sick corries

[Da Squid]

I have a 55g low light planted tank with 10 neons, 3 mollies, 2 SAE's and 8 corries. The corries were added about ten days ago and all seemed very healthy. They eat the wafers I drop in there and are mostly active. Every now and then they sort of just freeze where they are and dont move for a few minutes. I assumed that was normal?

Today I came home and one of them has gone completely white where they used to be a dirty dishwater grey color. I'm guessing he's dead and I'm gonna get him with the net in a minute. Another corry is awkwardly placing himself vertical along the plants like a plecco would. He'll then start to float upside down and then right himself. His gills seem to be going in overdrive like he's struggling to breath.

My ammonia is zero, nitrite zero, nitrates are between 5 and 10. These conditions have been this way since I introduced the fish. Temp is about 78 and PH has been a steady 7.2 any advice?

 

[Da Squid]

Bah. Not dead yet. Bumped him with the net and he took off. That's even worse though, he's not eating so I get to watch him starve to death probably.

 

[DizzCat]

Every now and then they sort of just freeze where they are and dont move for a few minutes. I assumed that was normal?

I can't tell you what is wrong, but I can tell you that this behavior is normal. I have one Cory that will hang out in my big Aamzon plant, vertical like a pleco at times. He does not float tho. Fish can change color with mood. Maybe the one that turned white was jsut showing off to a female?

 

[cwt]

Does the sick one still have its barbels (whiskers)? They stop eating if they lose the barbels.

 

[Da Squid]

Yep. It still has them. At least it did yesterday.

I didn't think about it shifting color for a different reason. Still, he genuinely looks like he's on his way out.

 

[FishEggs]

usually when they lose their color like that something is stressing them out. i've had fish look real pale when i got them and after a day or 2 the color comes back.

 

[Da Squid]

He's noticably smaller than the other 7 corries I have. I'm sort of thinking he could be the sickly runt of the litter and never had much of a chance to begin with. His gils never move at all on the bottom which makes me always think he's dead. The other problem corry (the one that seems to be gasping) keeps resting on plants or thread algae and is almost upside down and is still pumping his gils like crazy. The other 6 corries all seem healthy and active along with all my other fish.
Could it just be that my tank is set up fine and the two corries have just come to their time? None of the fish bother them in the slightest bit.

 

[Da Squid]

Yup, came home and the two corries were dead. The other ones still seem fine so I'll keep my fingers crossed. If anyone knows of something I should be watching out for, please let me know!

 

[cwt]

sorry to hear it. Keep an eye on the other ones. You only added these less than 2 weeks ago, so they're new fish, and some new fish aren't in the shape you might think they are. An occasional pause is totally normal; I suppose they earn it after working the gravel for most of the day. Make sure those barbels are looking good.

just curious, what variety of cory do you have in there? Not like one kind is hardier than another, I just like to see what other people have.

 

[Da Squid]

My fav LFS is very trustworthy and clean but also very expensive . All the specific kinds of corries there were around 8 bucks each. They had some 3 dollar ones that were just labeled as 'tank bred'. They are all slightly different, but basically a dull grayish purple color with a thick tan vertical stripe down the middle. Or a tan color with a thick purple stripe. I'm guessing different corries mated and these are the ugly children? hee hee.

 

[cwt]

technically I think they can interbreed but it is not supposed to be common, as the female has to actively do certain things to make it happen and the ones I have only only interact with their own kind. There are a lot of different cory types though, do an internet search for cory images and you can probably find these.

 

[Da Squid]

Another dead corry! I just came back from a beer festival. And found the poor little guy stuck to one of the plants upside down. Water paramaters are all the same as posted earlier. No signs of distress on the fish. Could it be that I'm not feeding them enough? Maybe I should start feeding them at night as well as in the morning?

 

[Da Squid]

Ack! Murder! Scandal! Another dead corry this afternoon. I've lost half of them now. I've been feeding them more than usual since my last post and still keeping the tank clean and having good water conditions. Ammonia and nitrite always zero, nitrates bounce between 5 and 10 before my weekly WC.
They were all looking active and healthy yesterday and my other fish have no problems what so ever. Could it be this is just a really weak strain from the fishstore?

 

[Da Squid]

Another dead one today. Thats 5 gone and 3 left. So my question now is... three is a rather small school. Corries are pretty much my favorite fish to watch, but if there is some mysterious problem with my tank that makes it uninhabitable to them then I should give up. Should I try buying a different species of corry, or just decide that bottom dwellers don't like me?

 

[cwt]

Don't know what to tell you... might have to relocate the remaining cories if you don't want to lose the rest. Interesting that you still have nitrates when you also have a planted tank; do you feed in large doses, or small bits thru the day?

 

[Da Squid]

It used to be one small dose at the end of the day. But I've been feeding a bit more than usual lately to try and make sure the corries eat. They are so timid they tend to just hide while the fish eat all the sinking wafers. My plants are all slow growing ones too which probably dont soak up too many nitrates.

 

[crossthreaded]

I have had the same problem with my corries. they will do fine for a couple days to a couple weeks then go completely pale and die. I have had 2 in there for about 6 months and they are the only ones to make it out of 2 batches of 6. Never could figure it out and I'm not adding any more although I'd like to.

 

[EscVelocity]

You don't happen to add aquarium salt to your tanks do you?

 

[Da Squid]

No. The guy at the LFS kept trying to convince me I need to add salt for my black mollies, but they seemed so healthy already I didn't want to go adding extra stuff to fix something that wasn't broke. Do you think salt might help the corries?
I'm planting some larger plants today which should hopefully give more hiding places. I thought there were enough already, but perhaps the corries disagree!

 

[crossthreaded]

You don't happen to add aquarium salt to your tanks do you?

I do. the corries love it and swim towards it when I add it. should I not be adding this?