Panda Corys dying one by one...

Hello, I am new to this hobby and bought 6 panda corys five days ago. I have 29g tank that was cycled for about 2 months before getting the pandas. There were no other fish in the aquarium yet.

They seemed to be doing great for the first couple days - super active, eating well off the bottom, etc. But I found one dead on the substrate yesterday and another one today (24 hours later). Parameters are fine: ammonio = 0, nitrites = 0, and nitrates = 10. Temp is 78. I have a sand substrate.

Any ideas on what may be causing their slow deaths? It's pretty crushing since I just bought them...perhaps I got an unhealthy batch from the big box pet store....?

 

did you make sure it was cycled? your final test should have been dose your tank with ammonia like dr tims ammonium chloride etc about 20ppm and turn it into nitrates within 24 hours, but i dont know if you did that or not. could be your cycle wasnt fully finished or something.

*summons StarGirl

 

did you make sure it was cycled? your final test should have been dose your tank with ammonia like dr tims ammonium chloride etc about 20ppm and turn it into nitrates within 24 hours, but i dont know if you did that or not. could be your cycle wasnt fully finished or something.

*summons StarGirl

I cycled it with the fish food method. Perhaps that wasn't enough and I should've done straight ammonia. But I watched the water parameters close and it seemed to have gone all through the cycle.

 

Panda Cory's are quite sensitive and don't deal well with transport and being moved to different water conditions.

This is just what I've noticed with shipments of panda Corys arriving at work. The first week often results in some dead fish.

 

Your numbers seem fine so it doesn't seem like an ammonia issue. You could do a partial water change to be extra cautious. How are the remaining behaving in general? Are they active and foraging for food? What do you have to feed them?

 

Panda Cory's are quite sensitive and don't deal well with transport and being moved to different water conditions.

This is just what I've noticed with shipments of panda Corys arriving at work. The first week often results in some dead fish.

That's what I've been reading on this forum so far. And of course, I didn't know anything about the acclimation process. I just floated the bag in the aquarium water for about 10 minutes. So....that probably wasn't smart

Your numbers seem fine so it doesn't seem like an ammonia issue. You could do a partial water change to be extra cautious. How are the remaining behaving in general? Are they active and foraging for food? What do you have to feed them?

They aren't moving much. They used to be swimming constantly, but now they're mostly on the substrate. They move when I go up to the tank, but otherwise, they just lay still. I feed them about half of a bottom feeder tablet daily from Aqueon.

 

That's what I've been reading on this forum so far. And of course, I didn't know anything about the acclimation process. I just floated the bag in the aquarium water for about 10 minutes. So....that probably wasn't smart

They aren't moving much. They used to be swimming constantly, but now they're mostly on the substrate. They move when I go up to the tank, but otherwise, they just lay still. I feed them about half of a bottom feeder tablet daily from Aqueon.

I'm not familiar with the size of that one. Mine are Hikari and they are about the diameter of a pencil eraser and pretty thin. My 6 pandas eat 2-3 of those daily, along with leftovers from the other fish. If your cories seem to be eating everything, you could maybe try feeding a little more. Some of mine were super skinny when I got them, so I think they get underfed at breeders which contributes to their weakness. It took me 3 rounds of purchases to get a group of 6 to last (first round I got 3 because that's all my LFS had, one died and one was rough for a long time, then my LFS couldn't get them in anymore so I mail ordered 6 and all 6 were dead on arrival, then I got 4 more from another LFS and luckily all those survivied.) I didn't realize pandas were so difficult before this experience, but after that initial sketchiness they have been great. Hopefully you are through the worst of it and have some survivors in this batch!