cory cat tail slightly curved

[corygirl50]

I have a cory I've had for about 5 months, I believe she's female from her rounded body. - she's gotten really big and she seems recently to be a bit larger on one side and her tail seems to curve just a bit towards the larger side. The curve is new -over the last week or so. She swims fine, eats well and seems normal overall. My water is within correct ranges, api test kit. I had a rise in nitrates about a week ago but wc and less food fixed that.
My question : could the nitrate increase have caused her tail to curve? It was 40 for two days.... She does eat a lot.

 

[fishorama]

Is she the only cory? Sounds to me like she may be both overweight & carrying eggs. Do you have a possible male?

No I don't think 2 days of high nitrate caused it but try doing more WCs & vac if you don't. Ideally 10-20ppm is good, so how did they go to 40 so fast?

As to the bent tail, I don't know. Is there any redness (or whiteness) near the bend? Could she have been injured?

 

[corygirl50]

She is one of 6 - 4 cories and 2 jullis. Possibly one of the 2 littler cories could be male? eggs? That would be cool!
I'm pretty sure she is overweight tho thus cutting back on food (both for her and the nitrate issue...) There are no signs of color near her tail.

I don't think an injury, but I did add a Bristlenose 3 weeks ago and he's real territorial of his corner, she does kinda hang out near his corner area maybe she thwaked it swimming away too fast.

and really I do regular w/c's and yes I do vac. I searched the site and one of the posts said high nitrates are from poor maintence made me feel like I'm a tank slob! I'm super sensitive about my water started this hobby all wrong in the beginning. I hope it's more of too much food and one of the live plants with some bad leaves... I pulled the bad leaves out at the last w/c.

Nitrates were at 20, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, ph probably 8.00 it's a royal blue color,. This was before the w/c last night. PH has always been high but it's a stable high.

I'll keep an eye one her - Thank you for the ideas

 

[fishorama]

Good luck! Hopefully it's nothing more than young male corys not knowing what to do with a ripe & ready female. IME males are slower to mature...in many species. Keep up the WCs, that may help with any breeding issues too.

 

[corygirl50]

I have to say you called it ! - Went to feed tonight and there are 15 eggs on the side of the tank!

Good thing the I have the 5 gal Qt tank set up and cycled... now to figure out the rest! Any suggestions on how to hatch them would be welcomed.

I picked the screen name Corygirl from my love of them not from my knowledge obviously!

 

[FreshyFresh]

I had a setup a year or two ago with 6 emerald corys that would plaster the glass on occasion with eggs. I was never able to get beyond that point with them. If you get lucky and have fertilized and viable eggs plastered on something you can remove from the tank and place into a tank for raising the fry, I think that's the only way.

 

[fishorama]

Congrats on the eggs! Are they white (infertile) or amber (fertilized)? You can try to move them, but like Joel said, it's tricky. I believe the technique is to gently roll them off, they're a bit sticky. It can't hurt to try.

You could also try moving the pair to QT in a couple weeks & see if they'll spawn there. Bloodworms & a few big WCs will help get them in the mood. Then remove adults & be ready to feed fry after the yolk sac is gone. They'll need tiny food at first infusoria (micro-goodies on plants), Hikari First Bites, etc. Maybe Repashy they can graze on? Then newly hatched brine shrimp or similarly small stuff. Be careful to feed small amounts often & keep the water very clean.

 

[corygirl50]

They are white with a little dark spot in the middle - so looks like they aren't fertilized. Bummer.

I'm still gonna remove em to the qt tank just in case and to make extra sure I'm not, not seeing them correctly. worth a shot. Thank you for the help.

 

[fishorama]

Hmm, dark spot? It may be hard to tell color, I think you're smart to move them, you can't always tell. If nothing else, it'll give you practice moving them, good luck!