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Cory Laying On Side And Then Swimming Normally With Others
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No offense taken, totally get where you were coming from. It was just the best guess based on the info given. But I do agree that you would think at some point you should of registered some ammonia if that was the case.
I have had odd luck with Cories personally. I started with a group of 8 Bronze Corys and overtime I lost half of them. 2 died with no symptoms and 2 had a rapid onset of fin rot and died. This happened over a few months with no other affects to the other 20 inhabitants to that tank. And all basic parameters remained in check. I chalked it up to weak stock but, sometimes you just never know. And like people, sometimes it just happens out of no where.
hopefully his was a limited occurrence for you!
UPDATE: still no ammonia, still cloudy, other panda cory is acting weird, other 2 corys seem ok. The funny thing is the tank has been fine for awhile and now suddenly it does this, only new addition to the tank is some floater plants (salvinia), could that have caused this?
at this point i think if i don't do something my fish will just die, they're all acting really weird except the gourami. i have API fungus cure, Levamisole, a SeaChem antibiotic but i forgot which one, and i can do water changes. if there's something else i need i can buy that too, but i want to do something, i'm not just going to sit here and let my fish die
at this point i'm getting ready to just start throwing meds at it and pray
Guys i could really use some help here
at this point i'm getting ready to just start throwing meds at it and pray
Guys i could really use some help here
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What color is your cloudy water?
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That's a bacterial bloom. Happens when the beneficial bacteria is multiplying so rapidly that it can be seen in the water column. When you do a water change you are removing this bacteria and starting the whole process over. I would hold off on water changes. This should settle in under a week.
I agree with Cody, I think your tank may be experiencing a mini-spike and I had a similar problem with my corycats 11 years ago with a 45 gallon tank that was not yet 1 year old.
My favourite fish store lady said that even though my test kits read 0 ammonia and nitrites, she thinks that my tank had trace amounts not detectable with the test strips but enough to sicken/weaken and kill my corycats, as corycats prefer established/stable tanks with a strong beneficial bacterial colony.
If your pH crashed, then that could partially kill off your beneficial bacteria, mimicking a slightly unstable "newish" tank with mini cycles. That could be enough to kill/sicken your corycats, who are scaleless and sensitive to trace amounts, which is why your test kits still read 0 but your fish are showing symptoms of toxic shock.
1) I would perform frequent partial water changes, putting the siphon near the bottom of the tank but not disturbing the gravel so that the beneficial bacteria are allowed to grow.
2) Do not remove or clean the filter where the beneficial bacteria are trying to regrow. Beneficial bacteria live on the surface of your gravel and in your water filter media. They are not free floating.
3) Increase aeration of your tank by dropping the water level slightly as beneficial bacteria need oxygen to grow and multiply. If you have an airstone or a plug-in air pump you can also help aerate the tank more.
4) Stop feeding the fish for a few days. Feed sparingly to avoid adding further toxins & stress to the fish as digestion is very hard on a fish's system. I would feed them once every two days in small amounts. Fish can go days without eating, and many fishkeepers fast their fish once a week for 24 hours (usually after a partial water change).
5) I don't think that any of the meds you have are going to help, they will just make your situation worse. Unfortunately when fish start acting sick, it may be too late to save them. The gourami may make it though....
My favourite fish store lady said that even though my test kits read 0 ammonia and nitrites, she thinks that my tank had trace amounts not detectable with the test strips but enough to sicken/weaken and kill my corycats, as corycats prefer established/stable tanks with a strong beneficial bacterial colony.
If your pH crashed, then that could partially kill off your beneficial bacteria, mimicking a slightly unstable "newish" tank with mini cycles. That could be enough to kill/sicken your corycats, who are scaleless and sensitive to trace amounts, which is why your test kits still read 0 but your fish are showing symptoms of toxic shock.
1) I would perform frequent partial water changes, putting the siphon near the bottom of the tank but not disturbing the gravel so that the beneficial bacteria are allowed to grow.
2) Do not remove or clean the filter where the beneficial bacteria are trying to regrow. Beneficial bacteria live on the surface of your gravel and in your water filter media. They are not free floating.
3) Increase aeration of your tank by dropping the water level slightly as beneficial bacteria need oxygen to grow and multiply. If you have an airstone or a plug-in air pump you can also help aerate the tank more.
4) Stop feeding the fish for a few days. Feed sparingly to avoid adding further toxins & stress to the fish as digestion is very hard on a fish's system. I would feed them once every two days in small amounts. Fish can go days without eating, and many fishkeepers fast their fish once a week for 24 hours (usually after a partial water change).
