cories looking a little ragged

CatPresley3

CatPresley3

AC Members
Apr 7, 2008
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i just took some time to stare at my cories for a while since i just fed them and i noticed something a little strange.

a couple of them won't rest on the gravel, instead they are using their fins to hold them right above. also, some of their barbels are really short, or missing!!

i hadn't noticed this before, but maybe that's because they're usually in caves unless i feed them.

i have fluorite substrate that seems a little rough and pointy, but could that cause them to not want to rest on it or to mess their barbels up?

what else could the problem be?

one of my schwartz's has been keeping himself about 3 inches above the gravel in one place, like he's floating there. is this normal?

everything else looks fine, except one peppered guys dorsal fin is a little torn/ragged.

thanks for any help!!
 
Rough substrate can cause barbels to get worn down which makes them more prone to infection. I have not had a problem yet with my gravel but in your case I would try to get them in another tank with smoother gravel or sand or you could try changing the substrate in the tank they are in.

As for the dorsal of the peppered I would suspect something is nipping and/or poor water quality. Clean water usually helps it heal on its own.
 
What are your params? Do you vac your flourite? Those signs often point to poor water quality. It's sometimes harder to tell in heavily planted tanks since params may look ok. I have to really clean around & through some of my plants, they're like prefilters with the amount of "stuff" they trap.
 
I agree that these sound like symptoms caused by a decline in water quality and the consistency of the substrate could be playng a role as well.
 
i have fluorite in my 55 with 10 cories. not one of them has shortened barbels or rest on their fins. i would suspect poor water quality over the fluorite
 
are we not doing enough water changes? we do 25% every monday and gravel vac half the tank one week and the other half the next. we have two eheim 2213 filters running and we clean the polyester by removing half the gross old and replacing it with a little new about once every month, alternating between the two filters (so each gets cleaned every 2 months). i don't think the tank is over crowded, but maybe it is a little?
 
I had trouble with my pandas in the 55 with flourite substrate. The water parameters always checked out and I do weekly water changes. They had short barbles and some were getting infected around their mouth. I moved them to a 20 with eco-complete and they are fine now with good long barbles. It may not always be the case that flourite is a problem for them, maybe what some people feed doesn't require them to forage and "barble" as much through the substrate - but in my case I do think the different substrate has made the difference for the pandas. Good luck.
 
i COULD be over feeding, we've never been 100% sure of how much we should be feeding them. i feed about 60 flakes 2 times a day and skip a day here and there (about once a week). and for the cories and plecos i put 6 algae waffers in about 2-3 times a week. once a week i also substitute flake food and waffers with blood worms and veggies. is that too much?

could dying plants cause ammonia spikes? i can't for the life of me keep plants from dying- even with our really expensive substrate! (guess it's the lighting, but how can i keep plants alive without having a "UFO" in my living room...it's so darn bright with 4 lights as it is!!!)

none of the other fish seem to have any problems, just the "bottom dwellers". so maybe i have the same problem as jenratico with the fluorite?
 
i think its probably a case of both things effecting your cories. Dying plants and leftover food settle to the bottom where your cories forage. Increasing your gravel vac frequency, even if you don't remove a ton of water when vaccing will help the quality of where they hang out in the tank. It could also be teh substrate exacerbating the situation as well. I would start by increasing vacs and wc's to help them heal up and see how they do. If things don't start improving, it would be a good idea to try a different substrate.
 
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