Cories keep dying

[shtinkypuppie]

I've brought a total of 6 panda cories into my tank. The first four died in rapid succession. They'd drop out of the group, become more and more lethargic, and die. They died one by one over the course of five days. I thought afterward that it had been gill flukes that killed them, because thier gills had become very pink and inflamed. It was followed by my Endler's (main tank inhabitants) flashing, so i treated with copper sulfate pentahydrate. (Had-a-snail) There were few more problems.
I then got 2 more cories from a different store. Of these, one was normal, happy, and active, and one was worryingly reclusive. It got worse and worse, until i noticed he has started beating his gills REAL hard while lying on the bottom. He then died after a bout of desperate flashing. Now, the LAST cory is on his way out, beating his gills real hard, looking like he's just out of life. I have run a full treatment of General Cure on the suspicion that it was gill flukes again, to no avail. As i type this, i see him slowing down more and more, i dont expect him to live much more than an hour.

Can anyone tell me what is happening to these poor little buggers? I absolutely love panda cories, and i really wish to keep them. I dont think theres some toxin in my water that catfish cant take or something, because i have a pleco in there too, and he's fat and happy. Anyone have any idea?


pH neutral, hard water, ammonia and nitrite gone, nitrate low, i change 20% of the water a week with a gravel vac, 20 gallon with 12 Endler's Livebearers, 1 pleco, 1 cory. Eclipse 2 complete hood.

 

[William]

The pink around the gills and the rapid beating of the gills sounds like oxygen starvation? Are the rest of your fish hanging around the top of the tank?

Perhaps you can tilt the output of your fluval so it agitates, disturbs, the top of the water surface to increase oxygen diffusion into the water.

 

[shtinkypuppie]

Nope. All other fish are fine, and have been since the tank was set up.

 

[William]

Just try the output to make the water disturbed a little, it could well be too late but it may help a little

 

[slt]

hi , if your other fish were ok , then it could be that the new corrys you bought were already diesed ,

 

[cryosi]

sounds like it must be a mixture of something in the tank(and not oqygen as they take air fromthe air and not the water) , anything stressin them out i had a tiger plec stressed out a melini a while back rapid gills etc, when i took him out and moved him he was ok . if thats helps. sure some one will be along that know more than me

 

[Gibbo]

What were the perameters of the dealers tanks? Check in case they were using RO water....

 

[Macquatic]

Hi shtinkypuppie,welcome to the forum.
When cories suffer oxygen stavation they make constant journeys to the surface and gulp air, they have a similar labyrinth to bettas but not so sophisticated. Did your cories do this?
Gill flukes would have them flicking against the decor to get rid of the irritation. Did they do this?
How old are your test kits?, IMO there is some pollution affecting your fish, more than likely nitrite or nitrate. Your resident fish are used to these levels but newcomers cannot stand it.
I'd do some large water changes and get your water to peak conditions before buying more pandas. Mac.

 

[shtinkypuppie]

after my last one died, i ripped him up looking for gill flukes. a lethal infestation of flukes would be dead obvoius, but i failed to find a SINGLE one. I'm beginning to think it's copper. I've heard that cories are extra sensitive to copper, and my tap has 0.17 ppm from the source, and who knows how much gets into my water by the time it's at my apartment. I haven't found a tesk kit around here for copper, tho. Could it cause respiratory failure?

 

[Macquatic]

It may well be the case. You will need to use a water treatment that neutralizes heavy metals or CBR purifier. Mac.

 

[shtinkypuppie]

I've heard stress coat neutralizes "heavy metals" but i dont really think copper is a heavy metal. Anyone kno anything that definately neutralizes copper?

 

[shtinkypuppie]

I had another thought: could it be calcuim silicate? There's some in the salt i use for my tanks, it's an anti-caking agent.

 

[wetwetwet]

Another tricky one......your not having much luck sp

how long as this tank been set up?

 

[shtinkypuppie]

about four months...

 

[Macquatic]

SALT!!! no wonder your cories didn't like it. IMO salt is for marine or brackish tanks, some people use it but it's a definite no-no for soft water fish like cories. Can you give me one good reason for using it apart from your lfs spouting crap about its benefits? I'm sorry for ranting but this subject annoys me a lot, there is no salt in the water where most of our hobby fish come from so why put it in a fishtank? Anyway I'm pretty certain we've found the root of the problem. Mac.