julii cories acting weird

C

Canoe

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Jun 4, 2005
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I have 3 tiny julii cories in a 7g tank. Ammonia is 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates <20ppm. Due to the heat, the temperature has been varying between 78-80 over the course of the day (cooler in the morning). The lowest temp was 76 on Sunday and the highest was 82 last night.

Two days ago, I found one of the cories upside down and drifting lifelessly with the current around the tank. In the time it took me to get the net, he righted himself and although he seemed to struggle to stay that way, I decided to leave him there and see what happened.

Yesterday, he was totally fine.

Now today, a different cory (i'm sure he's different -- today's victim is twice the size of the others) is upside down, looking lifeless and drifting around the bottom of the tank. When he tries to swim, he does so in a corkscrew, doing a series of barrel rolls. He seems unable to get himself straightened out.

What's up with these fish? Is this normal behavior for them? Is the temperature swing upsetting them? What can I do to help them out?
 
Not normal for them... sounds weird. How long have you had them? I know the temp change is not ideal, but I can't believe a few degrees is bringing them to the brink of death either....Found this about swim bladder disease, I'm sure you can find better info if you do a search for it though. I would do a large water change and not feed them for a few days, other than maybe a pea (skinless)

Swimbladder & The Pea Trick
Swimbladder is a disease which symptoms cause fish to become unable to swim correctly, your fish may exibit swimming toward the bottom of your tank or bowl, then floating back up, swimming in circles or laying or floating on his side....
There are three main things according to the posts and articles I've read that can lead to swimbladder disease.

Constipation due to overfeeding
Bad water quality
Bacteria
I have kept bettas for a few years, and this had been a problem on a regular basis for one fish in particular as well as a couple of others. Many people or websites recommend epsom salt baths as well as antibotics. I haven't tried either- and have not lost a betta to swimbladder.
I recommend the following regimine, recommened to me over two years ago.

First, If you have your fish in a bowl, and your normal routine consist of 100% water changes, As soon as you notice signs of swimbladder do a complete water change, taking care not to stress the fish by having the water temp as close to his bowl as possible, and using something as a cup so you don't have to net your fish.
After your water change you should not feed your fish any food for two days. On the third day feed your fish a fresh pea. Frozen peas thawed, popped out of the skin, and cut into bite size pieces. And then do another water change so that any uneaten peas do not contaminate your water....
If you do partials, or have a tank, do a significant change when you suspect swimbladder disease and then follow this treatment.
If you don't use aquarium salt this is a good addition to most tanks. The recommended dose is one teaspoon per gallon, or one tablespoon per five gallons. If you have never added salt and you are unsure; you may want to first acclimate him at only 1/2 tsp per gallon.
If this seems to be a frequent problem you may consider feeding less. Your water quality could indicate more frequent water changes, or in my case I break up the food for this one particular betta. It seems easier for him to digest. All my fish seem to love the peas and it may be of great benifit to feed a pea once a week.
If you suspect that there is bacteria causing the symptoms of swimbladder perhaps antibotics may be needed.
I recommend the pea "trick" first as it will at least correct the swimbladder symptoms that bacteria or bad water quality could be causing.
I wanted to share this treatment because I have responded to many posts, recommending this procedure and I'm not sure if people take it seriously.
It is cheap, simple, and has never failed my bettas....I have one male who has looked dead laying on his side and he has always recovered by this simple effective treatment. Just recently One of my females could not swim toward the bottom of her tank, ( she would float heplessly back to the top) I immediatly changed the water, held of food for two days and then fed the pea, she is perfectly fine.
I know there are many people who probably lose thier fish needlessly, or who treat with harsh antibotics when it may not be necessary.
First give this a whirl! And pass it on.
 
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Thank you, thank you for such a complete answer. I lost one this morning :(, but hopefully the pea trick will help the remaining fish.
 
Its something to try anyway, I'm sure there are better treatment methods available, but this was the first I came across related to swim bladder. It sounds like that might be the problem, so knowing that at least gives you somewhere to start looking into what might be causing it
 
That does sound like swimbladder problems. I'm not sure that you can do much about swimbladder, but see if Holly's suggestions will work.

I recently lost one of my cories as well. It seemed like it had similar problems. It had trouble swimming and would lose of control of its swimming. But that cory had almost all of its barbels missing when I first got it, so it was most likely prone to infection.
 
Hey I have three julli cories that did the same thing; the first thing is to lower and stabalize the temperature; as soon as I did that the cories were much better. I almost scooped them out severasl times when I thought they were dead but they were just keeled over. Im nnot sure about ur situation, but in my case my cories were new from the pet store and very thin;after a few "square " meals they seem to be doing a lot better
 
Yep, these cories have only been in my tank for a week. I lost another one last night :(, so now there's just one remaining. I don't think this last one has done anything strange, so I have some hope for him.
 
Brand new tank?
Has the tank be cycled?
Corys are pretty sensitive to water quality, but the temps should've bother them.
My corys go through anything from 74F to 88F without a hitch!
I start to lose them when I stress them out unnecessarily. :(
I had to move my cichlids, and that was enough stress to kill one.
 
Yes, it's a new tank. I cycled with Bio Spira and checked the water daily -- the barest hint (not a full shade change on the test kit) of ammonia on Day 1 and none thereafter. No nitrites ever, and only the nitrates that are normally present in my tap water (which today I started treating with Amquel+ to remove).

I think I will lose the last one soon -- he's started drifting a bit. This morning I went back to the store where I bought them I looked at the tank of Julii Cories mine came from and I noticed that several of the fish in that tank were having the same kinds of drifting/balance problems, so I think I got some bum fish.

Question: I really love this type of fish -- can I buy some more from another store and put them in my tank? Or will they catch the swimbladder problem from the hanging-on fish? Should I wait till he goes to the great beyond? I'm afraid to let the tank go empty or on such a light bio load that I lose all my bacteria.
 
Were you planning on any other fish for the tank? I am not sure if swim bladder is contagious or not, maybe you can find that out from some searches? Try a water change of about 50% and see if that helps at all too, it can't hurt. I would definately try a different store, also, stand around for a few minutes (or longer ;) ) and observe the fish, if anything doesn't seem right to you (tattered fins, swimming funny, discolored, missing alot of scales, etc.) don't buy them.
 
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