Corydora Hasbrosus

[jlbfish]

I have 11 corys in QT with 5 Red Eyes and 6 Flame Tetras. I know Red Eyes can be nippy but didn't think they would bother corys. These guys are tiny.

There is one that just lays at the bottom with his fins clamped down and doesn't move. Didn't move for the water vac when I did a water change. I'm not sure if he is sick or not. The other corys are doing fine.

Should I pull him out and ISO him separately?
Pull the whole cory school out to a 10 gallon QT of their own?
Wait and see.

He did take off when I was filling the tank and swam straight up but the red eyes did nip at him at that moment. I haven't seen it any other time.

The tank has 8.0 pH, .5 ammonia (before water change), 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates (I am going to stick some seeded media in there if necessary my last QT needed meds that killed my media).

Any advice?

 

[siva]

Habrosus don't always ship so well. I've had shipments where I lost most. Once I ordered five and two were healthy, one DOA, and two really tried to make it but were just pretty lethargic for probably about a couple weeks before they died. If you are buying from a store they are almost always wild caught specimens, which seem to do worse.

I probably wouldn't stress it even worse by removing it and keeping it by itself, but I can't say if that would be the popular opinion.

I would however remove all of them from the red eyes. Mix them with small passive fish and you'll really get to enjoy their behaviors. Habrosus are one of the cories that come to the surface frequently so mid-top dwellers that make them fear doing so probably isn't best.

 

[jlbfish]

Thanks. Sadly the one of my 11 died (apparently they gave me an extra). The others seem to be doing ok so far. I haven't seen the red eyes nip at anyone except that one.

They are only in QT together for a couple of weeks then the tiny corys will go in a mellow tank of neons and threadfin rainbows. Think they will be ok for that short time?

Thanks for the advice.
Jana

 

[siva]

Neons and threadfins should work good. Sounds like they'll be OK in QT for the meantime, but keep a close eye. Sorry you lost one, still a pretty good success rate so far.

 

[jlbfish]

Thanks. I just discovered the red eyes may have ICH. Not sure the little guys will survive the heat increase.

I put the red eyes in a 10 gallon for now.

 

[siva]

Crap. You gonna do heat only? I would. And increase the heat very slowly. If it were me, I might just begin to treat the red eyes and just gravel vac the heck outta the other tank and hope nothing pops up in there. It MAY work, but probably not. Gravel vac it every day for a while and just watch. That's an option.

 

[jlbfish]

Yeah but I was only going to raise to 78, gravel vac and water change every day. Supposedly at temps above 76 the life span goes in 4 days? Either way if it is ICH I caught it way early.

The red eyes are in a 10 gallon at the moment only problem is no filter yet. I was going to watch them for another day or so to see what happens (since they are heartier). I hope I'm wrong and I'm wrong often so chances are good so far!

 

[siva]

I've never heard that. I've always raised the temp to 86. That's starting with a tank already at 78-80 though.

If you're not sure it's ich, post a pic if you can.

 

[jlbfish]

I did treat with higher temps (86 I think) last time I battled ICH. I've read the Pygmy Corys don't do well at high heat so I was going for speeding up the lifecycle and not so much killing it, since I've read the max temp for the Cory is 78.8.

Did you have your hasbrosus up that high? Did the do ok?

I'll try to get a pic but there are like 3 specs so I was watching and waiting while raising temps. I'm just a little panicked because I don't want to loose the tiny guys.


This is the article I usually use. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

Thanks for the advice!

 

[siva]

The cories and heat thing is somewhat overrated. However, I've never had any of the tiny species (pygmaeus aka pygmy, habrosus aka dwarf, and hastatus) at temps above 80, so I can't speak for them specifically, but I definitely wouldn't worry about bringing it up to 82 with them. Make sure you run a bubbler or lower the water level to get some extra aeration going. My false jullii's did fantastic when I had to treat their tank, but they seem to be a very hardy species. My orange lazers are in a tank that is 82-84 and I've had them for about a year with no issues.

 

[jlbfish]

Thanks for the information. I will keep an eye out and slowly raise temps some more.

 

[siva]

No prob. Good luck!