5) I don't think that any of the meds you have are going to help, they will just make your situation worse. Unfortunately when fish start acting sick, it may be too late to save them. The gourami may make it though....
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The op has cloudy milky water indicating a bacterial bloom. It was my understanding that water changes will not clear the bacterial bloom and it has to settle on its own. I suggested the op to not change water, and you suggested the opposite. So now I am just curious if my understanding has been wrong this whole time?
In this case I'm thinking that the bacterial bloom is a sign that the beneficial bacterial colony, for some reason, is dying off. The corycats are showing signs that they are being poisoned by poor water quality so it would be best to partially remove some of the toxins that are in the water to dilute the toxins and increase the chance of the corycats' survival, but it may be too late.....
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I've had some experience with cory cats, and i don't think that trace amounts of ammonia would be enough to kill them, given the fact that they've been fine through visible amounts on my test kits before, and didn't seem to notice. I think if there was enough to kill them the ammonia would have to be enough to at least give the test a slightly greenish tint. also, it was swimming sideways and seemed unable to stay upright, almost as if it lost it's ability to steer and control itself. i thought ammonia would burn the gills, so this shouldn't be happening.
Hmm, something is wrong though, and sick/dying fish and a bacterial bloom is not ideal, that seems like water parameters are off. Long ago when my corycats kept dying off in my newish tank I was stunned because the ammontia and nirtrite readings were 0 too. They were basically suffocating, but I couldn't see red on the gills, and some were going up for air more frequently than normal, then die, and others would just fall over like yours and die.
I didn't have a bacterial bloom in my tank though....
I would still perform water changes every 2 days 20%-30% in the hopes of diluting whatever toxin is going on/changing the water parameters gradually as something is killing your fish.
Hopefully you can save your gourami and your remaining cories through this stressful time. I didn't do partial water changes and I wish I had done this but I didn't.
I didn't have a bacterial bloom in my tank though....
I would still perform water changes every 2 days 20%-30% in the hopes of diluting whatever toxin is going on/changing the water parameters gradually as something is killing your fish.
Hopefully you can save your gourami and your remaining cories through this stressful time. I didn't do partial water changes and I wish I had done this but I didn't.
Good question, I don't know of any way of testing oxygen levels. You can add an airstone/airpump to the tank to help your fish and also lowering the water level after a water change can help create more oxygen in the tank (more "splash" from your hob filter).
so we know SOMETHING is in that tank and the fish don't like it, should i maybe move the fish from the 10g into my quarantine tank (which is also 10g) and end quarantine early on it's current occupants, putting them in my 20g? just to get my fish out of bad water?
Is your quarantine tank established and fully cycled? If not, I wouldn't as it may further stress out your sick fish who are reacting to something (and very delicate/vulnerable right now). I would try to keep up with partial water changes every 2 days, carefully maintaining identical temperature and slowly adding the new treated water, etc (being careful not to disturb your filter or your gravel).
Yes the qt is cycled. Is it safe to skip a week of qt for it's current occupants though or will they most likely make my other fish sick? I don't want to put my rather mean gourami with my apistogramma as i think it would end badly, and I already have some cories in qt, and that would just be too many cories for the tank, so I'd have to move them all to my main tank, and I've got some fish in that which i really like don't want them to get sick and die. But i don't think the nitrogen cycle will cause problems in the qt tank. What should i do?
Hmmm I would err on the side of caution and keep the fish separate.... you don't want to gamble and lose all the fish, or stress them out and or have them hurting each other. It doesn't sound like a good idea to combine them and a new environment is a very dangerous time for all fish, healthy or sick.
No, i meant move the ones in qt into the tank i had already planned for them to be in, and then move fish from the 10g into the qt tank, not mix them together. The only thing being mixed together would be the fish currently in the qt tank, and 6 fish in my 20g. They've currently been in qt for about a week, and i was gonna do another week, but am starting to think that my 10g in it's current state isn't a safe environment for them and that i should move the fish from it to my qt tank, and put the fish in qt in my main tank. My only concern is that i could bring a disease into my 20g.
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They where not improving, infact, while i don't think it was ammonia poisoning as there was no ammonia, i think they where dying from lack of oxygen due to all the bacteria bloom, so while they weren't directly dying from ammonia, it was still killing them, just indirectly. And water changes weren't cutting it, they where all seeming really lethargic, so i moved them. Fingers crossed my 20g doesn't get sick from not quarantining fish long enough, but i did what i had to do to save the fish in my 10g, and the fish i moved to my 20g most likely aren't sick, it's just that they could be.
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