TankGirl
Aquarium Advice Addict
Hello all, been a million years since I've been to the site, but I've recently updated all my tanks and have gotten a renewed interest in them (whassup, Menagerie!!).
This particular situation involves a new tank and a new addition. I set up a 150-gallon FW planted community tank about a month ago with play sand substrate, 78F water, about 7.4 pH, lots of water movement with a Fluval XF5, and plenty of plants. This was a silent cycle, since I used the Rena Filstar XP4 and the plants, rocks, wood and fish from my 55, with the only difference being a new tank and sand substrate, and the new filter. The old filter ran alongside the new one for 3 weeks, and the only additions were the cories - all the same fish from the 55 otherwise.
I am not measuring ANY nitrite and only a wee tiny bit of nitrAte. The plants seem to be doing very well and I often can't measure much nitrAte as it is used by the plants. No ammonia.
The cories were C. trilineatus and have been in the tank about 2 weeks. One of the cories has a cloudy eye on the left, and the left gill plate has lost all natural coloration but is reddish, and if you view the fish from above the gill plate area seems a bit atrophied or wasted away on that side compared to the other. This came on pretty suddenly. The right side of his head is completely normal, however, so I may have not seen his left side in a while and this has been going on longer than I realize. When he is turned the other way you can't tell there is a thing wrong with him, and he is rooting around in the sand normally.
I lost another cory this way about 5 days after I got them, and again, this was only on the left side of the head. I chalked it up to a poor specimen that arrived with something wrong with it, but I dosed Melafix.
Any ideas?
This particular situation involves a new tank and a new addition. I set up a 150-gallon FW planted community tank about a month ago with play sand substrate, 78F water, about 7.4 pH, lots of water movement with a Fluval XF5, and plenty of plants. This was a silent cycle, since I used the Rena Filstar XP4 and the plants, rocks, wood and fish from my 55, with the only difference being a new tank and sand substrate, and the new filter. The old filter ran alongside the new one for 3 weeks, and the only additions were the cories - all the same fish from the 55 otherwise.
I am not measuring ANY nitrite and only a wee tiny bit of nitrAte. The plants seem to be doing very well and I often can't measure much nitrAte as it is used by the plants. No ammonia.
The cories were C. trilineatus and have been in the tank about 2 weeks. One of the cories has a cloudy eye on the left, and the left gill plate has lost all natural coloration but is reddish, and if you view the fish from above the gill plate area seems a bit atrophied or wasted away on that side compared to the other. This came on pretty suddenly. The right side of his head is completely normal, however, so I may have not seen his left side in a while and this has been going on longer than I realize. When he is turned the other way you can't tell there is a thing wrong with him, and he is rooting around in the sand normally.
I lost another cory this way about 5 days after I got them, and again, this was only on the left side of the head. I chalked it up to a poor specimen that arrived with something wrong with it, but I dosed Melafix.
Any ideas?
