10 Gallon Tank Is This Behavior Normal for a Pygmy Cory?

[MacMakAttack]

Tonight, after feeding my pygmy corys some frozen daphnia, I noticed one cory hanging out at the surface and seemingly gulping for air. It was doing this for 10-15 minutes on and off. I had some problems with another cory recently and unfortunately that one died several days ago. Here's the thread on that issue. That one was displaying somewhat similar behavior during its illness so I'm worried that this could be an early warning sign of the same issue.

Here's a video of the cory in question:

Temp: 76 F
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Nitrates: Negligible (Reading is closest to 0 ppm)
pH: 7.2
KH: 2
GH: 3

So does this seem normal? Is it related to feeding? I'd love to hear any thoughts!

 

[Demeter]

Some corries are smart enough to learn to find food on the surface and that's what it looks like to me. I see my kuhli loaches do something similar during feeding, looking all along the edges for floating food. The fish looks plenty active and healthy to me, if it continues to do that when there is no food around then I might worry.

Keep in mind corries will gulp air regularly so if you see it form time to time it's nothing to worry about. If they are doing it constantly there may be a water quality or gill issue. I notice my pygmies will take a couple gulps during/after feeding but that's about it.

 

[MacMakAttack]

Demeter, I really appreciate the response and was fully expecting to report back feeling comforted, but unfortunately I just found one of my corys dead after coming back from work. I did have a power outage earlier this week and I'm wondering if that is connected, but given my struggles with these fish over the past few months, I'm not so sure. Super disheartening...