I was wondering if anyone else has had a fish that never seems completely healthy. I have a little albino corydoras that never seems quite right. Back in early spring I had to treat him for what seemed to be a bacterial infection. He spent all his time at the top, then on the bottom not eating for a week. I treated him with Maracyn 2 and he recovered completely. For the last couple of months he was thriving, growing and eating -- exceptionally active and quite happy. Now once again, he seems slow and not as strong as he should be. Also for the past week or so his left pectoral fin seems paralyzed. He has two tiny marks on his side like another fish has been nipping him now. I'm not sure what to do. The fin that isn't moving concerns me greatly. The other fish in the tank seem healthy. My ph is 7.4 as usual, ammonia 0 and my nitrites are up a bit to .1. I don't have a test kit for nitrates. Temp 79. Do you think he may just be a genetically weak fish? He is my absolute favorite in the tank and I want to help him as best I can. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.
One fish always sick?
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It could be that that one individual is weaker, possibly due to its genetic makeup. Or maybe something happened to it before you got it to compromise its immune system. Like maybe it was treated roughly at some point in its life (capture, do they get cories from the wild? or shipment/handling).
I have one golden dojo loach that is a little "special" too. I used to be very bad about tank cleaning and my nitrates must have been sky high (this was before I owned a test kit). He developed a swimbladder disorder AND shrunken barbels due to bacterial infections. Now he is in a bigger tank which I keep meticulously clean (50% water changes 2X week), but he still bobs up a little bit and his barbels have not grown back, after a year and a half. Oh well, I know his surroundings are much healthier. He eats like a pig and has a zest for life, so I can't complain.
Your cory may have gone through a rough time that, too. Like you, my special dojo is also my absolute favorite fish. Their struggles probably help to endear them to us, because they're such fighters.
Sorry, I don't have any suggestions on how to treat his current ailment, though. It worries me that the others have started to turn on him
Maybe they just know he is the weakest member of the school.
I have one golden dojo loach that is a little "special" too. I used to be very bad about tank cleaning and my nitrates must have been sky high (this was before I owned a test kit). He developed a swimbladder disorder AND shrunken barbels due to bacterial infections. Now he is in a bigger tank which I keep meticulously clean (50% water changes 2X week), but he still bobs up a little bit and his barbels have not grown back, after a year and a half. Oh well, I know his surroundings are much healthier. He eats like a pig and has a zest for life, so I can't complain.
Your cory may have gone through a rough time that, too. Like you, my special dojo is also my absolute favorite fish. Their struggles probably help to endear them to us, because they're such fighters.
Sorry, I don't have any suggestions on how to treat his current ailment, though. It worries me that the others have started to turn on him
Maybe they just know he is the weakest member of the school.Thanks for your reply. I feel so back for him. I think it might be the dominant gourami picking on him. I see this morning one bite looks a little bloody. Also, the fin that is not moving has a dark fuzzy growth starting on the very tip. Is this a fungus? I have some Melafix. Should I treat him with this or is there a better product? If melafix is okay, should I treat the whole tank with it or move the cory to the hospital tank. I'd have to set it up and let it cycle.
You should isolate him to treat, since he's the only one afflicted with it (probably due to being weaker, the other fish are able to fight it off naturally). Maybe that setup isn't ideal, either, poor guy. I've tried Melafix before and it wasn't too helpful (although the water smelled nice 
). But you could definitely try it before resorting to harsher stuff. The fuzzy stuff does sound like fungus, although I've never had to deal with it myself, knock on driftwood.
Maybe you should start a new thread asking about fungus, and how to deal with your picked-on guy. I feel bad for him, too Or wait to see if anyone else responds to this thread. Good luck, I hope someone can be of more help. I was just sharing my experience of having one fish who's always a little off, myself.
). But you could definitely try it before resorting to harsher stuff. The fuzzy stuff does sound like fungus, although I've never had to deal with it myself, knock on driftwood.Maybe you should start a new thread asking about fungus, and how to deal with your picked-on guy. I feel bad for him, too
Or wait to see if anyone else responds to this thread. Good luck, I hope someone can be of more help. I was just sharing my experience of having one fish who's always a little off, myself.Thanks. I'm going to set up my quarantine tank tonight. He is still eating regularly so hopefully he'll be okay in the big tank until the small one is cycled. I'll use the filtre media and some substrate from the main tank to help it cycle and then I'll move him over and treat him. Poor little dude.