# Arrrgh!



## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

Man, what is it this time!??

Two days ago i find a dead albino cory. well, almost dead. basically dead. i moved him but he didn't even make it an hour. i didn't see anything at all wrong with him the day before, and i spend a good half hour every day watching my tank. 

do my water tests, bob's yer uncle. today, my decker cory's looking reeeallly bummed out. he's listless, unresponsive, and barely moving. no pink gills, no obvious sign of anything out of the ordinary....then, while i'm screwing around with the tank i find another cory dead and half eaten. 

again, water tests, everything looks ok. 

further more, i've got seven fry in a net in the same tank and they're all growing extremely fast and as of this moment, alive. i haven't lost any of them. shouldn't they sort of be my canary in the coal mine?

anyways, i'm going to do a water change and maybe treat with a broad spectrum EM. but to be honest i don't even know what i'm trying to treat, if anything (it's definitely SOMETHING).

things that are new: fry, bbs feedings,

pH 7.2-7.5
nh3 - 0
temp 79-80
20g that's moderately planted 

could it be an oxygen issue? the temp's up by about two degrees then what it normally is. but they're labyrinth breathers and will two degrees make that much difference? SIGH


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

What's the temperature in your tank? Do you have a bubbler running?


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

temp 79-80

haven't for three weeks now and it hasn't been an issue. was hoping my low tech set up would take care of that. to be on the safe side i put one in about an hour ago though. i see no other fish gasping or hanging out at the surface. that's why i'm doubful it's the oxygen.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

I'm not sure if there is any scientific evidence to back up what I am going to suggest, but I will tell you one of my experiences with Cory's.

I used to have a very thick, hard substrate long ago in my tank and I could never get a single cory to live much longer than a few months in their. I eventually noticed that it seemed their barbels slowly were being destroyed by the substrate - soon after they would perish.

So...long story short - what sort of substrate do you have and can you notice if it is effecting their barbels or not?


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

now there's something. the substrate is approx 1/3" . the first one to perish was missing barbels on one side. i'd forgotten about that. 

i wouldn't be able to tell on the others. the one still alive is hiding in a cave, but i can just see him lying there breathing quickly. 

the substrate is a little larger than i'd like for corys but i checked with the guys at menagerie before i added it and they said it would be fine. oddly, the pandas I've got in there since January are absolutely fine. now, all of a sudden three days and two (probably three) deaths in the tank - all corys.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

What else is in the tank?

I vaguely remember something about corys being able to secrete a toxin when stressed which can lead to their deaths during transport in a closed environment. But that wouldn't explain the slow die-off, and other things would probably perish too. After the WC have there been any other deaths? Have you noticed any strange behaviors? Anything abnormal about the dead fish?

What are the fry you introduced? Is it possible that they've brought something in with them, so they are more resistant to it, but the corys aren't and have died because of it?


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

twoheadedfish said:


> the substrate is a little larger than i'd like for corys but i checked with the guys at menagerie before i added it and they said it would be fine. oddly, the pandas I've got in there since January are absolutely fine. now, all of a sudden three days and two (probably three) deaths in the tank - all corys.


Are you using generic gravel or a name brand? I cleaned out my BioCube which had Flourite, the edges are very sharp, I'll probably never use it again.

My corys survived the mysterious affliction that hit my tank a number of months ago and wiped out 20 some odd fish. They also survived the toxic medications I used.

I'm sorry you're having problems, I can empathize with you!


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

Another factor that could be stressing out your cories is the temperature. They are usually found in faster flowing streams with temps that peak at 74. I've kept them in higher temps but find they're far happier when cooler. If they're already losing barbels to the substrate, the higher temps could be the final nail for their coffins.

Just a thought.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

all very helpful. thanks. cooling the tank's going to be an issue, just space-wise getting a fan on the water surface with a couple of jumpers....

@tabatha - the gravel's just generic "natural" gravel from menagerie. it's not particularily sharp. 

@ameekplec - the fry were born from platies (i orginally thought guppy but they're more likely platy) and swords living in the community. also, no other deaths in the tank but the three corys.

what else is in the tank - guppies, platys, swordtails, an otto and rasboras

I find it odd that the majority of the corys have gone the last six months problem free. 

They really show zero symptoms other than the day before they croak they're really listless and unresponsive. there's no apparent physical symptoms to report...

Who knows...this'll probablyl turn into some mystery affliction that'll never quite get figured out.


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Just another shot in the dark... is it at all possible these guys were at the end of their life spans??? Where did you purchase them?


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I have a cory that survived my complete and total ignorance and incompetence so long that long after everything else in the tank was dead, he was still fine. He's one helluva survivor, that guy. I don't think I could kill him if I wanted to. I call him "survivor fish". I think he's a cory. Or he's the love child of my rubber placo and a guppy. But he looks like a little gray/rubbery cory-cat, with the cutest little cory face.

