runty cory

[jinmon]

Okay, I bought a bag of 6 peppered cories at the local fish club auction a couple weeks ago, and they're ADORABLE. But one of them is just...runty! He's not really grown (he's tiny compared to the others!) although he eats and is somewhat active - but I worry that he's a little shy compared to the others. He does have shorter barbels (and they're not perfectly straight), though I've never had cories (or fish) before so I don't know if younger fish have shortish barbels or if they stay proportionately long compared to their bodies as they grow? I wonder if he's just younger than the others and I didn't notice at first, but...?

Today I'm worried that there may be a TINY patch of fuzz on his head (fungus? SO tiny I can't tell yet) and his ventral fins seem reddish... I'm worried!!!

Any suggestions on how to ensure this little guy gets/stays healthy would be very much appreciated! I CAN quarantine him but I worry he'd be worse off separated from his buddies!

 

[PRED11]

if all you have are the corys then why not just treat them all as a precaution. chances are they will all be infected to an extent. and if your tank is a new set-up has it been cycled yet ?

 

[neilanh]

I have a runt peppered as well. He's just as active as the other though, just smaller.

 

[jinmon]

I don't just have cories in the tank, unfortunately. They're in with a couple killies, 6 gold barbs and 4 platies.... Oh, and the tank was fishless cycled pre-fish, yup.

Okay, after watching this little guy some more, I'm not sure I'm not overreacting. He eats fine once he gets TO the sinking wafer, etc (those barbs are yellow pigs with fins!) and he seems active, he just is sooo small he worries me! I can't quite tell if I'm seeing something or nothing on his head, so I'll keep watching him, and I'm not sure if he USES those barbels or not - I wonder if he's just... special?

I may use an anti-fungal tank dose at some point in the future... I'm feeding metronidazole-laced food at the moment 'cause I was a little worried about hexamita in the platies, not sure I'm not overreacting about that too! Being a new fishy mom is hard!