Cory that 'shimmy's - sick or stressed?

alli13zeal

AC Members
Sep 27, 2007
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MPLS, MN
One of my corys has been shimmying a lot lately. He is a very enthusiastic eater and overall looks healthy. I think his color has been darker recently as well, but not sure if this is my imagination or not. His dorsal fin is slightly ragged, but doesn't appear to be deteriorating. Tank params are generally amm. 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5, ph~7.5. I say generally because my tap has anywhere from .25 to 1ppm of nitrite and ammonia so immediately after WCs (25% twice a week) there are slight levels of these, but I use a double dose of prime (and a regular dose the next day just to be safe).

Is it possible that the shimmying and darkening of color could be because of a bacterial or parasitic infection? Otherwise I am thinking that he was always a little more skittish than my other cory and maybe he is just stressed out because there are only 2 of them at the moment. I plan on getting more, but am waiting until I can find more of either type in the area.

I have both anti-bacteria and anti-parasite Jungle med. food that I am tempted to try, but if he is just stressed out and not actually sick I would obviously rather not. Any thoughts...?
 
It sounds to me like more than just stress but I don't have any good suggestions as to treatment. I think the high nitrite tap is definately at least part of the problem. Can you age the Prime treated water overnight or until the nitrite level is way down(hopefully 0), then do water changes?

You may want to look into RO (reverse osmosis) for long term. I have no experience with it.
 
I already use water that is aged for 2-3 days.. as far as I know this doesn't affect the nitrite levels at all since there isn't a biofilter. And the tap has had ammonia and nitrites for a few months now and it hasn't been a problem just as long as I use Prime. The ammonia and nitrite levels are always at 0 w/in 24 hrs of a water change (or possibly sooner). The thought of using RO has crossed my mind but that's something I don't want to deal w/at this point.
 
Yeah is he currently with only one other cory, which is why I am wondering if he simply is shimmying from stress. I am waiting until I can get more of the same type of cory until I get more.. they are the only fish in the tank though, so there is definitely no bullying, etc. I think I'm just going to leave him be (unless I see any other symptoms) and just hope my LFS gets more of his type soon.
 
you dont have to add the same type of cory. they will school with any other type of cory. unless you are trying for a group of the same species. just saying its not a necessity kind of thing
 
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