Best approach for a corydoras quarantine

[Beastije]

Hi. So in my 54l tank, sand substrate, established, airfilter tank, i have 10 new sterbai corydoras.
There are anubias plants that work as shelter and shade, no other inhabitants except two snails, water change was done 6 hours before adding them, 50%.
I have few weeks before i need to use the tank again, so no hurry and since they are in good numbers i don't fear they will be stressed in the quarantine.
Are there any sure tips I should follow or should I treat this as any other tank with weekly water change and feeding them every day, even twice and one day break.

Should I do more often water changes, not turn on the light, feed more, feed less, preventive salt baths, anything that will increase the chances of them making it out alive and strong before joining the rest of my shoal?
We already discussed the food, fluval bug bites, dennerle shrimp king, frozen cyclops, Daphnia, bloodworms once a week max. No crap
Thanks
Edit: attaching a crappy quick pic i took before adding them, in case you wonder how the tank looks

 

[GaryE]

I quarantine everything that arrives here, in isolation in a normal tank with an almost normal routine. I just check them a little more closely than I would when they go into a permanent or community tank. Other than that, you keep them well, and most of the time, have no problems.
I have some trilineatus in an 80ltr, nosing through the sand and seemingly having a good time in week 2 of QT.

 

[Byron]

I see no issues here. The mistake many make is putting them (or any new fish acquisitions) into bare tanks. Nothing is more stressful and they are much more likely to develop ich this way. But a tank with sand and floating plants is ideal. I would however feed them less than you seem to be suggesting. Once a day only. missing one day a week (this should be water change day) and missing a second day will do no harm. They will be healthier with less food, rather than overfed. What is the water temperature?

 

[Beastije]

The temp is a bit concerning for me. The heater is set up for 25°C which is the end temp in the main tank, but the thermometer is showing only 23 or 24. I believe the air filter is not creating enough current to mix the waters and keep the temp constant.
I tried to use a shorter air hose today, will switch air pumps or put in additional one, I have the second sponge soaking on in there for a month or so. Do not want to stress them.
They look great, great barbels, good appetite, good belly size. Still stressed a bit, in a tight shoal, but curious.

 

[Byron]

The temp is a bit concerning for me. The heater is set up for 25°C which is the end temp in the main tank, but the thermometer is showing only 23 or 24. I believe the air filter is not creating enough current to mix the waters and keep the temp constant.
I tried to use a shorter air hose today, will switch air pumps or put in additional one, I have the second sponge soaking on in there for a month or so. Do not want to stress them.
They look great, great barbels, good appetite, good belly size. Still stressed a bit, in a tight shoal, but curious.

I don't think I have ever had a heater that was exact in the temperature setting/water temperature. This does not mean a poor heater necessarily, so long as it is constant. My Eheim Jager in the 33g was set at 22C, and it maintained the water temp at 25C which is where I wanted it. Once you get the adjustment correct, it should remain. I have known heaters that work the opposite, the calibration is not always pinpoint but if it is consistent once you get the right setting, not a problem.

 

[Beastije]

Btw i talked to the breeder i got these from, because they are basically the same size as those i have had for a year and they are about year younger. He said i underfeed them. That they are slow eaters, and that my feeding regime is insufficient. He called dried food a snack and suggested a whole cube of frozen protein daily.
Because it is WC day, i decided to give them half a cube of bloodworm, the other half went to the main tank. The ones in my main tank got half a cube of Daphnia yesterday and some fluval bug bites in the evening.
I obviously made a mistake there, cause the ones in my main tank have so full belies!! Like middle aged guys w a beer gut will give them a feeding break tomorrow but hopefully they will grow up a bit.
Breeder said his 3 year old ones are at 7 cm and mine are at 3cm
Such a hard topic, so many opinions. Worse than feeding yourself

 

[Byron]

Btw i talked to the breeder i got these from, because they are basically the same size as those i have had for a year and they are about year younger. He said i underfeed them. That they are slow eaters, and that my feeding regime is insufficient. He called dried food a snack and suggested a whole cube of frozen protein daily.
Because it is WC day, i decided to give them half a cube of bloodworm, the other half went to the main tank. The ones in my main tank got half a cube of Daphnia yesterday and some fluval bug bites in the evening.
I obviously made a mistake there, cause the ones in my main tank have so full belies!! Like middle aged guys w a beer gut will give them a feeding break tomorrow but hopefully they will grow up a bit.
Breeder said his 3 year old ones are at 7 cm and mine are at 3cm
Such a hard topic, so many opinions. Worse than feeding yourself

I do not agree with this person, who may or may not know what he is talking about. Just because he can raise fry does not mean he has knowledge of nutrition for fish. High protein is especially detrimental to cories. I suppose it is comparable to force feeding food animals to grow them faster to sell, making more profit. But the poor animals are certainly anything but healthy.

Fluval Bug Bites is the #1 food for cories because it is natural. Crustaceans is second. Worms are a distant third because cories do not naturally feed on a lot of them, and they are not nutritious. "Protein" is way off the mark.

 

[Beastije]

I do not agree with this person, who may or may not know what he is talking about. Just because he can raise fry does not mean he has knowledge of nutrition for fish. High protein is especially detrimental to cories. I suppose it is comparable to force feeding food animals to grow them faster to sell, making more profit. But the poor animals are certainly anything but healthy.

Fluval Bug Bites is the #1 food for cories because it is natural. Crustaceans is second. Worms are a distant third because cories do not naturally feed on a lot of them, and they are not nutritious. "Protein" is way off the mark.

