Stupid Albino Corys------ Updated 12/02/04

[steeldude]

Hey all,

I recently added a small school (7) of Albino Cory's to my 55 community tank.
Yesterday I came home from work and noticed that one cory was MIA. I searched around and finally found him dead, stuck on the suction cup holder of my powerhead. OK, that kinda sucked but theres more, today I came home from work and noticed another missing, searched around and found him dead, stuck in a fake plant, this really sucks, but now it gets even worse. I counted my remaining cory's and yes, there were still 5, so I fed both my tanks and went about my business, came back not 10 minutes later and counted the cory's............................... Only 4 were to be seen, so I searched and found #5 stuck in another plant but he was still barely alive, I got him free, and let him rest on the bottom, upside down but still alive, I watched over the tank to make sure that no other fish finished the job. Then they all started circling and trying to take pot shots at the poor guy. I took him out and put him in a container with tank water, he'll probably not make it though.

What the hell is going on though, a Cory suicide pact? Should I take all the plants out or accept the fact that Cory's and fake plants don't mix?


Well, all the Cory's are now gone to the great beyond. The only odd thig I've noticed in the past two days are that a couple of my Serpae Tetras out of a school of 7 were pestering the remaining 2 cory's , they would swim and ram the the Cory's, maybe thats the answer, who knows. All of my other fish in this tank are doing great. The water is perfect, the substrate is clean. I just don't get it. I'll stay away from Cory's for now.

Heres a picture of the tank:[/b]

 

[rubysoho]

Cories are very sensative to toxins in the tank. My guess is you have a high enough amount of ammonia or nitrites (or was it nitrates that were bad... cant remember) and that is what is causing the fatalities. Cories are bottom dwellers and which is where the toxins are concentrated. Do a 30% water change and vacuum the gravel just to make sure.

To help answer your question and find a definite reason, please give us specific readings of temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrATE and nitrITE. Also, how big is your tank? How long has it been running? What other fish are in the tank? Have you cleaned anything in the same room as the tank using strang chemicals?

Hope we can figure this out before more cories die.

*edit* and by the way, normally it isn't the fish who are stupid (minus carpet surfers). They get put through hell to get to our tanks and even if they make it that far, mistakes by owners are more likely.

 

[steeldude]

Nah, its not a water quality problem, My ammonia is 0, Nitrates are 5.0, Nitrites are 0 Ph 7.1, Temp is 81f, Its a 55 gal , fake plants, real driftwood, Playsand Substrate(very easy to keep the tank clean). Population is 3 matched(m/f) pair of Gouramis, 2 male Silver Dollars(my favorites), 1 pair of Parrot Chiclids (Very cool Fish) , the 4 remaining Cory's. a school of 7 serpae Tetras and 1- 3" TireTrack Eel. I realize that I push the limits of population, but I am religous about tank maintanence, and am prepared to buy another(possible bigger) tank when the fish get too big for the tank. This tank has been running for 3 weeks, with a Fluval 304 that has been on another tanks for over a year. I also have a powerhead for surface agitation.

Is it possible that the current is too strong in the tank for the Cory's, I don't really see that as being a problem, but I'm not an expert.

 

[FishLover14]

Hmmm. have you every dropped any forieng object in like a penny in, does your blood parrot cichlid bother them.

Dan

 

[rubysoho]

"This tank has been running for 3 weeks"

I think this is your problem. You have a lot of new fish in a very new tank. What type of test kits do you have? I'd take a water sample to your LFS and have them test it just in case your's is not working properly (this is known to happen). Since cories stay at the bottom of the tank, they are around the toxins more. If you have the test tube kits, try getting a sample of water from the bottom of the tank (cover the tube with your thumb, stick it down to the bottom of the tank and release at a horizontal angel). If you have the test strips, definitly toss those and get your LFS to check your levels. Good luck!

I doubt the current is the problem.

 

[steeldude]

No , nothing dropped in and No, the Parrots don't bother anyone except at feeding time.