I think this is just "one of those things".

You might have got him from the store already down with an internal parasite, or perhaps he was stressed out and sickly before you got him. It's hard to say. It's very unlikely to be tank conditions from what you've stated.

W


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

Yuk! I hate when this happens.

Questions:

How many fish in the tank?

What is the ammonia count?

What is the nitrite count?

Last filter cleaning?

As for using platies or guppies as canaries for Corys, good luck with that. Remember, Cory's are bottom dwellers and because of this make sure your substrate is clean as that's where trouble can start. Oxygen should not be a problem for them in your case because they gulp air but for sure your O2 is much lower at 80F than it is at 70F.

For sure with the albino temp is a problem (as per Westender). I suspect it's a C. aeneus albino which likes temps at around 21C.

Definitely do a 30% water change to get the temp down. Please pre-treat the water with dechlor (Prime, whatever) and let it sit for a bit before adding. Only use water from the cold tap, don't mix hot water into it. Don't try to lower the temp in 1 go. Drop it max 5C per change then wait a several hours before the next one. It may even go down to 74F in one go.

I know I'm being paranoid but you want to be paranoid too in a situation like this.

Meds aren't going to hurt but if you want to use them add them AFTER you've got the temp down to a reasonable 74F (otherwise your wasting the meds with the changes). I'd wait a few hours after the water change to treat to see if the water change did the trick. You may not need the meds.

Good luck!


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

@tabatha - i can't believe i didn' t think of this, but two that died i picked up from downtown fish and pets (see "Who the hell dyes their water blue?"). maybe they did have some internal parasites or something. though they looked fine earlier.

@Cory_Dad - total of 15 fish now, was 18 when things started going tits-up. 4 rasboras, 3 platys, 2 swords (yes, i need more females), 3 guppys 3 (down from six) various corys. overstocked?

0 and 0 on the nh3/4 front and my last filter change was approx three weeks ago. i just rinsed the foam in tank water and added new carbon. it's a fluval 3+ submergable (700 l/hr) and it wasn't particularily gunked up. 

and don't worry. i AM paranoid. i did a 25% water change last night and added erythromycin afterwards. i always dechlor and let the water sit, and don't mix hot and cold water (although i have no idea why you're not supposed to do this).


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

If you have carbon in your filter, it will suck out your meds pretty much right away...


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

oh yeah, right. i thought of that and removed it before adding the meds last night.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

twoheadedfish said:


> @tabatha - i can't believe i didn' t think of this, but two that died i picked up from downtown fish and pets (see "Who the hell dyes their water blue?"). maybe they did have some internal parasites or something. though they looked fine earlier.


The source of your problem could be where you bought them. But usually with parasites there's some out ward sign. EM will not help with parasites.



twoheadedfish said:


> @Cory_Dad - total of 15 fish now, was 18 when things started going tits-up. 4 rasboras, 3 platys, 2 swords (yes, i need more females), 3 guppys 3 (down from six) various corys. overstocked?


Not overstocked for a 20 at all.



twoheadedfish said:


> 0 and 0 on the nh3/4 front and my last filter change was approx three weeks ago. i just rinsed the foam in tank water and added new carbon. it's a fluval 3+ submergable (700 l/hr) and it wasn't particularily gunked up.


Sounds ok to me. No need to put in carbon unless you specifically are targeting something you want to take out. I substitute more bio material for the carbon.



twoheadedfish said:


> and don't worry. i AM paranoid. i did a 25% water change last night and added erythromycin afterwards. i always dechlor and let the water sit, and don't mix hot and cold water (although i have no idea why you're not supposed to do this).


Did you get the water temp down with the water change? The reason for not using water from the hot water tap is because hot water more easily dissolves 'stuff' especially if your plumbing and hot water tank are old. It's just one more part of my paranoia. Besides, using hot water is wasteful when you can just let it warm up naturally.

The fish may have been coping with whatever they have but when the temp skyrocketed it caused stress which left them open to whatever they have now. Adding new fish to a tank can also be stressful.

Good luck!


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

yeah, the water temp dropped by 2 degrees, but back up to 79ish by morning. i have a pretty tough time keeping the temp down in my apt since we're kinda eco-freaks and leave the AC off pretty much all day.

looks like it'll be a wait and see kind of scenario. i'm just worried whatever this is will clean out my whole cory population (or worse). bah! i'll just keep a damned close eye on them.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

Well you're lucky that the temp outside has dropped but you still need to get the temp in the tank down to lower 70's. That too will save energy cause your heater is going on as much.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

well, actually the heater hasn't been on since february. with the slightly warmer weather and my insane suana for a home, the temp's stayed at a relatively stable 79 for months now w/out a heater. at least, that i can tell. (the heater's set for 74, but the running light is virtually never on).

but yeah, you're right. i've got to figure something out for the temp. 

cheers!


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