Is Anything Seriously Wrong?

[hodgeheg]

I don't know if this should be in the emergencies section, but for now I'll post in here.

I have 3 albino corys in my 48 litre tank, I bought them a week ago and their tank mates are 2 balloon mollies and 6 platys.

My problem is this:
On the day I brought them home all 3 were very lively and swimming around like nobodies business, they brought a lot of activity to my tank
The day after I noticed that one of the corys was slightly quieter than the other two, he prefered to slink around at the back of the tank and spent more time staying still than the other 2. I put this down to individual personality.
About 3 days later my quiet little cory seemed to stop really doing anything and he's been the same ever since. He lays on the bottom of the tank, doesn't go crazy like the others do for food and hardly ever moves - even when another fish goes right up to him.

So, I was wondering if there could be anything seriously wrong with the little fella (or little lady - I can't tell)? Physically he looks the same as the other 2 and I can't see anything wrong. I know corys prefer larger groups for safety, is this all that's wrong with him? If all 3 of them were acting the same then I'd put it down to not having enough corys, but because the other 2 are fine together and very active it makes me wonder if something is more seriously wrong?

I hope I gave enough information - any questions, please just ask

 

[Curiosity101]

How long has the tank been cycled for?
What are your water stats?

 

[skippy_49nz]

I would say its nothing to do with numbers. Sometimes with smaller groups one might not hang out with the others. I really don't know what could be causing one to be quiet and not the others.

 

[hodgeheg]

The tank has been cycled for 3 months and my latest stats were:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 40 (comes out of the tap at 20)

 

[hodgeheg]

I woke up this morning to find the little fella upside down in a plant - he took some finding!

I don't think I did anything wrong, because everybody else is fine - including the other two corys.

 

[Harlequins]

Sorry to hear your cory died,i had the same thing happen to me when i got my cories,i had 3 die all within 2 days of each other

Now the other 3 are fine(touch wood) and have even been spawning.

Good luck with your other 2

 

[hodgeheg]

Oh gosh! I hope the other two are fine *crosses fingers!*

Good luck with your fry

 

[mattlee]

i would say do a water change as even a small level of nitrite is poisonous to your fish. is there any reason you have nitrite showing on your test results? if fully cycled and running right it should be kept at 0 the same as ammonia. you may already know this but its the first thing i would do.......

 

[hodgeheg]

I do know about ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and my tank is cycled - however, I can never seem to keep my nitrite at zero.

It never rises above 0.25 and when it is 0.25 I do a 25-50% water change.

Maybe I'm just reading the colours wrong.

 

[Harlequins]

What test kit do you use? sounds like something is causing it to rise,do you overfeed? what dechlorinator do you use?,it might be worth using prime when doing a w/c.
Sorry lots of questions

 

[hodgeheg]

I don't mind questions, anything to help the helpers
I use the API test kit
I don't think I overfeed - they eat everything very quickly and the only food leftover is that which they pull under water and then don't see as it floats to the bottom, but the cories and the balloon mollies soon hoover this up when they spot it.
Interpet tap safe.

I have a question now, probably a stupid one too, what is prime?

 

[Harlequins]

If you change your interpet tapsafe for seachem prime it might help,Prime basically is a complete and concentrated conditioner for freshwater aquariums it removes chlorine, chloramine, and ammonia and detoxifies nitrite and nitrate and provides a protective slime coat for your fish whenever adding or replacing water.
It makes the nitrite at a safe level for the fish.
I bought a 250ml bottle recently off ebay,it is very concentrated and you only use a tiny bit on normal w/c,if you need to detoxify nitrite etc,you can add up to 5x the amount,this bottle can do up to 2500 gals!!

Here's a link for prime on ebay prime

 

[hodgeheg]

Looks like I'll have to invest my fishies deserve the best I can get for them (even if it means I'm eating nothing but soup for a month and not going out )