Emergency!!! Corycatfish swallowed pebble!!

[lola.d]

Hi to who reads this, I believe my Albino cory who I've had for months now, has ingested a pebble. There is a dark lump in his stomach and his belly is a little swollen. It seems to be weighing him down and he hasn't been swimming very much. Is there anything I could do to help him, I don't think he'd survive an operation... Also, the pebble looks to big for him to pass it through... If anyone has any ideas please let me know.
Thanks, Lola.

 

[King puff]

Cory catfish are not recommended in gravel. They prefer sand to filter through there mouth and it comes out their gills. If your gravel is small enough, it is possible that a Cory could swallow it. This seems unlikely due to the fact that cories have small mouths. Can you post a picture of your gravel compared to the fish if possible?

 

[lola.d]

Cory catfish are not recommended in gravel. They prefer sand to filter through there mouth and it comes out their gills. If your gravel is small enough, it is possible that a Cory could swallow it. This seems unlikely due to the fact that cories have small mouths. Can you post a picture of your gravel compared to the fish if possible?

Hi King Puff, I actually use sand as a substrate. My tank happens to have a couple of small(ish) pebbles strewn around the tank from before I changed substrate (I didn't want to get rid of all the substrate hoping that some beneficial bacteria might transfer from gravel to sand). I got home today and noticed my cory was fine, he's been swimming normally with all the other corys and the swelling from his belly is gone. He is eating algae wafers and acting like nothing was wrong...Before I thought he swallowed a rock I did do a fairly large water change which might have stressed him out a little, but I do not know the cause of the previously swollen belly. Very weird. I will keep an eye on him incase there is something else wrong with him. I guess I had just assumed he'd swallowed a stone by the way he was acting and the look of his belly. The pebbles are small but differenciate in size, most of them look too big for his mouth but there might be a few tiny ones that he could have ingested...

 

[King puff]

Great to hear that he is feeling better!

 

[lola.d]

Great to hear that he is feeling better!

Yeah, thanks!