 

[FishLover14]

Proably water problems, did u cycle your tank beofre adding fish?

Dan

 

[steeldude]

My water parameters are perfect, It is a very healthy tank. I used two different test tube kits to test the water and got the same exact results with both.
I have just made sure that there are no parts of the plants that they can easily get stuck in. Maybe that will help.

 

[FishLover14]

Did you cycle your tank though?

Dan

 

[steeldude]

The tank cycled for a week without any fish, The filter (Fluval 304) however has been running for over a year on another tank and as a precaution I chucked a bit of raw shrimp in the tank and the ammonia cycled out within a day. Cycling a tank with a used filter is the absolute quickest way to cycle a tank.

 

[FishLover14]

Around here post people call cycling a tank with a filter "cheat cycling" or at least i have heard that term a lot. Your tank is most likely cycled, how often do you vaccum and do water changes?

Dan

 

[TankGirl]

I prefer to call it "seeding" and not "cheating" since it is all for the good, and is the way people with multiple tanks cycle new additions in a day or two.

How do the barbels on the remaining cory cats look? That is usually the first sign of trouble - when their barbels are decayed or eroded away - so I'd check that out, and there may simply be a disease running through the cory cat population that is concentrated at the bottom of the tank where they have access.

Otherwise is it certainly mysterious so you might consider putting the remaining corys in quarrantine with Melafix and/or Pimafix to treat prophylactically.

 

[steeldude]

Water Changes, every two days, Vacumned once a week.
Another just died, stuck under the driftwood. Lifted the driftwood, he swam a few inches , leaned and just sat there on his side, the other fish started circling so I put him in a container and he will die soon, The 3 remaining are fine, hanging out on top of the driftwood, swimming down to sand and back every few minutes. No other fish are bothering them and I have not witnessed any aggression in this tank.

 

[steeldude]

The Barbells on the remining 3 are fine, long and strong looking. I'm gonna leave them be and see what happens. If I lose another , I'll set up a quick QT tank and Melafix them,

 

[QTOFFER]

The other possibility is that the corys were already sick and doomed before you bought them. I had a similar experience with albino corys about a year ago - bought six, lost six within a week. After double checking my water params, I decided to give them another go, and bought another six. That was about 10 months ago, and I still have four. The other two got trapped and died in an evil hollow tank ornament.

Did you quarrantine the new corys before adding them to the new tank? If not, it is a practice that I would highly recommend, so you don't introduce a disease to your established tank. In my experience, about 75% of newly purchased fish come down with something within the first two weeks (usually ich). Better to have that happen in a QT tank, rather in your healthy show tank.

 

[sugarloves]

Did you acclimate them properly when you added them to your tank. They could be dying from shock.

 

[steeldude]

I did not QT the cory's when I got them, I did have them in a holding tank for about 2 hours in tank water from the tank. The remaining 3 seem fine now. I'll keep a close eye on them.

 

[rubysoho]

I did have them in a holding tank for about 2 hours in tank water from the tank.

To acclimate properly, you leave them in the bag of water from the LFS for about 20 minutes to raise or lower the temperature slowly. Then some people will put them in the tank from there, but with sensative fish like cories, pouring a little of your tank water in the bag, waiting five minutes, repeat a few times, helps them adjust to your tank. They probably did die of shock if you just put them straight into your own water without acclimation.

 

[FawnN]

It sounds like you should have acclimated them in the actual tank they were going to occupy.

I personally get a tupperware container with the store water they came with and float the container in the tank. And every 10 minutes I would add some of the new tank water to the container. I would do this for an hour as a precaution, and have yet to loose any new fish.

The tupperware is so much easier then trying to do this with the baggies.

 

[rubysoho]

really? I never thought about tupperware, but I've never really had a problem with bags either. I do like to make sure none/as little as possible of the store's tank water gets into my tank, so I bet it would be easier to get the fish out of the tupperware container.