listless cory.... sick?

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jparnell

AC Members
Aug 29, 2004
92
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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Hi all,

Only had my albino corys a week, one seems fine. The other, well, doesn't.

Here's what I have:
2 week old tank
5 glowlite tetras
2 albino corys

Water: ammonia 0, nitrites 1.0, nitrates 30 (been doing partial water changes every other day til the tank is cycled properly)

The listless cory - has what appear to be red dots on one side. Doesn't move around anywhere near as much as the other cory. One eye seems to be almost completely white - which doesn't seem right either. Some faint white spotches on the fins.

I think it's sick. But I'm not sure (new to the whole fish thing).
Help?
 

scottracy

Got Roy?
Jan 3, 2004
333
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Texas
Visit site
Nitrite toxicity is from inhibitory competition for O2 transport by hemoglobin. The nitrite ion attaches as would the O2, but does not release, so the fish suffer anoxia - they are in effect suffocating.
Once the nitrite attach to the blood, they stay attached to the blood cells. They bond up to 5 times stronger than an oxygen bond. This means that it will stay attached to the blood cells for 5-6 complete circulations of the blood from the gills throught the heart and back to the gills. that they are unable to take up oxygen. There is no real permanent damage (at least noticably) if caught soon enough, which it looks like you did. The permanent damage that can arise is decreases gill capacity, which requires more/harder breathing. If this is what your fish has then, it may not recover. The thing is, in a completely cycled tank, there should be sufficient amounts of bacteria in your tank to insantly convert the nitrites to less harmful nitrates.
Archived: this thread covers the steps that should be taken when cycling with fish to prevent damage to the fish.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...=&threadid=3194


The nitrites are high. I would perform a 50% water change at a minimum now. In addition I would keep up the water changes (at least 25%) daily or every other day. The water changes will also take care of the high nitrates. Albino corys are probably not the hardiest fish when doing a fishy cycle. Read the information in the link above. The cory should improve with the water changes.

Scott
 

Seaman

Shrimp gumbo, shrimp salad etc...
May 22, 2004
649
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Im like air im everywhere (Dallas, TX)
I know this isnt going to be the best thing, but there was a thread a while back that stated the technical terms on how salt works to keep the nitrite ions from attatching to the blood cells, anywhoo, it stated that basically 5 tablespoons (wich isnt enough to hurt cories) in a 55gal was sufficient enough to stop the nitrites from hurting the gills, to a point.
 
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