Death in the family

Sarcastic · November 16th, 2009

So a couple weeks ago I lost one of my three albino cories. He'd been with me at least 2 years - hard to say before that as I lost my old notebook. I came home one day and he was listless and his tail fin was all chewed up. I attributed that to an attack by the silver dollars, started in with the Melaflix and hoped for the best. He didn't make it.

Now its two weeks later, I get home from class and another one of my albino cories is laying sideways on a rock, fin all intact and looking quite dead. Depressed, I go in to pull him out and he swings back into life like nothing's wrong! I can't figure it out and it makes me worried that the other fish are in for a bad day soon ....

Here's the facts: he looks fine - his fins are all intact, his scales look normal. His eyes do look a little pale, but they move normally and whatnot. The tank is very stable lately (pH 6.2, DKH 4.0, dGH 6.0, ammonia/nitrite at 0, and Nitrates fairly consistently in the low 20s PPM). Temperatures in the upper 60s Fahr. The only real change is that I switched out the airline and the airstone recently - and this airstone isn't quite up to par.

So is this old age?

Is there something I should be looking out for in specific that I don't know about? Am I crazy to blame the silver dollars (and these guys are aggro from time to time) and should assume fin rot and pull this guy and euthanize him now? What do others think?

I don't have a quarantine tank set up .... I know, I am a crappy fishkeeper.

aquarist48 · November 17th, 2009

Hello Sarcastic. Sorry to hear about your fish loss. I would be very surprised if your Silver Dollars attacked your fish. They may eat fry but I've never seen them do any other physical harm to any other fish.
A Cory Cat life span is close to 5 years.
Both your Silver Dollars and the Cory Cats are tropical. I would suggest raising your tank temperature "slowly" to at least 76 degrees. Too, your pH is really on the low side. Personally I would add some crushed coral to raise it or increase your water changes depending on what the pH level is from your tap.
How often are you doing water changes?
What size tank are your fish in and how long has it been set up?

If you would be so kind as to complete your aquarium information in your profile it would be a great help to others. Click on "My Settings" at the top of the page. In the drop down bar click on "Edit Aquarium Information".
Thanks!
Ken

Sarcastic · November 17th, 2009

Thanks for the thorough reply. I took your advice and updated my aquarium statistics.

I hear your skepticism on the Silver Dollar attack. I do agree with you that it seems unlikely since they haven't attacked the cories before.

I also hear your advice on the pH. For a while I was really struggling to hit a target of 7.0, and I use R/O water, so it was all about getting the recipe right. This meant a lot of short term fluctuation while I perfected the water. All that could have prematurely aged the fish due to the stress, I fear, so I'm scared to mess about with it again. I now have this near-perfect recipe of Neutral Regulator and Kent (powdered) Freshwater R/O right that gives me 6.2 pH exactly. I also now let the buckets sit for a couple days and test again before water changes. (I think you gave me some tips on water storage a while ago for a future project.) I thought that consistency is better than targeting an exact pH based on the fish's ideal preference. Do you disagree?

I do water changes every six days, of 15 gallons (about 30%), like clockwork. If I miss even one week, the nitrates jump to between 40 and 50ppm. It seems that the Silver Dollars are waste machines. For the record, I missed on 8 November and that change was about 9 days since the previous change.

I switched to the 46 gallon from a 30 gallon a little over two years ago. Before that I had a 30 gallon since summer 2005. The albino cories were all switched from the old tank (looking back at those posts, that was in April 2007), so they are at least 2.5 years old. All the fish look pretty good - good color in the tails, healthy looking eyes, active, except for this bad news with the albinos lately.

Temperature also kind of drifts around this time of year, as it does in my apartment. Its generally always in the "green" on my thermometer.

What other thoughts do you have?

Update today is the guy I was worried about is swimming about quite cheerfully. Hm. I'm also back on Melaflix treatment just as a precaution.

And are you sure you don't want to just give me that 265 bowfront? I'd be glad you relieve you of all that responsibility.....

Lucy · November 17th, 2009

I'm really sorry to hear you lost your cories. It's really rough, especially when you don't really know what cause it.
Good news about your third one, best of luck. I hope he continues to improve.

aquarist48 · November 18th, 2009

Hello Sarcastic. Thanks for updating your aquarium information.

I'm glad to hear that your other Cory is out and about. You are correct in stating that it's important to maintain a steady pH. With you doing frequent water changes as you do everything should be fine. A pH level as low as 6.2 kind of scares me because as you probably know pH drops over time. Seeing that you do water changes every 6 days (which is my schedule right now too) eases my mind

Too, I'm glad to hear that your temperature stays in the safe range.

Oh, my bow front that is currently empty is the 155g.

My new tank is 265g and you can't have it

Sarcastic it sounds like you have everything under control. I wish I could tell you more as to your problems with the Cory's. Hopefully the problem has resolved itself now.
Keep us posted.
Ken

Sarcastic · November 18th, 2009

Thanks for the chat on this. It looks like the best course of action is to keep an eye on the potentially ill one, keep up the innocuous Melaflix, and hope for the best. I am traveling for the holiday next week, so here's hoping that my fish-sitter is attentive enough.

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