peppered cory can’t stop floating

[Greerlouisa]

hi everyone,

i came home from school today and noticed that one of my peppered cory’s was floating at the top of the tank. at first i thought he was dead so i gave him a gentle nudge with the net but then he was off swimming again. however, he would keep floating up when he stopped swimming and wouldn’t be able to stop himself. i have checked the water parameters and everything is perfect. my tank is 20 gallons with 3 white cloud minnows, 5 danios and 3 cory’s including the sick one. i do a 25-40% water change once a week and feed them generally once every two days. i feed the cory’s aqua one vegetable wafers. none of the other fish are showing the same symptoms and seem fine. unfortunately i can’t set up a hospital tank for a few days at least so i’ve done the best with what i have and put the cory in a clear container with a few small holes to allow for water flow. is this anything serious, i need help asap! i have grown very attached to this little guy

 

[Colin_T]

Corydoras naturally breath in air from the atmosphere and if the fish has taken in too much air, it will float.

The other possibility is the fish has a swim bladder issue but that is not common.

You can try feeding them frozen (but defrosted) foods like bloodworms and brineshrimp each day for a week and see if it helps. Otherwise wait and see how he goes