I totally agree with you

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Your QT set up sounds pretty perfect to me! I hate bare QT tanks too, what a guaranteed way to stress out fish, right? I've seen the argument that it's for ease of cleaning/disposing of stuff if there's a disease, but most of us have some spare substrate somewhere where we can add at least a thin layer of sand, some plant trimmings from other tanks that can be disposed of if there were a problem, and I have some fake plants/decor in the cupboard too that works great for QT tanks, but is easily cleaned. The second reason I've heard for having a bare tank is for ease of observation, but I can observe my fish in my display tanks just fine, it's no harder to do that in a QT tank. I guess you might have to make some allowances for certain fish, like only a thin sprinkling of sand for kuhli loaches so you can see them, but other than special cases like that, I don't see a need for it normally, and they could still have hides/a background/floating plants etc. Besides, a stressed fish looks an awful lot like a sick fish! And stressed fish often become sick, so the bare tank thing has never made sense to me. Anyway, sorry for the waffling!

You put a lot of thought into your fish care, I remember from past threads as well. I'm sure your Sterbai's will do great, and it's lovely that you got a group of ten! Love my Sterbai. Enjoy them, and don't doubt yourself too much, you have great instincts and knowledge.

 

[Beastije]

First week of having the fish in quarantine, all is going fine. The fish are in great colors and feed well, no issues.
However i read on other forums and articles about corydoras species tanks and how the corries are all over the tank and plants and near the surface.
I understand mine are only week in so still adjusting to the new environment, but should they exhibit more behavior?
I wonder if they are truly ok since they hang out at one spot, mostly together, sometimes investigate substrate but otherwise just stay motionless and are very skittish.

 

[Byron]

First week of having the fish in quarantine, all is going fine. The fish are in great colors and feed well, no issues.
However i read on other forums and articles about corydoras species tanks and how the corries are all over the tank and plants and near the surface.
I understand mine are only week in so still adjusting to the new environment, but should they exhibit more behavior?
I wonder if they are truly ok since they hang out at one spot, mostly together, sometimes investigate substrate but otherwise just stay motionless and are very skittish.

It takes most fish time to settle into a new environment. With cories, sometimes they act frantic, glass surfing and charging around. Other times they may are more quiet. Give it time.

 

[Alice B]

I see no issues here. The mistake many make is putting them (or any new fish acquisitions) into bare tanks. Nothing is more stressful and they are much more likely to develop ich this way. But a tank with sand and floating plants is ideal. I would however feed them less than you seem to be suggesting. Once a day only. missing one day a week (this should be water change day) and missing a second day will do no harm. They will be healthier with less food, rather than overfed. What is the water temperature?

I would like to know why a fish is more likely to develop ich in a bare tank unless it comes in carrying ich from the fish store

 

[Byron]

I would like to know why a fish is more likely to develop ich in a bare tank unless it comes in carrying ich from the fish store

There are two parts to this. First, ich is most likely in the store tanks. It is less likely to be in a "bare" quarantine tank, but will be once there are fish. There is a sizeable group who believe ich is always in our tanks, just as it is in nature.

Second, it is stress that provides the ich with success. If fish are not under stress, they will not succumb to ich. Stress is directly responsible for 90% of the disease issues in aquarium fish. This is why it is so critical to provide what the fish expects.

This past week in another thread I mentioned that when I quarantined new fish I frequently observed flashing which is most ofyten ich. My QT was running permanently with sand, plants, thick floating plants, and some wood for cover. It had no fish except for the times I acquired some. Ich, nor anything else, ever developed because the fish were going into a basically stress-free environment, at least as stress-free as I think it is possible to provide.

 

[Alice B]

I am not a believer in the existence of ich in all water, especially what comes out of my tap. it comes from fish stores, on fish, because I dump their water down the drain, I do not add it to my tanks in their water.
If I suspect I have had ich in a quarantine tank I run the temp up to about 95 when it is empty, and I either toss live plants or dip them in bleach water and hold in a bucket while the tank is hot, so that when I add new fish, they are not exposed to old ich. so no my bare bottom tanks don't have ich. It's a good quarantine procedure to have a bare glass or minimal disposable sand in a tank in my honest opinion. I also use actual meds to treat ich some times. They do not always work, but chosen carefully they can be helpful

 

[Byron]

I am not a believer in the existence of ich in all water, especially what comes out of my tap. it comes from fish stores, on fish, because I dump their water down the drain, I do not add it to my tanks in their water.
If I suspect I have had ich in a quarantine tank I run the temp up to about 95 when it is empty, and I either toss live plants or dip them in bleach water and hold in a bucket while the tank is hot, so that when I add new fish, they are not exposed to old ich. so no my bare bottom tanks don't have ich. It's a good quarantine procedure to have a bare glass or minimal disposable sand in a tank in my honest opinion. I also use actual meds to treat ich some times. They do not always work, but chosen carefully they can be helpful

I think you have missed the crux of the issue. You can do all the sanitizing you want, but the new fish are most probably carrying ich. You cannot see it. All it takes is one cyst in the gills of one fish and within days the tank is "infected." Even then you may never see it, but you will likely have it in a bare tank. The point about not using bare tanks is to avoid stress, so the fish can naturally fight it off. And they do, if not stressed. Bare bottom tanks add stress to all fish. Primarily, there is the light reflecting off the glass. No fish has this in nature, and I can assure you it is very stressful. One of the reasons I never introduced ich with new fish was simply because they immediately went into a suitable "habitat" tank. I could leave them in there for several weeks if I felt it necessary. But the fish were in what they considered a natural habitat.

The other serious problem with bare tanks is the bacteria. Cories should absolutely never be housed in a tank without sand. The bacteria on the glass surface would require once a day cleaning (somehow) to overcome the issue, a problem that does not occur with sand substrate. Then there is the glass shards that all glass has. It may not seem rough to you, but it certainly is to the fish. This all comes from Ian Fuller, and I am certainly not going to dispute what Ian says about cories.