Is this stress? - Tail Spot Pygmy Cory (hastatus)

[OliveFish05]

Hello. I just got back home from being out of town for two weeks. My aunt doesn’t really know anything about fish, so I just told her to feed them a very small pinch of flake food each evening, turn the light on when she gets up, then turn the light off when she put her baby down for a nap or went to bed. There’s a lot of algae and apparently some of my plants just fell apart entirely. There’s a lot of algae and a lot of plant matter and detritus on the floor of the tank. I was doing a head count and noticed this Cory not looking normal. Is he stressed? He looks skinnier than when I left and he has those stripes on his sides. Typically the only markings a hastatus cory should have is the black tail. Are these stress stripes? I’m doing a 50% at least water change either tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Ellie Potts]

He is probably stressed and possible underfed, but doesn't look like anything serious. Do your water change, clean the tank well, and get them back on a regular light/feeding schedule. Shouldn't take much to get him to where he was.

 

[OliveFish05]

He is probably stressed and possible underfed, but doesn't look like anything serious. Do your water change, clean the tank well, and get them back on a regular light/feeding schedule. Shouldn't take much to get him to where he was.

Thank you, I will do that. I came home and he just looks so different than when I left him.

 

[Byron]

A timer for your tank light would be a very good idea, permanently, so the light is on and off at the same time each day/night. This benefits fish and plants, and should prevent algae issues (if light/nurients are in balance). Also, it is better not to allow a non-fish person to feed fish; the fish can easily go one and two weeks without food, and nothing going in means nothing coming out to result in water quality issues as occurred here, another algae issue too.

Be careful with water changes here. If the pH has dropped below 7, ammonia is primarily ammonium which is basically harmless. A water change with fresh water with as basic pH (above 7) will turn the ammonium into toxic ammonia. This may or may not b relevant depending upon the pH, but if it is a W/C can harm or kill fish fairly rapidly.

 

[OliveFish05]

A timer for your tank light would be a very good idea, permanently, so the light is on and off at the same time each day/night. This benefits fish and plants, and should prevent algae issues (if light/nurients are in balance). Also, it is better not to allow a non-fish person to feed fish; the fish can easily go one and two weeks without food, and nothing going in means nothing coming out to result in water quality issues as occurred here, another algae issue too.

Be careful with water changes here. If the pH has dropped below 7, ammonia is primarily ammonium which is basically harmless. A water change with fresh water with as basic pH (above 7) will turn the ammonium into toxic ammonia. This may or may not b relevant depending upon the pH, but if it is a W/C can harm or kill fish fairly rapidly.

Due to my electric blue acara snacking on my other fish when he missed more than 1 feeding day, I didn’t think the tank could go 2 weeks without food, unless I wanted to lose all my tetras. My aunt had fish growing up and currently has a betta, so I wasn’t worried about her overfeeding. She doesn’t have the kind of experience to do a water change with a siphon though, or know if a live plant is melting.

The ph is 7.5. I actually did the 75% water change about 3 hours ago. I am watching the tank now to see if the fish are acting agitated or some looks amiss