delmore
01-24-2004, 8:40 PM
I bought 5 corys from a mom and pop LFS about a ten minute walk from my house-- 3 that are very similar to, if not C. ioxozonus, and 2 C. trilineatus.
The 3 C. ioxozonus died died over the next few days. On one of the three the tail was eaten away in 24 hours, the other two looked ok but died suddenly.
Of the two C. trilineatus, one is doing great (more on that later), and the second, smaller (weaker?) died.
All of the dead corys except for the surving one were very small. I went to the lfs and told the owner that 4/5 corys only lasted a few days, etc and the tank was cycled and in very good shape. No nitrates or ammonia. It is a quarantine tank with 7 very healthy neon tetras as tankmates.
The lfs owner told me that my pH had to be off, and that corys die if the pH is over 7.0 (!) So that night I tested the pH, something I rarely do since I don't have problems in my tanks. I told him that we have the same exact water, and i do frequent changes, and in the quarantine tank do 40% changes 2x a week. the results of the test were interesting:
My water out of the tap: 7.2
tap water aged for 3 days: 7.4 (makes sense - CO2 gassed out)
My other tanks: 7.0
LFS water (from bagged fish): 7.0
Quarantine tank: 6.6
This all makes sense except for the quarantine tank. It is a 10g with 100% red flourite and some slightly rotting floating plant - wisteria and a clump of java moss. I never thougt the pH would be so low.
Could the low pH kill the undersized corys 7.0->6.6?
An interesting side note - the remaining C. trilineatus was listless, so I added a second C. trilineatus from the same LFS grudginly given to me as a replacement.
Within a half hour the fish came to life, and has been schooling non stop with his new friend ever since.
the corys and neons will stay in the quarantine tank for another 5 weeks+.
The 3 C. ioxozonus died died over the next few days. On one of the three the tail was eaten away in 24 hours, the other two looked ok but died suddenly.
Of the two C. trilineatus, one is doing great (more on that later), and the second, smaller (weaker?) died.
All of the dead corys except for the surving one were very small. I went to the lfs and told the owner that 4/5 corys only lasted a few days, etc and the tank was cycled and in very good shape. No nitrates or ammonia. It is a quarantine tank with 7 very healthy neon tetras as tankmates.
The lfs owner told me that my pH had to be off, and that corys die if the pH is over 7.0 (!) So that night I tested the pH, something I rarely do since I don't have problems in my tanks. I told him that we have the same exact water, and i do frequent changes, and in the quarantine tank do 40% changes 2x a week. the results of the test were interesting:
My water out of the tap: 7.2
tap water aged for 3 days: 7.4 (makes sense - CO2 gassed out)
My other tanks: 7.0
LFS water (from bagged fish): 7.0
Quarantine tank: 6.6
This all makes sense except for the quarantine tank. It is a 10g with 100% red flourite and some slightly rotting floating plant - wisteria and a clump of java moss. I never thougt the pH would be so low.
Could the low pH kill the undersized corys 7.0->6.6?
An interesting side note - the remaining C. trilineatus was listless, so I added a second C. trilineatus from the same LFS grudginly given to me as a replacement.
Within a half hour the fish came to life, and has been schooling non stop with his new friend ever since.
the corys and neons will stay in the quarantine tank for another 5 weeks+.