agree with the above, we'll need a bit more info to get a real diagnosis.
it's quite hard to judge these things over the net so we need you to be as full and descriptive with your answers as you can be.
if you can give us a run down on the tanks history, how long it's been running, how it was cycled, any diseases etc that you've had
we will need the actual readings, the test kit should give you either ppm or mg/l for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, if you can give us the actual numbers that will mean much more to us than 'fine', after all not all fish are the same, with things like pH what is fine for one fish won't be fine for another, so the numbers are what you should work on!
If you can also tell us what the test kit is, what brand nad if it's strips, tablets or liquid reagents.
Can you also tell us the makes and models of the equipment (particularly the filter) that you have running
and give us a run down of your maintenance routine, how often you change water, clean the gravel and filter and how you do it.
Hello
We have an API master test kit. The results were:
Amonia 0
PH 7.6
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
We use a bio wheel for a filter. We have had the tank since April and it was cycled for 5 days before we added fish. Water is changed every other week with a vaccum to clean the gravel. We feed the fish every other day flake food and an algae tablet for the corries, which it seems lately the other fish are eating more of it than the corries,
The albino cory is still alive, haven't seem it swim yet but it isn't panting like it was last night.
Hope this info helps.
Thanks!
ok excellent, well your water stats are great so that's the first thing ruled out, i'm dubious about the nitrate reading as it';s v hard to keep it at 0, but its the least important so don't worry over it too much.
maintenance routine also sounds to be about right
feeding, do you give any catfish pellets, cories don't just need algae they also need protein and meat in their diets, you can get sinking catfish pellets, you should use these as the cories main staple diet then supplement it with things like algae wafers, prawns, peas etc.
was the cory in the tank right from the start, after the 5 days cycle?
Unfortunately 5 days running the tank empty doesn't actually cycle it, the bacteria won't grow in the filter without some food source like ammonia or fish waste, so what will have actually happened is you went through a fish-in cycle after the 5 days without knowing it. If you read the link in my sig 'whats cycling' this should explain a bit more about the process.
When fish go through a fish-in cycle it can do permanent respiratory damage to them, the ammonia burns their gills and respiratory system and as such they can suffer with it for life, it's uncurable and can be fatal.
Sometimes it won't manifest itself immediately but it'll just weaken the fish and that means when something does come along like a disease they are much more susceptible to it and have a lower chance of recovery.
I'm not sure and I don't know how we could tell, but it could be that the cory was weakened by the cycle and since then has not had the correct nutrition, the effects of these two things over 5 months could build up to a point that they become very ill or very susceptible to disease.
I would suspect that he has picked up a bacterial infection and is struggling to fight it off because of these factors. I would initialy try a bacterial med like Myaxin
don't suppose you have a record of your water stats from around the time the cory was added do you??
