Dead Albino Cory Cat

[westward13]

I woke up this morning to find one of my albino cory cats upside down on the bottom of the tank and I'm totally baffled as to why. All of my fish look and act perfectly healthy. It didn't have ich or any other illness that I could see from looking at him. My aquarium parameters are:

Temp 82
pH 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate approx 40ppm (although it's really hard to tell the difference between the colors around that range)

I just did a 30% water change last Friday. I have noticed a slightly oily looking film on the top of the water for a few days but that seems to have gone away and the cory cats are bottom feeders anyway so if any fish was to be negatively impacted by that, I would imagine it would be my gouramis or swordtails. Does anyone have any idea of what could have caused this?

 

[cheezysquirrelz]

How long have you had him? What kind of food did you give him?

The oily stuff sounds strange....

 

[Endgame319]

The oily stuff is nothing to worry about, its a protein film that you sometimes get on freshwater tanks. Its harmless, some fish actually eat it (mollies).

 

[westward13]

I had him for just a little over a month... I feed my fish a variety of things. Flake food, sinking pellets, fry bites, an algae wafer or two and every once in a while frozen bloodworms. Usually the cory cats just eat the sinking pellets or any flake food that might hit the sand. I'm still baffled. It's good to know the oily film isn't anything to worry about though.

 

[TankGirl]

If the other fish seem happy and healthy in the tank then I would chalk it up to "mysterious fish death" which happens from time to time. The only thing I notice is your temp of 82, since that is a bit on the warm side for corys. Something around 78 or so would be better for them, but I doubt the temp would kill the fish.

Sorry to hear about it though - that's never easy to take.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

88 degrees for a week and a half didn't kill my cory (I was treating for ich--it worked ). A lot of fish die without showing any sign of being ill. I wouldn't worry unless you have more unexpected deaths.

 

[TankGirl]

High temps won't necessarily kill fish - I treat for ich using high temps and don't lose fish, but long-term high temps are not ideal for cory cats - I am grasping at straws, since nothing obvious seems to be happening.

I keep white clouds at 79-80, which is much higher than is ideal for them, and believe me if I started losing them that would be what I would suspect, in the absence of anything obvious.

 

[tropicalman]

Albino Cories seem to be very sensitive to water conditions or changes in water conditions. If your nitrate tests are reliable, the level is a little high. Was the water recently adjusted for any parameter? That could also be a possible cause. It's true that sometimes you just can't explain a death but more often, there is something that you can point to as the likely culprit.
I would do a 25% pwc anyway just to be safe. BTW, what are the water conditions coming out of the tap or whatever source you use?

 

[krap101]

hmmm when did u get them? ive had fish in my tanks that i bought and 2-3 weeks later a couple of them die. could be like a runt or something. and sometimes fish die for no reason.