Emaciated Cory :(

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TankGirls

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Mar 5, 2012
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We have a 20 gallon, set up since mid-August '11, with the following fish:
1 Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami
1 Mickey Mouse Platy
6 Neon Tetras
1 Rubber Lip Pleco
1 Peppered Cory. Back in December we had three Peppered Corys, but decided to add one more and did not quarantine before introducing it to our tank. Stupid. That one Cory was sick and it wrecked havoc on our tank (something Melafix took care of and then Ich). We lost the new guy and two of the three Corys we already had. The one we have now barely made it, he's actually the reason I finally joined this forum.

The lone Cory we have left, "Pepper" (how original), seemed to be doing fairly well without having any buddies. I absolutely was planning on getting two more after we confirmed the tank was healthy again.

Well, I'm afraid I have not been paying close enough attention and didn't realize that our Cory was losing weight. I think because he wasn't getting enough food. That's my theory because when I fed flakes on Saturday night the Cory seemed to be exerting itself vertically in an attempt to catch the flakes as they sank down; but he had already weakened enough that it was pretty much a lost cause.

I feed flakes every other day. A couple weeks back, I cut back on algae wafers. I was giving the wafers every other day but was afraid it was making too much waste for our meager 20 gallon so I scaled way back to 1 wafer a week. Maybe that's when I doomed the Cory :(

I began to notice this past week that I was having to look for the Cory in the tank, whereas normally he's out and about doing his scavenger thing. On Saturday night, after noticing his attempt to catch sinking food, I was shocked to find how emaciated the poor guy has gotten. I purchased some freeze-dried tubifex worms yesterday (Sunday). He is not hunting for food but gobbled up what I offered in front of his face yesterday (maybe too much?). I have continued to "hand" feed the worms (after letting soak up water) but he doesn't take very much at all before turning from the food.
This morning, he/she is extremely listless. He has rolled over and stayed on his side two or three times at the bottom of the tank in the past 24 hours but ends up righting himself. (BTW, I am pretty sure it's a male because of size)
I feel so bad screwing his little fish life up. Is there any chance to rehabilitate? Could he maybe have not had enough food because he needed his Cory shoal, you know "power in numbers"?

My water was tested yesterday and everything checked out great. I do this at our lfs and did not bring home the details to share. Sorry.

Any suggestions?
 

Wren

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Mar 27, 2011
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Lisa
Sorry to hear your fish is sick. :( I'm not much good with sick fish. I have found that frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp are good for getting a picky fish to eat. I worry yours may have more issues than not enough food... Good luck with the little guy.
Lisa
 

Rbishop

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Dec 30, 2005
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More frequent water changes can't hurt with an ill fish IME. A good liquid test kit should be one of your next purchases. Did the LFS check with a liquid kit or dip strips?
 

TankGirls

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Mar 5, 2012
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The lfs uses strips. I will definitely invest in a liquid test kit. Can you recommend a solid brand?

I was just getting ready to do a water change. Just to give more information, I do keep up with weekly water changes. I'm weird, I actually enjoy it.

Update on the little guy since my original post: He is taking a tiny amount of food from what I set in front of him (algae wafer, tubifex worms, or flakes with shrimp). He is still very listless, rolls to his side sometimes but rights himself every time so far. He can't really swim, he looks like a train wreck when he tries. The Rubber Lip Pleco seems to be getting interested in him, I'm pretty sure he nabbed a dying tetra back in Nov.

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it. I'll keep you posted.
 

TankGirls

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Mar 5, 2012
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The lfs uses strips. I will definitely invest in a liquid test kit. I just saw your recommendation for API on my other post. Thanks.

I was just getting ready to do a water change. Just to give more information, I do keep up with weekly water changes. I'm weird, I actually enjoy it.

Update on the little guy since my original post: He is taking a tiny amount of food from what I set in front of him (algae wafer, tubifex worms, or flakes with shrimp). He is still very listless, rolls to his side sometimes but rights himself every time so far. He can't really swim, he looks like a train wreck when he tries. The Rubber Lip Pleco seems to be getting interested in him, I'm pretty sure he nabbed a dying tetra back in Nov.

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it. I'll keep you posted.
 

TankGirls

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Mar 5, 2012
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My levels are horrible (used api liquid test)! I know the test strips aren't reliable but I imagine the tank has gotten way worse since I've tried the tubifex worms. I have easily been overfeeding the past two days trying to get the Cory to eat. I may be doing more damage than good. I just did my water change, 20-25%, lots of uneaten food kicked up. I netted out what I could that didn't get sucked up by the gravel vacuum. I used prime to condition the new water before adding; and will add Stress Zyme in about 15 minutes, although I've heard mixed feelings about that stuff. Here are the levels...

ph - 7.2
ammonia - 0.50
nitrite - 2.0
nitrate - 40

really bad, yikes, our poor fish :(
 
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