cory catfish fins nipped and almost dead

[NoodleCats]

Ahh theres what happened.

Adding new multple fish at once can cause an ammonia spike. And in a smaller tank, this is even more likely to happen given they are less stable than a larger tank. Even with just 4 cories. Water parameters are less forgiving in small tanks.

Cories do better in a 20 gallon as well, unless you go with one of the dwarf species. Cories tend to be more sensitive to water parameters too. Especially pandas these days, since theyre genetically weaker from mass breeding. Theyre not one of the more hardy cory species.

Change your water daily to keep your levels down. Once they stay down in a safe range, you can go back to changing your water once or twice a week. You will want your parameters 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and under 40 better under 20 nitrate.


Given your tank mates, i doubt it is nipping unless you have a psychotic guppy. Cories arent nippers (though stranger things could happen?) and guppies usually leave cories alone as theyre not really competition. Theyd not nip a fish to death in that short of a time.

 

[FJB]

Sorry for your troubles, Rexo-R.
As suggested, do water changes as often as possible, determine if indeed the pH is too low, and correct the issue (water changes should take care of that). And certainly there should be no ammonia, no nitrite, and as low nitrates as possible (again, water changes).
You may be lucky and the cory may come back to better health. On the other hand, it is possible that your cories did not come healthy to begin with. And it is also possible that the one who is not looking good now may not make it.
Looking to the future, never introduce new fish straight into your precious tanks, as these endangers all the contents of your tank. EVEN IF THE NEW FISH LOOK HEALTHY. Always quarantine first for as long as you can in a different tank, preferable with no substratum. A minimum of 4 weeks is what I use, but often I do longer.
Once the tank is back to good health, a minimum of 50% water changes weekly are a must. More is better, if possible.
I hope the little panda makes it and you would have lost just one fish.

 

[rexo-r]

Thanks for the advice everybody, have been doing the daily water changes (50%) but sadly 2 of the corys have passed away, and both their tails are entirely gone and their fins seem to have disappeared (prolly fin rot as you all say), but the strange thing to me is that the last cory seems perfectly fine, the fins and all seem to look very intact, and the guppies fins all seem to be doing fine atm. The only strange thing is that the cory seems to be swimming to the mid and higher areas of the tank quite often.

 

[NoodleCats]

How often do you vacuum the substrate? Do you have sand or gravel?

Poorly vacuumed gravel can harbour nasties that contribute to poor water quality and severe fin rot and barbel loss in cories, which is why sand is better for them.

Give your substrate a very good vacuum with each water change until this issue starts to improve.

 

[fishorama]

I so sorry rex-o. As everyone has said adding new fish in a small tank can cause problems especially if you tank was not fully cycled. Keep an eye on you tank parameters, change lots of water & vacuum! As said, panda corys are mass bred & often not super healthy. I love dwarf corys! but wait to add any fish!...Good luck! & let us know how things are going for you.

 

[rexo-r]

Hi guys, so I have been doing regular water changes daily 50% and according to a test strip that I have been using the nitrates are still quite high, (I'm not sure on the exact number as teh test kit has the colors from white to dark purple but the strip tested turned out in a grayish color, so I assume it is at the 100s ish, as the dark purple is 200) and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong in this case. I had let the tank run with white clouds for 2 months before adding in 4 guppies and removing the white clouds, then I waited another 3 weeks or so and added the corys (2 of which died less within less than a week of purchasing them).

 

[the loach]

Have you tested your tap or well water for nitrate? One explanation could be it is already high in nitrate.

 

[fishorama]

That would be my question too. Live plants can help a bit...

 

[NoodleCats]

Id def look at your source water first for nitrate amounts... i have nitrates in my tap, its a headache as it drives my nitrates way up too. Ive used plants and Nitrazorb to keep it in check in my tanks.

Another thing... what filtration do you have on the 10gal? A 10 is small for cories, and guppies have a pretty hefty bioload for their small size (livebearers are poop machines lol). The filter may not be able to keep up with the bioload of the guppies plus new fish.

If your nitrates in your source water are zero, id take a look next at the filter system and consider an upgrade of the filter or even the tank size too.

 

[fishorama]

You may be overfeeding too, adding to the nitrate problem. I know it's easy to feed every time the fish do a "happy to see you feed me dance" but they only need about 2 or 3 bites of food per day. Try skipping a day once a week. It won't hurt them. Guppies always think they're hungry even when they spit out the food.