Where Am I Going Wrong With Cories?

[drooke]

Hi all,

I don't seem to have much luck keeping Cories having just lost another, this time to some white fluffy fungus on it's head. It was a little red on it's gills and when held up to light quite red inside.

I have an API master test kit and my water seems pretty good quality wise. My pH is 7.5, is this perhaps too high? Are there any other water parameters that this test kit doesn't cover that are important for cories?

I have a 125L community tank and all the other fish seem perfectly healthy, having only lost a couple of Swordtails and Cories in the 6 months it's been setup. I have only one Cory left now which I've had since not long after cycling the tank, this is an Albino and seems very hardy. I've tried to introduce others including Albinos and Schwartzis but they don't seem to last long. The Albino I have has very short barbels, I wouldn't consider my pea gravel substrate to be sharp though so I'm not sure why they're short.

I love Cories and really want to keep more of them. Does anyone have any clue what could be wrong?

 

[pippoodle]

what are the actual results for nitrites , nitrates and ammonia hun

also with cories you need to be doing regular water changes and weekly gravel vacs as bad food in the gravel will cause infections

 

[Inchworm]

Hi drooke

The most common problem with corys is bacterial infection, and this sounds like what is happening to your cory now.

How often do you vacuum the bottom of the tank? How high is the temperature?

 

[drooke]

Thanks for the replies. I've just run all tests and have:

Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
pH 7.8

I posted the original pH incorrectly, it was 7.8 at the last set of tests too. Current water temperature is about 26C (a slightly vague stick on thermometer).

With regard to gravel vacing, this is a good point with Cories spending most of their time on the substrate. I vac the gravel when performing water changes about every 2 - 3 weeks. Should I be vacing the gravel more often? Would an alternative substrate help reduce the numbers of harmful bacteria?

Other points, I do have Tetra Prima sinking granules which I feed Cories on every day. The tank is planted and I do have a small algae problem.

Thanks for any more help!

 

[pippoodle]

corys prefer sand or very fine gravel - in larger gravel food particles can get stuck inbetween the gravel and so if the corys eat rotten food then it can give them infections
the temp you have them at is a bit high for most cories 24 degrees is usually ok for most types of cory and other tropical fish

You need to be gravel vac'ing and water changing every week , even if it's only 20% water change via the gravel vac any rotting food matter should be removed and stop infections that way




if you're looking for a hardier cory - that will still need the same maintenance routine though
go for peppered or bronze to start off with again
also corys enjoy a varied diet mine have , pellets , wafers , frozen and fresh - bloodworm , blackworm and brineshrimp , cucumber and butternut squash amoung other things

 

[Inchworm]

Hi drooke

Bacterial infections can also cause your corys' barbels to erode as well as giving them the other symptoms you described. Like pippoodle said, be sure to do weekly water changes and tank vacuuming to prevent them. Harmful bacteria will be less likely to thrive at the slightly cooler temperatures. Good water circulation will insure having a high oxygen content in the water and that will slow their growth too.

Your nitrate level is low and your pH is a little high. It might be a good idea to test your tap water for comparison. Fish will usually adjust to the pH as long as it's stable, but if you find the tank water different from the tap water, that might be something to look into.

 

[drooke]

Thanks for the feedback. The tap water nitrate and pH levels are the same. I would say that there is a good level of oxygen in the water, the flow from the internal pump is quite strong and it causes a fair bit of disturbance at the water surface. I suspect then that the Albino I have is of the Bronze strain as I believe is the most common.

Inchworm, you mention that they like a stable pH level. When I have introduced any new Cories they tend to last at most about 3 days. Could this be because the pH level of the water at the LFS being at 6.3, for example? I'm thinking that maybe it's too big a jump in pH for them. I've looked at pH adjuster treatments but I'm reluctant to as it may affect my other fish. I imagine that very slow introduction of my tanks water into the bag to aclimatise them slowly is the only thing I can do.

As you've suggested, I shall start gravel vacing once a week to clean out the gravel. I shall see if there are any improvements in my existing Albino (Barbels) before introducing any new Cories.

I would also like to change the substrate, I would like a base layer of Seachem Flourite or similar and then a top layer of sand. Everyone on the forum talks of play sand available from Argos in the UK, is this suitable for Cories? I've also seen silver sand mentioned when reading about planted aquariums, is this better? Any ideas where to source this from?

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[pippoodle]

Thanks for the feedback. The tap water nitrate and pH levels are the same. I would say that there is a good level of oxygen in the water, the flow from the internal pump is quite strong and it causes a fair bit of disturbance at the water surface. I suspect then that the Albino I have is of the Bronze strain as I believe is the most common.

Inchworm, you mention that they like a stable pH level. When I have introduced any new Cories they tend to last at most about 3 days. Could this be because the pH level of the water at the LFS being at 6.3, for example? I'm thinking that maybe it's too big a jump in pH for them. I've looked at pH adjuster treatments but I'm reluctant to as it may affect my other fish. I imagine that very slow introduction of my tanks water into the bag to aclimatise them slowly is the only thing I can do.

As you've suggested, I shall start gravel vacing once a week to clean out the gravel. I shall see if there are any improvements in my existing Albino (Barbels) before introducing any new Cories.

I would also like to change the substrate, I would like a base layer of Seachem Flourite or similar and then a top layer of sand. Everyone on the forum talks of play sand available from Argos in the UK, is this suitable for Cories? I've also seen silver sand mentioned when reading about planted aquariums, is this better? Any ideas where to source this from?

Thanks for all the advice.

I use argos playsand in all my tanks and have corys in most of them and it's perfect for them
it's cheap but does need a really good rinse through before adding to the tank

 

[drooke]

Thanks pippoodle, the Argos play sand is extremely cheap! I think I will try that, just need to work out what to do for my plants.

Does anyone have any thoughts about the difference in pH level from the LFS water to that in my tank? If there is a large difference, how can I best introduce new Cories?

 

[pippoodle]

Thanks pippoodle, the Argos play sand is extremely cheap! I think I will try that, just need to work out what to do for my plants.

Does anyone have any thoughts about the difference in pH level from the LFS water to that in my tank? If there is a large difference, how can I best introduce new Cories?

If there is a difference between the ph where my fish come from and the ph in my tank -- ie if fish are being sent to me from somewhere else i do the slow acclimatisation

I put the fish (corys or shrimp) in a empty tupperware (sandwich or butter/spread pot(washed out))
add the corys to it with their water from the bag
float it on the top of the water in the tank
take a small egg cup size of their water out and dispose of it and add an egg cup size of your tank water into the tub
i do this every 20-30 minutes for upto 4 hours so they gradually get used to the difference in ph/hardness of my water to the water they have been in
i then add them to the tank
and hopefully they have become acclimatised to my water

never had a problem doing it this way with fish that have come a long way or from a totally different ph/hardness than mine

Good luck

Sarah x

 

[drooke]

Thanks pippoodle, I will try your acclimatisation method next time I try and introduce some new Cories. Hopefully there'll be a better tank waiting for them by that point.

Thanks for all your's and Inchworm's help, much appreciated.

Dan