Question about Cory's death

[chrisinha]

I just woke up and found one of my albino cories dead. She was hard like a stone (I know cories are hard, but...), her pectoral fins were really hard, perpendicular to the body. I tested the water and ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0. pH is 7.6, but it's always been like this, and nitrates are 50ppm, which I know is high as well, but again, i've always had a hard time keeping the nitrates down and i did do a water change yesterday. 2 days ago some eggs appeared stuck in the glass which i've scooped up and put in a net breeder. I dont have snails in this tank, and I do know what pond snails eggs look like, and these dont look like common pond snails at all. they were all close to each other but individually placed on the glass. I thought they were cory eggs, since my other fish are livebearers.

what could have happened?
do you do a water change whenever a fish dies??

 

[chrisinha]

here are a couple of pictures i've taken this morning

she didnt show any sign of disease whatsoever.

 

[Holly9937]

It looks a little red around the gills, was it like that before it died or after? Could that have been the particular cory that laid the eggs?

 

[TorturedSOUL]

I had a cory die and it basically looked the exact same way. It was a little red down the side though like a big bruise. I just figured it had internal trauma from shipment

 

[chrisinha]

no it wasnt red before it died. and she's been with me for quite some time. when i got her she was already full grown. maybe old age? i have no idea if she's the one that laid the eggs...

 

[f8ldzz]

Corys typically get rock hard when they die.
Sorry for your loss...