before now. The albinos seem to be a little bit more aggressive diggers


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[Noviceafter2yea]

I have julii cories and one lost his barbels a while back. I am happy to report they are finally, slowly growing back.

I am sorry I cannot answer what is going on with your guys, but maybe this will give you a little hope?

 

[Eggheadfish]

Unfortunately I lost two more, a baby panda, not sure why he was looking ghostly and not eating for a few days now, and another small albino cory who had a red spot on the top of his head all of a sudden. I have no idea what is going on.

 

[PB_Smith]

the rainbows don't hassle them? I have seen albino cories get attacked by some types of fish because they go after the pink eyes and eat them.
Recently saw an entire tank of albino cories, all but one was missing it's eyes because the fish they were in with ate them!
Can't remember the type of fish, though, killifish maybe?

do you have any rough/sharp edged rock work? It almost looks as if they tried to hide in a crevice or something and got messed up that way. I doubt it happened from digging in the substrate, or that is one tough and determined cory cat.
But I have seen them literally dive into the sand up to their gills, so....

does seem like a mystery..

 

[Eggheadfish]

Lost one more cory today no apparent injuries and one of the lyretails who did have a banged up fin. Some of the decorations are a little rough but why these guys are plowing into stuff I haven't a clue. The rainbow fish are pretty good, they only harass each other. The male murdered one of the females and a raspbora when I first got them but haven't bothered any other fish since. I rearranged the decor last time I introduced new fish to make sure they could establish territory, not get stuck, and have adequate hiding. The amount of time I spend looking into this stuff and still having all these deaths makes me feel like an incompetent fool.

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

Then most of us are fools. We have all had to deal with the heartache and frustration of trying to help our pets and failing and/or making really fatal errors. I understand how hard it is to lose fish - my tank was wiped out in a week.

Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm sorry you went through this.

 

[fish wrangler]

Could the new corys have had a disease and that spread when u put the in your tank? Just a thought.

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[Eggheadfish]

I wondered the same thing, but the new guys had been in there for over a month and were quarantined first. I watch my tanks like a hawk and when someone isn't doing so well I notice. All of these losses in the last week were completely unexpected and really strange. I don't think an illness would cause the types of markings I've seen on the fish, but I could be wrong

 

[loachy dance]

I know not everyone will agre, but it is my belief that albino cories are weaker then others, just an oppinion.
They do seem to be targetted by other fish alot. I lost mine to supposedly peaceful gold barbs.

 

[PB_Smith]

it's the eyes, they look like tasty little eggs or something similarly yummy to a lot of fish.

 

[loachy dance]

Mine didnt lose his eyes though, the pulled his fins off.

 

[amyb_70]

Hi, i have browsed through your thread and i hope this helps you. I have been at fish keeping, aquarium life whatever you call it since april, the past month is the first i have been able to keep a guppy alive longer than 3 weeks.. i have now had some for over 2 months, a huge milestone for me.... my other aquarium a 29 gal, i had 3 angelfish and 2 veil angels, all was good for a month, on sat i added 2 new angels (small very small), and now i am only have 2 left... so since i added saturday i have lost 5 anglefish. thankfully the 2 living are ones who paired up, as my veils also paired up maybe the 2nd veil died due to losing her friend. im not sure but 5 angels in 4 days is allot to take. and the store wont do anything.... not even reply to an email. they replied to the original email but when i kept losing the fish the replies ended.... thats one hell of a business right.... sorry just frustrated, you pay all your hard earned money for the fish you want and the store doesnt give 2 hoots... oh and btw, they tested my water and the owner was like wow, your levels are right on perfect....

 

[loachy dance]

Hi, i have browsed through your thread and i hope this helps you. I have been at fish keeping, aquarium life whatever you call it since april, the past month is the first i have been able to keep a guppy alive longer than 3 weeks.. i have now had some for over 2 months, a huge milestone for me.... my other aquarium a 29 gal, i had 3 angelfish and 2 veil angels, all was good for a month, on sat i added 2 new angels (small very small), and now i am only have 2 left... so since i added saturday i have lost 5 anglefish. thankfully the 2 living are ones who paired up, as my veils also paired up maybe the 2nd veil died due to losing her friend. im not sure but 5 angels in 4 days is allot to take. and the store wont do anything.... not even reply to an email. they replied to the original email but when i kept losing the fish the replies ended.... thats one hell of a business right.... sorry just frustrated, you pay all your hard earned money for the fish you want and the store doesnt give 2 hoots... oh and btw, they tested my water and the owner was like wow, your levels are right on perfect....

Have you cnsidered, and is ist possible that thepaired up angels killed the others? They can get pretty territorial when they mate and that tank is too small for more then 2.

 

[MonkeyMonk86]

I'd dose the entire tank with one of the fungal & bacterial general meds.
(Remember to remove carbon from the filter)

(Friend of Bill W., One day at a time)

 

[loachy dance]

I'd dose the entire tank with one of the fungal & bacterial general meds.
(Remember to remove carbon from the filter)

(Friend of Bill W., One day at a time)

Not a bad idea, but i still smell homicide.

 

[Eggheadfish]

Hi loachy...I do have a grumpy black phantom tetra who has bullied baby corys to death before. I'm definitely thinking this was a fungal or bacterial issue. Death toll has ended at 12 which was over half my tank. There's one more cory I'm concerned about but no one has died in two days which is an improvement. I also switched the substrate to sand which may not have been the best idea to do with sick fish but I had to clean top to bottom to make sure any nasties were removed. I kept the filter media but did a massive water change so we will see if that helps at all. So far so good but I plan to stock up on meds for the future. With the barbels being eaten away and the fuzz mouth on the last few I'm guessing maybe columnaris but outward signs varied so much from fish to fish. Sigh.

 

[loachy dance]

Hmm...interesting. Sometimes fin rot and other health problems result from old injuries, either fin nipping or otherwise. Compromised immune systems and all that. If some of your fish had different symptoms, it could be that they had different secondary infections after bites by either angels or the phantom you mentioned.
Im just spit balln now