Need help with Corydoras acting weird!!!

[yudhas]

I recently bought 6 Corydoras for my tank (85 gallon). I acclimated them properly and slowly. Even checked the pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels to make sure they're ok. I released them in the tank after acclimatization, all of them were fine. Then I went out for a couple of hours. When I got back I saw five of them were fine and so were other fishes in tank (platys, swordtails, and zebra danios).

One of them got stuck in the plants and was upside down. My first thought that it was dead, but then I looked closer. The gill is still moving so it is still breathing. I helped him getting unstuck from the plants but then it swam funny and upside down. Like it had so much trouble with buoyancy. It continues to swim upside down (struggling mind you), if it stops swimming it'll just sink right to the bottom.

I don't know what's going on. The other fishes are just fine. Can anybody help me out?

Thanks.

PS. Can someone help me ID what type of Corydoras these are? I'm thinking Julii or Delphax, but I'm not too sure.

 

[philipraposo198]

How did you acclimate them
What are your water parameters
how are the rest of the corys doing

 

[yudhas]

My water parameters are:

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 20
pH = 7.2
Water temp = 79

The water from my LFS were pH 6.6.

I float the bag for 15 minutes. Then took 1 cup out of the bag and replace it with my aquarium water. I continue to do that every 10 minutes. I did it 4 times until the pH matches. After that I let it sit for about 15 minutes to make sure that they get use to it and to look for diseases and behavior issues. After that I release them to my tank.

The other corydoras are doing great. Very active and looking around for food. So are the other fishes.

 

[philipraposo198]

1 cup of water at a time in a small bag with fish is actually a pretty harsh acclimation. If the cory was a bit on the stressed out side which all fish are that are being rehomed, this kind of acclimation could be the cause.

I would suggest in the future to add approx 1tbls at a time for about 2 hours. I do it this way and even very sensitive fish like otos and rams have been great using this method.

 

[yudhas]

Well I'm gonna go down to my LFS and get another one. I'll try the spoon method. Thankfully the other corydoras are all having a good time.

Any idea what type of corydoras these guys are?

 

[philipraposo198]

corydoras melanistius

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[philipraposo198]

Another thing I just noticed looking closely at the pic. The gills seem to be more read than they should be IMO. Seems like you may have some Cory's that have been in some less than ideal water conditions. It also could be that they are young and have very transparent body right now too.

Keep and eye out and if you have a way to add a air stone or something it will help.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[yudhas]

I completely agree with you on their gills being red. I noticed it right away, so I've been keeping an eye on them. It's been 24 hours and so far so good. All of them seems to be energetic. Hopefully it stays that way. I have a 24-inch air stone and a disk-air stone.

 

[philipraposo198]

The thing I am unsure of is how much damage has been done. I am under the impression that once their gills are damaged they don't really recover. Maybe someone can clarify. Hope all your Corys keep on going strong.

 

[yudhas]

I got a replacement corys from my lfs for the one that dies yesterday. I've noticed that all of them have the same red gills. My guess is that they were stressed out. I also noticed that the ones that I have for 24 hours are already starting to look less red.

 

[philipraposo198]

That's good news. Keep a close eye and do freq wcs for the next little bit to ensure to added stress on your part.

 

[yudhas]

I have a question about you spoon method for acclimating. Do you just add 1tblsp from the tank into the bag every 5 minutes or do you take out 1tblsp of water from the bag as well?

 

[philipraposo198]

I just add to the existing water. I add it every 10min for approx 2hrs

 

[yudhas]

Thanks for the help man. My corys are great, the red gills are almost gone. There is a hint of red but they are definitely recovering. I think the tank at where I bought it had ammonia in it which cause the red gill due to irritation.

 

[philipraposo198]

yeah make sense.

Your welcome

 

[yudhas]

I found one of my Corys like this. It was fine yesterday but then tonight he developed this. I'm not sure what it is. Does anybody know what it is?

All I have for treatments are Seachem Paraguard and Cupramine. I don't have anything else and they are hard to find here.

 

[hroom88]

seems like fungal infection

 

[yudhas]

Is it infectious for my other fishes?

 

[Pleco1415]

Someone said in this thread you have to acclimate the fish for 2 hours. Does that apply to all fish? I've had fish for 6 years now and when ever I get a new fish or move someone to a different tank I always let the bag float for 15-25 minutes and add some new aquarium water to the bags during that time. I've never had a problem so that's why I'm curious as to how much time the fish actually have to acclimate.

 

[yudhas]

I think it's safer to do so but then again that all depends on how long have they been in the bag for, parameter of water in the bag, and type of fish.

Perhaps hardier fish don't need to acclimate for that long. I know my platys and zebra danios only took one hour to acclimate and all of them are fine.