# Cory troubles, swim bladder "disease?"



## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

The story: bought two panda corys from menagerie to meet up with the two already in my tank yesterday (who will subsequently meet two more in the very near future). last night all seemed fine until about 2 hrs after they'd been acclimated. at first, the cory's were schooling and swimming normally. However, one began to have trouble swimming. I first noticed him at the water line hanging onto the glass. he wasn't gulping for air and was actually swimming a bit to stay in one place. When i went in for a closer look he darted away, swam to the bottom and hung out for a bit. a few minutes later he swam back to the surface. 

however, on subsequent check ups he'd dart away a little more listlessly and seemed to float to the top rather than swim. he's also having trouble staying horizontal. trouble with the swim bladder, right?

This morning around 11 I called home to see how he was doing. All of the corys were on the bottom, peacefully, appearing to have zero difficulty staying that way. I thought all was well. He'd probably been constipated which put pressure on the swim bladder. once he passed it, problem solved.

But i came home just now to find him back up at the top of the tank, clinging to the glass. 

As i type this he's swam to the bottom, where he's hanging out. It's like the symptoms turn on and off.....yup, he's back up now. He's definately having troubel swimming.

I really, really doubt this is spawning behaviour. sometime's they'll dart up to the top of the tank in small groups when one's laying eggs but this definately isn't the case.

The Parameters:
20g
Fluval 3+ 700l/hr
4 ferns, a sword, a cryp
temp: 76
7.0 pH
>0.1 ppm ammonia. i tested before added the fish last night, ammonia a little high. 20 per cent water change, test read 0 but i bet there's still some trace amounts there.
Tank mates: 3 platys, 2 swords, no more loaches (they found a home, Pablo ) three guppies, four cories, and an otto.

What I should/can be treating for is beyond me. No signs of illness on the fish, no trauma on the move that i can think of. i was quite careful. i didn't test the pH of his carrier bag before i moved him. none of the fish i picked up from menagerie have shown anything like this. sigh.

any ideas?


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

Has the cory eaten anything yet? 

It's too late now to call the menagerie tonight maybe call tomorrow.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

yeah, i should call. 

he hasn't eaten yet. i've read if constipation is causing the problem you shouldn't feed them.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

well the little blighter's at it again. when i woke up he was peacefully resting on the bottom, having no trouble staying there. we'll see how he is tonight.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

As Pablo said yesterday and it is very true:



> or six if you can... the panda especially seems to suffer from a very high strung personality and stress doesn't do them well


I have found before on rare occasions "new fish syndrome" were healthy fish are taken straight home to a perfectly aged tank and they are scared so much that they just don't adjust to their new surroundings. Just like people, not everyone is the same and can handle the same amount of stress. Change is always stressful for all animals. I know that Cichlids can see about 8 feet past their tank, so the outside is different as well for fish. This cory may have come from a tank of many where he\she felt safe in numbers and species to your tank of plants and other species. Remember sometimes to keep fish from fighting people rearrange the tank so it looks new and throws the fish off for a bit. Bad stress can also cause disease to occur as the immune system is lowered; so it can get all muddled up that way.

Has anyone else had this occur in the past or do I need to up my medication more?


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

yeah, adding corys is a definate need. it's just a matter of sneaking them in the house when the gf's not around ("No more fish! Are you crazy!?" Why, yes, a little.)

and you make a good point about the stress factor.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

hehehe Thanks

 what's her problem?  

The more fish and the happier you will be and then she will be happy and so on and so on ... until global world peace. <<< See if she buys that one  
I must admit there does comes a time when too many fish is the limit. Just like the stereotypical old lady that collects 50 or so unwanted cats out of the kindness of her heart and wonders where it all went wrong. There must be a number but i do not know where it's at.

Hopefully the cory will be okay very soon.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

world peace one tank at a time. i like it. 

and thanks. i'll let you know how it turns out.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

I've been lurking around this post, not sure what to say.

Several months ago a really weird thing happened to my 60 gallon after a 40% water change. This was a Saturday morning.

After the change I found a dead zebra danio floating at the top, then a while later a second one was gasping at the top. I moved him into my hospital tank then I noticed one of my juvenile corys swimming strangely. Into the hospital tank. Later that day another juvenile was swimming strangely and the one in the HT was swimming upside down! I managed to scoop all the rest of the juveniles out (9 in total) and put them into the HT (a 2.5 gallon; ya, I know). By this time the second zebra had died and 2 of the juveniles were dead. I was frantic.

I blasted the 60 with Jungle parasite tabs and the 2.5 melafix and pimafix. A few days later no deaths but I somehow came to the conclusion it was velvet (ding dong, I was wrong). Coppersave into everything along with the 2 fix's.

The next Saturday, everyone was still alive BUT I noticed one of my male cory adults 'hovering'. Later that day I found him on his side at the bottom. Into the HT (he was still alive). I am sh|itting myself. I'm thinking the 60 is cursed so out I go to buy me 20 gallon long as an exclusive cory tank. Sunday morning the female adult flops on her side. In she goes. Then 1/2 hour later the second adult male follows her.

