Lost A Corydora

HayzH · Nov 29, 2011

I'm having another Mini Cycle in Tank 1..with 0.25 Ammonia every morning.
One Platy was looking very sorry for himself this evening and hiding behind the filter, so i tested water again 0.25 for ammonia again... :angry:

So i do a big W/C....
I'm not sure if other peoples Cary's or Cardinals are scared of the syphon....but mine always have made a beeline for the tube....
yes you guessed it....a Cory had the ride of his life...i have done this before and the Cory was fine...
I am no way sure if it was the same one as i sucked up, but one looked strange...usually they are on the go all the time...this one was still. I even wiggled my finger near it. NOTHING.
I fish him out and put him in clean dechlorinated water.but he went downhill(well upside down) quite rapidly. Couldn't stay upright.
He eventually gave up his fight and passed away. Could this be shock?? He/she looked perfect..no marks at all.

:rip:

Karl the Panda Corydora xxx

Akasha72 · Nov 29, 2011

oh that's not good

So sorry to hear that. I didn't think those syphons were strong enough to suck up fish. My Oto's go nuts when I put the syphon in - they get really stressed and I often worried one of them will die from the stress ... so far I've been okay though.

Hopefully someone here may be able to give you some idea's so it never happens again

eaglesaquarium · Nov 29, 2011

The strength of the syphon depends on the size of the hose pipe.

I sucked up one of my glofish a while ago. He didn't make it either, primarily because he ended up in the garden for quite some time before I realized that it was missing. I found it, but it was too late. :sad:

I know how you feel. Just be very careful and keep your finger near the end of the pipe to cover it if the fish get too close for your comfort.

HayzH · Nov 29, 2011

Thanks.

I want to make up their numbers again...can i get more than one? I'd like to make the nubers up to 10 if i can?

I have no idea whats triggered this Mini cycle..i have a feeling it may be because i replaced the Carbon pads

Tank 1: 66L
5 x Platy
5 x Corydora Panda
6 x Cardinal Tetra

eaglesaquarium · Nov 29, 2011

If you removed media from your filter, then you are most likely right. DON'T use carbon unless you are removing meds. There is no need to have it there otherwise. This mini-cycle will settle down quickly. Just don't remove media from your filter. Doing that removes bacteria. Carbon is actually a very good place for the bacteria to colonize, so "old" carbon is just fine to stay in your filter. I keep some on hand, in case I need it to remove meds. Other than that, I don't use it at all.

10 is a lot of corys for that little tank, especially with the other fish. I wouldn't go over 8, and probably you'd be best suited at 6.

HayzH · Nov 30, 2011

ok.
well the story goes..wheni added the melafix (for the mouthrot) i removed the carbon pad..when the course was finished, i replaced with a new carbon pad to remove the melafix. It was only in a day and then they got Ich, so i had to remove them again to dose the Protozin. As they were new, I stored them in a tub of tank water for the week, these are the ones i have put back in...
I have been doing daily (sometimes two) W/C's (of 80-90%) to boost the PH when it crashed ( neverending problems here)
Should i remove it or leave it be now?
the tank showed 0-0 again this morning so i guess the cycle has settled again. And the PH has stablized at 7.6 (with replacing the old wood)

my life is never simple :sad:

eaglesaquarium · Nov 30, 2011

I would just leave things be for now. If you plan to remove the carbon pad, do it in stages... one bit at a time so as to not disrupt your colony and cause another cycle. As I said, carbon is a good place for the bacteria to colonize, so when removing it, you could be removing much more of your bacteria than you realize. Leave it for a few days to allow things in your tank to settle down (they have had enough fun for a while) and then slowly remove a piece of the pad at a time over the course of the next two weeks. This should give the rest of the colony time to build up to deal with any excess ammonia/nitrite and keep your levels down the whole time. Your fish need some stability for a little.

Jay-93 · Nov 30, 2011

My female red line dwarf cichlid loves to swim up inside the syphon and swim against the current, really strange to see

CezzaXV · Nov 30, 2011

Aww, I'm sorry to hear that. My cardinals are super shy and really don't come out much, and my cories don't tend to do much during the day (they only really get active at night). My guppies think it's party time every time I put anything in the tank though, they just won't keep away!

I've accidentally sucked plants up my siphon before, so I have no doubt that fish could get sucked in there if they get too close. How big is the sucking end of your siphon? I use plain old hose because the sucking power is more in that small area than when I use my larger purpose-built siphon end. Might be an option to get a bigger one if your fish keep getting sucked up.