No luck with cory cats!

jglk90

jglk90

AC Members
May 10, 2012
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Florida
It's driving me nuts!!! I cant keep my cory cats alive. Ive been trying to keep a school of 5 in my 55g and they keep dying. At first I thought one of my fish were killing them but I have 2 that have survived and are doing great. I literally been through about 8 of these little guys in the last month.

Yesterday I bought 2 for my 20g tank just to see what happens and one is already dead. The other one looks like he not going to make it either. Not sure whats really causing this. Ammonia is at zero in both tanks. Nitrite is at zero and nitrate is between 5 to 10 ppm. The ph is 7.4 or 8.0, cant really tell. Could the ph be the cause??? Someone please help me keep these little guys alive!!!!!

Stock in 55g:

6 tiger barbs, 5 serpae tetras, 5 buenos aries tetras, 1 banded leporainus, 1 rainbow shark, 1 rosy barb, 5 black skirt tetras, 2 corys.

Its running on 2 aqua clear 70s

Stock in 20g:

10 harleys, 1 dwarf gourami, 2 corys

Its running on 1 aqua clear 70

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I have got them from 3 different stores. In my 55gallon they could be getting attacked but who would attack them in the 20gallon??? Do you think the ph has anything to do with it?

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What are you feeding them? What do they look like before they die? Finally, what type of substrate do you have? Is it possible it is too harsh for their barbels?
 
I don't think the ph is the problem I've kept them at around 7.2. As Kris said above they do need sand or smooth gravel nothing sharp. Are you dosing the tank with anything? I know they don't tolerate much aquarium salt if your using any. I have Julii's, sterbai's, albino's, green's no problems with them but I do seem to have a hard time keeping pygmies alive anytime I buy those half end up dying with in a month.
 
I have and do keep species of corydoras with ph 7.8 and have done with as high as 8.0 in the past, so I find it unlikely that this is the problem. I would like to know too if you have treated the tank with anything as corydoras seem quite sensitive to treatments.


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kriskitty23 said:
What are you feeding them? What do they look like before they die? Finally, what type of substrate do you have? Is it possible it is too harsh for their barbels?
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I feed them shrimp pellets and another type of carnivorous pellets, sometimes I even see them eat the alge discs. When I get to see them they have already been chewed by the other fish but I know something is wrong when they are not as active as the other 2 I have. In my 55 gallon I use the black diamond sand and I think its the finest grain. In the 20g I used the petco sand.

I do not use any salt or any other treatments, only prime when doing weekly water changes (double dose).

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It could still be bad stock. A lot of stores order from he same places. The last batch I was buying out of my lfs lost 3/4 of what they bought and had to reimburse me for half of them. I'd say wait a couple weeks and try again when a new batch of young should be shipping from the distributors
 
Could it be as simple as they don't like the food and are starving? Have you tried feeding them differently? I have 3 corys (one leopard and two bronze) with really similar parameters, including the pH and they seem pretty happy. I feed them flake and frozen bloodworms

Good luck, it's sucks to lose fish!
 
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MaiaDee said:
Could it be as simple as they don't like the food and are starving? Have you tried feeding them differently? I have 3 corys (one leopard and two bronze) with really similar parameters, including the pH and they seem pretty happy. I feed them flake and frozen bloodworms

Good luck, it's sucks to lose fish!
Click to expand...

It takes a long time for a fish to die of starvation. The fact that several batches have died within the same month and so soon after purchase makes me sure it's not starvation.
 
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