sick juli cory catfish

[lacremedeble]

I have a juli cory and i just changed the water today and he was fine when i took him out of the tank but after he was put back into the tank he started laying on his side and moving very little. i have never observed him doing this before and i've had him for maybe about 4 months now. I don't believe it is anything with the tank because the albino cory is active and lively as is my male beta. Is he sick? or am i worrying for no reason?

 

[dkpate]

Was the water you put in the same temp?

 

[lacremedeble]

yes very close to the same temperature

 

[mfdrookie516]

why did you take it out?

 

[lacremedeble]

to clean the tank

 

[dkpate]

LMAO! Why else would you take water out Rookie?
Have you put anything new in the tank? Do you see ANYTHING on him that looks weird? Is his belly swollen?

 

[lacremedeble]

No his belly does not look swollen. Within the last half hour he has managed to move maybe half a foot from where he was earlier, but he still is laying on his side. He looks as if he is breathing possibly heavier than usual too.

 

[lacremedeble]

Oh and nothing attached to him or different looking.

 

[mfdrookie516]

not the water! the fish... why did you take the FISH out of the tank...

 

[lacremedeble]

to change the water and clean the tank out

 

[mfdrookie516]

so you take everything out and clean it? not a good idea if you do. the stress of moving fish out of the tank, cleaning everything out, and basically starting with a fresh tank is a very very bad idea. Read the link in my signature on the nitrogen cycle, there are bacteria living on all the surfaces of the tank, substrate, and decor as well as the filter. When you remove them and clean them, if you dont keep them wet and use existing tank water, you can kill the bacteria, basically forcing the tank to cycle again.

 

[lacremedeble]

he's swimming around a little bit in little spirts but when he does he stays on his side or back. He wiggles as if he was stuck on his back and couldn't turn over.

 

[lacremedeble]

Ok thanks! I'll look over the link. Is that something that should be affecting all of my fish, as opposed to only one?

 

[dkpate]

If one is weaker, it will show signs earlier. If they have ammonia poisioning, one could just be showing signs earlier than the others.

 

[mfdrookie516]

not necessarily... and thats not necessarily the issue either. The fish could be stressed from the move, there are several possibilities. Have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? It is quite possible you have ammonia present, which corys are more easily affected than some other fish. Alot of variables. We can tell you more if you post your water test results in numbers, hopefully from a liquid test

EDIT: that wasnt in regards to dkpates reply which was posted about 2 seconds before mine

 

[dkpate]

LOL! ok, because I was like "Whaaat, we pretty much said the same thing!" HAHA!

 

[lacremedeble]

I came home this afternoon and he had died sometime while i was gone. Thanks for all the help though dkpate and mfdrookie. I'll look into checking the ammonia and nitrates in the tank to make sure the other fish are safe. Thanks.

 

[dkpate]

Sorry about your fish