Talk about a depressing time.

After the second week I managed to get the ear of a breeder to tell my story to. His diagnosis was a chemical spike; most likely chloramine (for the first round of deaths) and possibly an ammonia spike from the coppersafe killy the algae et al. Since then I've been using a double dose of dechlor and pre-treating the water. At this point some of the corys had fin rot. He suggested that I clear all the meds (coppersafe, and the 2 fix's). I then treated with Erythromycin for 4 days. That cleared up the fin rot.

They all stayed in that 2.5 gallon tank for over 4 weeks while I got the 20 to cycle. I did twice daily water changes.

What is the point of this story? Not sure. But the behaviour of my corys sort of matched the behaviour of your panda. Was it a chemical spike? Don't know for sure.

But since then I've been VERY meticulous with my water chemistry.

All my corys are now in the 20 (except for a small batch of fry in a 10). They are doing well. She's laid eggs 4 times now and from what I can tell all 4 times the eggs weren't fertile. That has me very worried.

Maybe this long winded story will shed some light on your situation, maybe it won't.

Either way, good luck and cheers.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

hmmm, i have been doing a lot of water changes recently. i had some pretty crummy water conditions a few weeks back, and the pH was scary low. so i did a water change (15%) every other day for a while. maybe that could have led to a chemical spike of some kind

The only thing is it's so isolated. Just one fish.

He's still alive. He's on the bottom of the tank under a small rock structure but he's not feeding or moving much. I've also just noticeda thin line of clear fin about a milimetre thick running the length of his fin where it meets his back. There's no other signs of fin-rot. maybe there was an injury involved. Still, i don't know if this "injury", or whatever it is, would have lead to him losing the ability to sink and stay at the bottom.

we'll see. i'm going to expatriate some clown loaches and that'll give me room to add a few more corys. de-stress him a little maybe.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

With my 60 gallon weirdness it was only 2 of my zebra danios (out of 6) and corydoras that were affected. Ottos were fine (till they died a few weeks later), and so were the guppies, platties and neons.

Do you add dechlor to your water? Do you pretreat or in-tank treat?


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

i dechlor before adding the new water. i add enough to cover chloramine and sometimes throw in a little extra (the labels usually say something like "add x amount to help protect yadda yadda, prolly just a cash grab...but, i do it anyways). I also only add enough dechlor to cover the new water. i don't add 20g worth each time the way some do. it's mostly a cost issue. 

can you over-dechlor? i doubt it, but i've been wrong before.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

twoheadedfish said:


> i dechlor before adding the new water. i add enough to cover chloramine and sometimes throw in a little extra (the labels usually say something like "add x amount to help protect yadda yadda, prolly just a cash grab...but, i do it anyways). I also only add enough dechlor to cover the new water. i don't add 20g worth each time the way some do. it's mostly a cost issue.
> 
> can you over-dechlor? i doubt it, but i've been wrong before.


I've been doubling the amount they suggest. So, if they say to add 1 ml for 10 gallons of NEW water, I put in 2 ml. I also let it sit for 24 hours. This lets the water 'warm up' so there's less of a temp change when I add it.

There are a lot of members who just add the dechlor to the tank and then add the water straight from the tap. That's what I was doing before my disaster.

At this point my fish are too important to me to cut corners. But everyone's mileage may vary 

Cheers.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

so, maybe all this was just stress. he's still acting pretty odd, but he's now able to control at what depth he swims at. he's lasted almost a week now, so i think he'll make it.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

ahh good news, it sounds promising


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

twoheadedfish said:


> so, maybe all this was just stress. he's still acting pretty odd, but he's now able to control at what depth he swims at. he's lasted almost a week now, so i think he'll make it.


I doubt it was stress that caused his swimming problem. However, it was probably stress that opened the door to something else that then caused the swimming problem.

People often talk about never having an ich problem then dissing some lfs for selling em a fish that then infected their entire tank. Now it's possible that these thing do happen but most likely it was the stress of the new fish (how it was introduced into the tank, the aggressiveness of the new member, etc.) that lowered the immune system of the others that opened the door to the outbreak. Most fish do carry the ich parasite but their immune system is able to keep it in check.

But I'll really happy to hear he's doing fine.

Cheers.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

yeah, that's what i was driving at. 

the cory's seem to be the most tempermental of the beginner-esque fish i've kept.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

well, he's gone. he was a fighter but he just couldn't make it.

Westender pointed this out the other day when he was over ot pick up some loaches: the face was deformed somehow. it's like his "snout" was pushed in. he was flat faced. 

wierdness. i wonder if i injured him bringing him home.


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

I don't think it was you. I think he should have been culled in the beginning.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

twoheadedfish said:


> well, he's gone. he was a fighter but he just couldn't make it.
> 
> Westender pointed this out the other day when he was over ot pick up some loaches: the face was deformed somehow. it's like his "snout" was pushed in. he was flat faced.
> 
> wierdness. i wonder if i injured him bringing him home.




He may have had a genetic defect, poor guy.


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