Bully BlackSkirt tetra and hurt cory

tanyaj77

tanyaj77

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Jul 8, 2006
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Winnipeg, MB, Canada
I have a black skirt tetra who has been "bodyslamming" my cories when they're eating their algae wafers. he comes over and knocks them off with the side of his body. Then he steals the wafer and hides it! I also just noticed a white almost fuzzy looking mark on one of my bronze cories. Could this be a bite mark or perhaps some sort of itch or fungus? I have never dealt with any type of fish illness before. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Could be fungus because of untreated wounds. Salt is usually used but you have to be careful as most bottom dwellers are sensitive to salt.
 
is the tetra getting enough food? are you sure its eating it, this may be why its trying to steal other food....
you never know...i have a female blue ram who picks on a single bronze cory in my community tank, and there are 12 corys in it, she seems to not even notice the other 11 only this particular bronze guy..his fins are kinda tattered but he seems not to mind, when i tried to remove the cory to a seprate tank he sulked and almost died, but the ram was fine, when i put the cory back in, the ram goes easy on him now but still is the only thing she picks on...
who knows
 
Yes, I'm pretty sure the tetra's getting enough food. He is always the first one up to eat and I feed twice a day. He's a pretty chubby guy (for a tetra) :) Sometimes he schools nicely with the other tetras, and other times he's chasing them trying to nip at them. It's just weird that he's stealing the wafers (which is hilarious to watch as he picks the whole thing up LOL) but he's not eating them, just being greedy is what it looks like.
I will try and get a pic of my poor cory. I have had him the longest, and he's the biggest. maybe someone can help identify the white stuff and then I can work on getting recommendations to treat it. Thanks for the input!
 
Here's a picture. Sorry it's not very good, but it's the best of out of about 30 that I took :)

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I personally find all tetras to be fairly aggressive - They just tend ot be smaller than other fish and thus this behavior is not really observed (or they're in schools that also minimize this).

Anyways, back to the topic -- I have 2 High-Fin Black Skirt Tetras and they are constantly chasing each other, swimming togther etc. On the one occasion that I had to take one out for a treatment of fungus, the remaining one was a terror in the tank.

So, if I had to guess, the other 2 are fine, and the one in question is kind of the odd man out? Doesn't really interact well with the 2? If so, you could try giving him/her a buddy (adding a 4th) to even things out a bit.

Also, and probably more effective, would be to break your waffers into 3 pieces (this is what I do) and this will allow him to steal away his piece and leave the other Corys alone. I also feed the waffers 1st and the flakes last. This is what i do, and it works great! ;)

Now, as for the wound on the Cory -- I would really watch that spot over the next 2 days and watch for any change. Also, do a PWC just to be safe and to ensure really clean water. The last thing you want is for a secondary infection to set in.

Try these things out and see how things go :)
 
I second that on tetras being at least semi- agressive , I have two Black Skirts one is a moose and can be very nippy.

When they are displaying there full dark colors they are very pretty though
 
ct-death said:
IAlso, and probably more effective, would be to break your waffers into 3 pieces (this is what I do) and this will allow him to steal away his piece and leave the other Corys alone. I also feed the waffers 1st and the flakes last. This is what i do, and it works great! ;)

Now, as for the wound on the Cory -- I would really watch that spot over the next 2 days and watch for any change. Also, do a PWC just to be safe and to ensure really clean water. The last thing you want is for a secondary infection to set in.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. Great advice
 
Thanks for the advise. it doesn't look like the area has changed at all over the last 2 days. Should I treat it, whatever it is? I also did a PWC.

I will buy another black skirt tetra tomorrow and see if that helps in the bullying. I hope it does. I have tried breaking the wafers into 3 pieces. It seems to be working well. The tetra's smart though, he steals one piece and hides it, then goes for the 2nd and 3rd and hides them too. At least the cories get a chance to eat some before the flakes run out :)
 
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