Peppered cory acting sluggish and getting stuck in plants

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ManEatingShrimp

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Jan 28, 2012
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I just moved 5 peppered cory catfish from a 5 week quarantine in a 10 gallon to my 90 gallon community tank 3 days ago. Yesterday I noticed one of the corys, the smallest I believe, was stuck upside down between the leaves of a small sword plant. I moved it back to the 10 gallon and it is still alive but seems very tired and is hiding in the corner between a sponger filter and some wood. I put a piece of sinking wafer in and the cory did eat it but it still seems to move a little awkward and mostly just sits in the same place. I do not see any external physical injuries.
What is wrong and what should I do to help it recover?
 

ManEatingShrimp

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I saw the cory laying upside down and thought it was dead so I went to scoop it out with the net and it started swimming again. I did a 10% water change and added stress coat. After that I added another small piece of sinking wafer but did not watch long enough to see the cory ate it. When I checked again about an hour and a half later it looked like the food was gone but I found the cory dead. I thought it is uncommon for fish to show interest in food when they are about to die. When I found the cory it had its head inside the clear air tube of a sponge filter that had fallen off. It was not stuck but I wonder if it suffocated by swimming partially into the tube and then was not able to get fresh water moving through the tube.
 

ManEatingShrimp

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I do not know what the parameters were when the cory was in the tank, but on the 16th I recorded them before doing a 50% water change and cleaning out one of the 3 eheim filters. I also added 2 gallons of ro water because I have not had ro water until recently.
Parameters (before water change):
Ammo=0 Nitrates=0 PH=~8.1 KH=5 GH=7

After water change (recorded today, the 17th):
Ammo=0, Nitrites=0, Nitrates=0, PH=8.1, KH=4-5(very close to 4), GH=7

Today I came home to find another cory dead in the 90 gallon. No injuries and looks completely healthy. It had died very recently because it did not stink at all. It was just laying in the dwarf sag near the front of the tank.
 

huapala

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Jul 25, 2013
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8.1 pH is to high for C. paleatus. You want between 5.8 and 6.8 Howlong has the tank been cycled? Interesting that there is no nitrates being detected. Is it heavily planted? What are the tank mates?

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ManEatingShrimp

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Its the tank in my signature which has been set up for over a year and is planted pretty heavily.
Would the PH be enough to kill them? They have been fine in the 10 gallon which gets the same water for over 4 weeks.

Tankmates are cherry barbs, neon tetras, SAEs, beckford pencilfish, and a pleco.
 

huapala

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Let me say first that it is a beautiful tank and I am very sad to hear about your two deaths. I would assume that pH alone would not be enough to kill them especially if it is a stable pH. But I have read that high pH makes fish very susceptible to even the smallest rise in ammonia level. Keep us updated, I hope someone with more knowledge than me can address your concerns. One thought I have is maybe it is bad stock from the LFS or a disease that did not show itself in the initial 5week quarantine.
 

authmal

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Unless the fish are wild caught, pH is unlikely to be the cause of the death. I used to have cories in pH of 8.2, paleatus and albino, and they were just fine, until poor water quality (people were still saying water changes are optional back then) eventually killed off all but 1 over the span of 2 years. It's much more likely that they're just poor stock. Unfortunately, it happens, and there's not a lot you can do.
 

ManEatingShrimp

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What I don't understand is that it is similar water and they were doing great in the 10 gallon for over 4 weeks. Another died today and I now have 2 left. The smaller one looks like its eyes are bulging slightly and I am afraid it may be popeye. I do notice that every time I have found one dead it has been completely upside down. The one I found today was stuck in some of the rotala and on its back. Even when I got it out it sank on its back. Its stomach was a little bulged like it had eaten and its eyes looked normal.
Its so upsetting because they look completely healthy!

Here are pics of the cory I found today. These were the best I could get with my cellphone.

 
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