Another cory died

[Todd2]

Today I checked out my tank. Made sure everyone was there, but 1 cory (bronze cory) was missing. Looked around the tank and found him at the bottom upside down...dead. I had a spotted cory die on saturday. Water params are Amonnia 0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm, (just ordered nitrate test) ph 7.6, and temp 76. I fed 1 to 2 hikari sinking wafers each night, underfed/overfed? I did a 20% WC on sunday, and am thinking about doing one tonight. My cory showed no signs of illness yesterday. Although, my gravel is sort of sharp (could this be the reason?). Back when I was just starting out I didn't know that corys and sharp gravel didn't mix. The dead cory had little to no barbels and the one cory thats left has the same condition barbels. I don't know what to do. One of my amano shrimp molted today. I'm sad that my fish died and frustrated at myself. I was going to get german blue rams for the new tank but I guess thats not going to happen. If someone could please help me find out whats going on that would mean a lot.

 

[Jaxom_Ruatha]

Well I am not an expert on the subject but I do know that Cories use their barbels to reach and search for food in the gravel, so perhaps that was the problem. Though you may want to wait for a second opinion from someone.

 

[Todd2]

Thanks for the quick response, ya I was thinking that the barbel injury could be it. But could barbel injury cause death? When I said my shrimp molted in my previous post I meant doesn't that show a sign of good water quality? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[rubysoho]

I'm not sure about the shrimp, but I had two cories die over the summer a few days after I got them. I never figured out what caused it, but I returned the 3rd cory because I felt so horrible. I also had the store test my water (this was before I had testers) and they said my water was perfect. So to this day I don't know what happened. Did you recently get these cories? If so, how did you acclimate them? I've heard cories can be VERY sensative to changing environments and to acclimate them slowly. Also, when you got them, had the shipment of fish just arrived? If you wait a few days after a shipment has arrived, you have a better chance of your fish surviving (because the fish that don't survive normally die pretty quickly in the store). I hope some of what I said helps. Not sure if it will though. Sometimes there are just mysterious deaths. However, I won't be getting any cories any time soon... still shaken up about it.

 

[Todd2]

I got the spotted cory on Sept. 9 and I floated him for 15 mins then put him and the water in a bucket with a drip line from the tank to the bucket. And he stayed in the bucket for 15-20 mins. I've had my bronze cories (got them at the same time) for a little under a year. Next time I go to the lfs I'll ask what their ph is. The cories weren't very active during the day but they seemed to move around at night. I hope this last guy makes it through. I'm going to see if I can sell him to the lfs because I don't intend on getting any more cories at the moment because of my gravel.

 

[rubysoho]

hmm... well I guess this just gets tossed up into the unsolved mysteries of fish tanks. Sorry to hear you are selling your last cory. I love them, they have great personality, but I'm worried I can't keep them.

 

[krap101]

yeah their kinda my favorite fish now. im more into loaches because my corys are kinda lazy. my loaches are as active as ever though. still corys are good bottom feeders and kept my bottom pretty clean

 

[TankGirl]

Usually rough gravel will injure the cory's barbels, but you really have to have some serious rough gravel and poor substrate condition (lack of gravel vac maintenance program) for it to actually kill the cory. You generally have plenty of warning and opportunity to treat the problem before the fish dies. I would suspect some sort of systemic illness, like bacterial or parasitic, because I don't see anything that would outright kill the cory. You will need to be very carefully watching the other fish in case they have whatever it is.

Good luck!

 

[Todd2]

I just got my shipment from That Fish Place. Do they pack this stuff good or what, half of the box was air bags and bubble wrap. I took out the nitrate kit and tested my water. It was around 40 ppm! Isn't this bad, aren't you supposed to keep it under 20 ppm. I'm going to do a water change tonight to lower the nitrates. Could the long term high nitrates affected my cories? I do 20% WC a week, clearly I need to do more. Should I do say 25-30% on the weekends or 2 15-20% during the week. I also gravel vac every other week . I'll watch my fish more closely to see if I notice any signs of illness.

 

[Menagerie]

Most fish can tolerate nitrates to 40ppm. Since you don't know what your nitrates were before this, you can't say for sure that this was the cause of death.

 

[Lil'Fishy]

I believe Corys prefer a lower PH. You said your was @ 7.6. You can check out this site. It will give you the specs for different corys.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=1161&TopCatId=1161

 

[jennymit21]

The ph in my old apartment was around 7.5 and my cories tended to be sluggish and i even lost a few. Now that i'm living in orlando my ph is right around 7.0 and they are happy as can be and i haven't lost any (see my sig for types). Definitely see if you can lower it.

 

[rubysoho]

come to think of it, I was struggling with high pH over the summer when I lost my cories as well. Now my pH is 6.8, I oughta try cories again....

 

[Lil'Fishy]

Yeah... i had 2 Jullii Cory's, and i loved them. But, we went away for a weekend and when we got back, one was dead. Couldnt figure out why... everything seemd normal and all the other fish were fine. Then a week later, the other died too. So, i did some research on Cory's and found that specs page. It made sense since our PH was pretty high... 7.8

 

[TankGirl]

When you ship fish it is more important for them to have contact with air than water, since oxygen is of major importance. That is why often they come with a large bag and tiny bit of water, with lots of air in there. The air insulation in the box is also important to help maintain a steady temp.

If the nitrate in the bag (very good idea to test the bag water before putting them in your tank!) is high, then they go into your lower nitrate water, that can be a significant shock, though the 40ppm is not necessarily bad - just the switch is what stresses them.

 

[TankGirl]

BTW, I have 2 tanks with cory's, two different varieties, and the pH is around 7.4. These fish are all approaching four years old!