Cory Cat's Dying

[Gumby131]

quarintine them just incase

 

[thesydmonster]

Cories to best in well established tanks and your tank does not seem to be cycled, especially if you just set it up. And doesn't bottled spring water not have all the minerals needed? I am not sure about that, sorry. Also, most cories can tolerate salt to an extent, it's long term use that is very hard on them. Sounds to me more like an uncycled tank and fluctuating pH.

 

[New2Fishees]

Hi ..... I was just reading this post ... and I don't have any suggestions to add ... just that I also just lost 3 out of 4 Julli Cory Cats.

But, I have no salt in my tank, it is 90 gallon with sand and large smooth rocks and plastic plants and large driftwood pieces, temp 75, PH 7.6 steady, Nitrates at 10, Nitrites and Ammonia at 0. I also have plenty of oxygen in my tank with two bubble strips.

All my other fish have been fine and healthy.
But, all of the sudden my Julli Cory Cats just started passing away. There was no sign of fungus, ich, or such .... they just died. And they were getting plenty of food (algae tablets, carnivore tablets, shrimp pellets, and veggies) I did notice that they seemed to change color a bit right before they passed .... a slight red tinge and their spots got a lot darker.
Also noticed that on the last one that died his mouth 'barbs' were missing? Just don't know what could cause this? Maybe he was born this way and I didn't realize it???

Anyway .... I did talk to the Pet Store owner about this and he said that the Julli and Panda Cory Cats are much more sensative than the other varieties ... and he thought that maybe that had something to do with it?
He also said that he changed breeders because he found a better one? Not sure if he had losses that others were reporting about, or not? But maybe they were not healthy to begin with???

So .... anyone else that has any ideas about keeping these guys .... I would love to hear about it! I want to get some more to keep my last one company!! He is very lonely and don't want him to stress .................

Thanks!

 

[tinytnt]

I have had salt in with my corys before. I was treating for ich, and followed the guidelines here in the forums, so yes, it was a gradual change, and I also raised the temp up several degrees. Kept it that way for a few weeks, until I was certain the ich was gone, then returned to normal (un-salted) water changes. Had 3 corys that made it through all of that.

A month or two later, one of the corys, the smallest, appeared to get sick, presenting the same symptoms as yours, Rockbellab; the fins laying flat against them, and finally he just laid on his side, looking like he was gasping for a breath. He didn't make it of course, but the other 2 have been just fine.

I love my corys, they are very adorable, and just a BLAST to watch!! I would definately not keep one by himself for very long, he needs friends!! They follow each other all over the tank, and I'm pretty sure that mine would be lost without each other. Sometimes, it's like they're playing some sort of mimmickry game, or simon says or something.

I wish you both the best of luck with your corys!!!

 

[IceH2O]

Quarantine Tank set up on Friday, February 10th.
Tank: 20 gallon long
Water: Bottled Spring Water (my tap water is really bad)
Substrate: white sand (bought at LFS for freshwater tank, I rinsed it well).
Decorations: Two Sphinx and Egyptian pillar and one medium river rock (was boiled)
Water Temp: 78F to 80F

Tests (after set up and before fish) 2-12-06:
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm

80% water change on 2-17-06 (I thought this might help the fish, probably didn't)

Tests today 2-20-06:
pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0.50 to 1.0ppm (I know that's not good)
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm

I've lost four of seven Spotted Cory's, one of two Sterbai Cory's and I still have the three Bronze Cory's. The Spotted and Bronze Cory's are from the LFS and the Sterbai are from an online aquaria place. I ordered four Sterbai but only two arrived alive, one died two days later and one is still alive and kicking.


Thanks.

Those are not the readings of a cycled tank and unless you added BioSpira a tank wouldn't cycle in 3 days.

Not to mention you added a huge load of fish all bottom feeders, which usually are the 1st to die when you have bad water parameters.

You have 4 choices here:
1. BioSpira- Will instantly cycle your tank, or make it cycle quicker because the load is already in there.

2. Find someone that can give you filter media from an established tank, that will help shortcut the cycle

3.Be ready to do 50% water changes daily to keep the ammonia down and control the nitrite spike that is coming. You might be doing daily water changes for the next 6 weeks.

4. Return all the fish and follow the instructions in this link. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64301&highlight=sticky

 

[CatLover]

My pandas are hardy little catfish. I find them just as hardy as my spotted cories and peppered cories. I have only really lost 1 catfish (a spotted) I think he was old, not sure though. That was at least 6 months ago.

I have 7 cories in my 29 gallon. (2 peppered, 2 spotted, 3 panda) They are greedy little eaters. They can't survive on scavenging alone.

Good luck!

New2Fishees, Are there other fish in the tank? I have heard of larger fish eating a cory cat's barbels.

 

[New2Fishees]

Yes I have other fish in the tank ..... 3 fancy goldfish, danios, minnows, 2 albino bristle nose plecos, 1 golden nugget (the variety that won't get over 6"), 2 baby panda corys, and 3 upside down cats. I just can't imagine any of these eating at one of the cories mouth barbs? I never even see the other fish around the Julli Corys ... except the goldfish sometimes hang out with them in the cave areas in the tank ..... but they seem to like each other??!!

I actually went out and purchased some more Julli Cories .... that last one was so lonely. I felt bad for him/her!! They all seem to be happy right now .... swimming around together ....nice to see!!!

I have been adding some extra shrimp pellets at night to make sure there is plenty for them to eat besides the 'cleaning up' from the other fishes food.

I will just keep an eye on them and hope that they will stay healthy/happy!!

thanks!

 

[CatLover]

If I were to pick a suspect out of those fish for nipping, I would pick the danios.

What kind of danios are they and how many do you have?

Just keep a really close eye on the situation.

 

[TKOS]

In small doses salt will not hurt cories, at least not in that short of a time period. So unless a massive does of salt was added that wasn't the problem.

 

[Hound]

Just to mention it. If your sand substrate is kinda sharp it wouldn't be too out of character for a cory to cut it's barbels off while scrounging around. Once that happens the wounded area could then become a breeding ground for bacteria leading to fish death. I can't say that this is what happened, but it is possible.

As for the original poster I have to agree that his problem is an uncycled tank and possibly his bottled water not being able to hold a steady ph. Kinda depends upon the way the water was treated.