2/4 of my corydoras found dead :(

Snoyo1

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Hi everyone I just wanted to find out why my corydoras May have died suddenly. Iā€™m from Aus btw. They seemed pretty healthy Iā€™ve had them since October last year and I have a 60L tank with 8 neon tetras, 2 gouramis and had 4 corydoras (now 2). They all seemed pretty happy but my tank started getting a lot of algae so I ended up buying two sucking catfish. Iā€™m not sure if the sucking catfish killed my corydoras or if maybe I didnā€™t give them enough food to survive after I got the sucking catfish. The PH level is usually at 7-7.5 and I change about 1 third of the tank water every one or two weeks. I donā€™t know where I went wrong I hadnā€™t had a fish die on me so I feel pretty disappointed in myself. If anyone can give me some advice would be much appreciated.
 
What did the Corydoras look like when they died?
Do you have a picture of them?
Did you do anything to the tank in the last 2 days?
What did you feed them last night?
When was the last time you did a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
When was the filter cleaned last?
How do you clean the filter?
Have you added anything to the tank in the last 2 weeks?

Post some pictures of the remaining fish so we can check them for disease.
 
What kind of sucky fish? Chinese algae eaters can be aggressive and attack other fish and actually feed off the fish natural body slime.
If plecostomus they dont eat a ton of algae and while not aggressive are dirty and produce alot of ammonia. Adding two plecos could increase ammonia and nitrates to dangerous levels and harm the corys. Not to mention common plecos can get up to 2 feet and chinese algae eaters a foot.
 
What are your ammonia/nitrate/nitrite?
 
What kind of sucky fish? Chinese algae eaters can be aggressive and attack other fish and actually feed off the fish natural body slime.
If plecostomus they dont eat a ton of algae and while not aggressive are dirty and produce alot of ammonia. Adding two plecos could increase ammonia and nitrates to dangerous levels and harm the corys. Not to mention common plecos can get up to 2 feet and chinese algae eaters a foot.
Hi I got two plecos. Iā€™m worried they killed my Coryā€™s though because when I found my albino cory, the pleco was sucking on it and itā€™s head and tail was missing :(. Iā€™m not sure if the nitrates and nitrite levels I got a cheap testing kit on eBay but every time I check it comes up with 0 so Iā€™m gonna buy a better quality kit. I donā€™t know what to do I donā€™t think the pet store would take the plecos back...
 
What did the Corydoras look like when they died?
Do you have a picture of them?
Did you do anything to the tank in the last 2 days?
What did you feed them last night?
When was the last time you did a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
When was the filter cleaned last?
How do you clean the filter?
Have you added anything to the tank in the last 2 weeks?

Post some pictures of the remaining fish so we can check them for disease.
They looked normal to me. The albino Cory had its head and tail missing and the pleco was sucking in it... I have a pic of the brown Cory. The night before I fed them algae pellets and yes I always use the water conditioner before I put new water in and bio enhancer. The filter I hadnā€™t cleaned for about 3 weeks and the tank I change every week or two. No I havenā€™t added anything out of the ordinary.
 
Hi I got two plecos. Iā€™m worried they killed my Coryā€™s though because when I found my albino cory, the pleco was sucking on it and itā€™s head and tail was missing :(. Iā€™m not sure if the nitrates and nitrite levels I got a cheap testing kit on eBay but every time I check it comes up with 0 so Iā€™m gonna buy a better quality kit. I donā€™t know what to do I donā€™t think the pet store would take the plecos back...
Sorry about your cory that sucks. Plecos dont eat other fish though as omnivores they will eat dead fish. Most likely the corey died of something else and the plecos did what they do, eat dead fish. Taking them back is probably a good idea anyway seeing as they will get too big for your tank anyway and are fish that produce alot of ammonia.
If one is worried about algae there are other more effective solutions. Contrary to popular belief plecos dont eat a ton of algae. To reduce algae decrease the time the light is on and also put the light on a timer so it goes on and off at the same time everyday. Algae needs 8 hours of continuous light to grow, any light even from a room light outside the tank. Plants dont need 8 hours straight to photosynthesize if one doesnt have plants fish dont need more than 8 hours of continuous light they just appreciate a schedule. Decrease feeding. Any food that goes uneaten produces nutrients that feed algae, any food that is eaten contributes to more waste produced by fish which contributes to more ammonia which contributes to more growth for algae. Feed every other day instead of every day. Lastly get algae eating animals. Nerite Snails will eat lots of algae and lots of different kinds of algae and wont reproduce in freshwater. Algae eating shrimp, Amano shrimp are renowned for eating lots of algae, ottocinclus dwarf sucker fish, they belong in groups of no less than 3 and will eat soft algae and diatoms they only get about an inch long, other snails considered pests by many but very useful in algae eating, ramshorn snails and pond or bladder snails.
Lastly again to manage algae do weekly partial water changes to remove or dilute the excess nutrients in water contributing to algae. Good luck i hope the store takes those plecos back for you and they find a bigger home.:)
 
Last edited:
Sorry about your cory that sucks. Plecos dont eat other fish though as omnivores they will eat dead fish. Most likely the corey died of something else and the plecos did what they do, eat dead fish. Taking them back is probably a good idea anyway seeing as they will get too big for your tank anyway and are fish that produce alot of ammonia.
If one is worried about algae there are other more effective solutions. Contrary to popular belief plecos dont eat a ton of algae. To reduce algae decrease the time the light is on and also put the light on a timer so it goes on and off at the same time everyday. Algae needs 8 hours of continuous light to grow, any light even from a room light outside the tank. Plants dont need 8 hours straight to photosynthesize if one doesnt have plants fish dont need more than 8 hours of continuous light they just appreciate a schedule. Decrease feeding. Any food that goes uneaten produces nutrients that feed algae, any food that is eaten contributes to more waste produced by fish which contributes to more ammonia which contributes to more growth for algae. Feed every other day instead of every day. Lastly get algae eating animals. Nerite Snails will eat lots of algae and lots of different kinds of algae and wont reproduce in freshwater. Algae eating shrimp, Amano shrimp are renowned for eating lots of algae, ottocinclus dwarf sucker fish, they belong in groups of no less than 3 and will eat soft algae and diatoms they only get about an inch long, other snails considered pests by many but very useful in algae eating, ramshorn snails and pond or bladder snails.
Lastly again to manage algae do weekly partial water changes to remove or dilute the excess nutrients in water contributing to algae. Good luck i hope the store takes those plecos back for you and they find a bigger home.:)
Thank you so much for your valuable advice I really appreciate it. I am going to try and take the plecos back this weekend. I will definitely look into getting those other types of algae eating animals. Do you know if I would be able to get the shrimp if I also have dwarf gouramis in my tank? I just donā€™t want the shrimp to get eaten.
 
Thank you so much for your valuable advice I really appreciate it. I am going to try and take the plecos back this weekend. I will definitely look into getting those other types of algae eating animals. Do you know if I would be able to get the shrimp if I also have dwarf gouramis in my tank? I just donā€™t want the shrimp to get eaten.
Dwarf Guorami will most likely eat them :(
 

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