I had 3 danios and 3 corycats for my initial cycle. I lost one cory early on to what I can only believe to be the water conditions. Once that happened I went out and bought a test kit and bio-spira. I immediately added the bio-spira to the tank and let the tank sit overnight (after a 20% water change) and then tested the water 24 hours after I added the bio-spira. Ammonia 0 ppm, nitrIte 0 ppm, nitrAte 5 ppm. Good the water is no longer toxic to the fish in there so I figured my fish loss problems due to the cycle were done. A day goes by and all the fish seem as happy as a pigs in slop, I continue closely monitoring tank water conditions and they stayed at 0,0, and 5 like before. This morning I wake up to a dead cory and I'm confused as to what could have happened. Before I went to bed last night it didn't exhibit and signs of sickness or or distress. It was swimming up to the top of the tank and then gliding down like they usually do. The other cory is fine and isn't showing any signs of distress either. I want to get some more cories but I need to find out what might be affecting them before I go and do so, what should I be looking for? I tested the water again today and it's still 0,0,5 like it's always been.
The mysterious dying julii corycats
- Thread starter push350z
- Start date
it's possible that the cory that died, suffered from the previous effects of toxic water conditions and simply took longer to die. fish differ in their resistance to water conditions .. both within the same species and between species.
liv2padl said:
Yeah that's the only thing I could come up with, but I was told, who knows if it's true that cories were almost as hardy as the danios I had and could make it through a cycle. I must confess that I don't know many specifics about julii corycats as I haven't been able to find much about them it's mostly about the albino, or peppered that i've found info on.
echoofformless
Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
I find that we always run to try and find a particular reason for a fish to die. But in my experience plenty of fish just up and simply die. Every animal does it...I mean I just read about a perfectly healthy (seemingly) 14 year old girl who dropped dead out of nowhere. Turns out it was heart failure.
I have especially noticed that corys play the sudden death more often than other fish. Some of them seem to be immortal, while others just up and die out of nowhere.
Granted tank conditions from the cycle could be a part of it, as could who knows what from the time it was hatched to the time it made it to your tank.
If all of your parameters are good and there doesn't seem to be any bacteria, viruses, parasites, et. al, than I would just chalk it up to plain old drop dead syndrome. Living things do have this strange tendency to die. I know it's hard to believe...but they do. :thud:
I have especially noticed that corys play the sudden death more often than other fish. Some of them seem to be immortal, while others just up and die out of nowhere.
Granted tank conditions from the cycle could be a part of it, as could who knows what from the time it was hatched to the time it made it to your tank.
If all of your parameters are good and there doesn't seem to be any bacteria, viruses, parasites, et. al, than I would just chalk it up to plain old drop dead syndrome. Living things do have this strange tendency to die. I know it's hard to believe...but they do. :thud:
haha I was just wondering if there was anything special I needed to do for cories, that maybe I missed somewhere that was causing them to up and die. I was going to get a few more tonight, but I'm going to wait until I change out my substrate from round gravel of about 1-1.5 cm to PFS I think.
yeah, I must have a guardian fish-angel, since i've never lost a fish like that. in fact, i've never lost a fish to anything other than old age! lucky me! 
echoofformless
Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
Corys are generally happy in any substrate that isn't rough enough to injure their barbels.
As far as special treatment, they tend to eat whatever food comes to the bottom, but I supplement them with sinking pellets every few days.
As far as special treatment, they tend to eat whatever food comes to the bottom, but I supplement them with sinking pellets every few days.
Yeah purchased Hikari sinking pellets for the little guys and they seem to love them, the substrate isn't terribly rough, but it is gravel, and I heard that they really enjoy sand to scavage in. The gaps caused by the gravel aren't necessarily scavage friendly.echoofformless said:
yup, careful with the barbels. they are very sensitive, after all they are part of the sensory system. i have a dojo loach whose whiskers are short nubs because the rough gravel was tearing them up. the gravel seemed fine to me, didn't hurt my fingers, but it was still too rough for him. so i had to change out all my gravel with rounded river bed gravel. i'm told his whiskers will grow back, but they've been short for a year because i didn't know what the heck it was. here's hopin'!
echoofformless
Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
Yes, rounded gravel. Most of the Estes line in the pea-size is nicely rounded, and evenly coated as well. Smooth, safe surface for cory barbels. The gaps are actually a good thing really, as they trap food particles and leave them just waiting for a hungry cory to come along and snack.