Okay, this is going to be a long post, so better get comfortable!
I have a 50ish gallon aquarium, it has been established for 6 months, being cycled using the fishless cycle.
I have one mystery snail, and one bristlenose pleco, and one betta in there (temp home)
I added 5 cories to the tank. The substrate is silica sand, ideal for their barbels.
I was stupid, and had to rush to get to work, so I left the cories in their bags from the store, and temp matched them, and then dumped them in, rather than drip acclimate. A couple of days I noticed a few of the cories were breathing (gill movement) rather quickly. I tested the water, and my pH had risen a little (I did not add anything to the tank) and my ammonia was at 0.25ppm according to the API test kit.
I blame this on missing my weekly waterchange, as I was caught up with school. A 75% waterchange later, ammonia had corrected itself to 0, and the pH was back within normal range (7.6ish)
I left for a school trip, and three days later I found 2 dead cories, and they had no symptoms other than fast breathing beforehand. I tested the water and there was no ammonia, no nirtites, and under 10 nitrates.
A couple of days later I notice a cory hovering at mid level in the tank, head up, and I noticed a small red horseshoe shaped mark on its belly.
I moved him into QT along with the other two cories, there are also 13 Neon Tetra in this tank. (cycled tank also)
Then I noticed he/she floating at the surface, but moving closer to the tank, the cory went to the bottom as normal. But as it was swimming, you could see something was wrong, it was having difficulty swimming, like its spine wasn't quite right... I left it overnight, and found it the next morning to be covered in red patches, and breathing heavily.
The poor guy was looking so bad I had to PTS, and now, I'm wondering what this could be? Advice, opinions, anything is appriciated. I dont want to lose my other two.
I have a 50ish gallon aquarium, it has been established for 6 months, being cycled using the fishless cycle.
I have one mystery snail, and one bristlenose pleco, and one betta in there (temp home)
I added 5 cories to the tank. The substrate is silica sand, ideal for their barbels.
I was stupid, and had to rush to get to work, so I left the cories in their bags from the store, and temp matched them, and then dumped them in, rather than drip acclimate. A couple of days I noticed a few of the cories were breathing (gill movement) rather quickly. I tested the water, and my pH had risen a little (I did not add anything to the tank) and my ammonia was at 0.25ppm according to the API test kit.
I blame this on missing my weekly waterchange, as I was caught up with school. A 75% waterchange later, ammonia had corrected itself to 0, and the pH was back within normal range (7.6ish)
I left for a school trip, and three days later I found 2 dead cories, and they had no symptoms other than fast breathing beforehand. I tested the water and there was no ammonia, no nirtites, and under 10 nitrates.
A couple of days later I notice a cory hovering at mid level in the tank, head up, and I noticed a small red horseshoe shaped mark on its belly.
I moved him into QT along with the other two cories, there are also 13 Neon Tetra in this tank. (cycled tank also)
Then I noticed he/she floating at the surface, but moving closer to the tank, the cory went to the bottom as normal. But as it was swimming, you could see something was wrong, it was having difficulty swimming, like its spine wasn't quite right... I left it overnight, and found it the next morning to be covered in red patches, and breathing heavily.
The poor guy was looking so bad I had to PTS, and now, I'm wondering what this could be? Advice, opinions, anything is appriciated. I dont want to lose my other two.
/badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification.html
