Panda Cory Behavior

[woofwoofgrrl]

I've had 5 panda cories in my 10 gal QT tank for 2 weeks now. 4 of them are darting about, zipping up and down, being generally adorable and energetic. The 5th one is just laying on the bottom. Occasionally it'll move, but it's not energetic like the others. Is this normal or is #5 not feeling well?

I did a 33% water change today, but before that parameters were 10ppm for Nitrate, 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia. API liquid kit.

If he is sick, I probably made matters worse because I attempted to tweak up the temp in case it's ich. The plan was to go slowly, a degree or two ever 12 hours, and it's gone up 4-6 degrees in 8 hours. It was 72, now it's 78ish. I don't like the thermometer that's in that tank, since it has no indicator of what temp it thinks it should shut off at. <sigh>

Thoughts?

 

[Homedog98]

Ich is a visible thing, those aren't ich symptoms. It'll be fine, just lower the temp a little bit, and see what happens. Is he eating?

 

[woofwoofgrrl]

Hard to tell if he's eating since I don't see him when he's moving about. My other fish get all excited when they see me since I'm the food fairy. The cory's don't react that way, at least not yet. I'm guessing because they are bottom, rather than top feeders?

 

[Jason7894561230]

He might be a but stressed and he is just taking his time in getting used to the tank. If you have lights on i would turn them off and let him settle in with no lights. Also watch that his skin doesnt have any white spots on it

 

[i3k]

Don't turn your temp. down...leave it as is. 78 degrees is fine. if you drop the temp. down it'll only stress the fish even more.

usually the corys will get very active as soon as any type of food is dropped into a tank. so when you drop some food in, does that 1 cory become active or does he still kind of lay around while other corys are active digging around?

 

[mandy2936]

I agree, don't turn your temperature down again. Most tropical fish are fine with temperatures within the ranges of 72-82˚F, so the temperature you have now is perfectly fine. Tampering further will only the stress the fish out more.

If there are no visible marking or signs of illness other than his "lazy" behavior, I'm not quite sure what's going on here. As the others have said, settling in could be a reason, but two weeks seems long enough to me.

For now, I'd keep a close eye on him and maybe he'll soon adjust.

 

[ejaramillo01]

I do have 4 Panda Corys in a 10G tank, they are crazy all the time up and down, but every time, when I get closer to the tank, they ran away to hide as soon as they can.

So maybe is normal, they are always afraid of me :-(

 

[woofwoofgrrl]

Thanks everyone! I'm starting to think it's ich - there appear to be a few little white flecks on the black spot near its tail... hopefully I've caught it early enough to save him.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Thanks everyone! I'm starting to think it's ich - there appear to be a few little white flecks on the black spot near its tail... hopefully I've caught it early enough to save him.

My only recommendation is not to over react, ich can be easy identify, should look like granulated salt stick to the skin of the fish. Before you start any treatment try to be sure, observe, take and post a picture ( if possible), so other people here can give you an opinion.

 

[woofwoofgrrl]

Ack! Now he's laying on his side on the bottom of the tank and panting.