i think my corys sick

[petitericeball]

today my cory wasnt schooling with the other cory in the tank
it will stay on the bottom for a couple seconds and then make a mad dash around the tank
its not eating much
i dont know if it came like this but its color is lighter then my other cory

 

[petitericeball]

i figured it out
one doesnt like the light on (10/50 watt light) and the other one doesnt care i think it might be too bright... in a 5 gallon... i dont know if thats too bright because the 10 goes for the 2 per gallon but i dont know if its suppose to be 2 incandesent or 2 floresent watts for a tank

 

[Inchworm]

Hi petitericeball

I can think of two reasons your cory may be acting like that.

First is the light. Corys do have poor eyes and the light seems to bother them sometimes. Do you have a cave or some low plants in there? If not, try putting something in for them to get under so they can get a bit of shade. B)

The second reason is a bit more serious. Have you checked your water parameters lately? What are they? How many fish are in that tank?

Corys are sensitive to water conditions and if there are too many fish or if your water parameters are not good, you may be starting to have some problems.

Get back to me with that info, and also the temperature of the water, please.

 

[petitericeball]

the gh is 5 (5 drops)
0.4 nitrates
7.1 ph
0.5 ammonia...(i put some of the ammonia eliminator in and its testing right now) (i know its high but im using dirnking water because the ph of my tap is like 7.9 the hardness is like 18 gh and i dont know if my gourami pleco molly and corys can handle that high of hardness... so im holding back on the water changes because i only have 1.25 gallons of drinking water left... if that is a decent hardness and ph for my fish ill do a couple water changes with the tap (my water conditioner will take out the hard metals in the water so if that helps with the hardness)

i put some of that ammonia eliminator stuff and its 0 now but im having doubts now because i heard that it messes up your readings
and another question if its not the light why would it affect one cory and not the other??

oh and i have a pleco 2 corys a dwarf gourami and a molly (im pretty sure its overstocked b ut my dad wont lemme use my 10 gallon because "it takes too much money" but i already have all the stuff i dont understand his logic