Why Do My Bottom Feeders, (Catfish) Always Succumb First?

[Starletta]

I love the catfish bottom feeders, but they always succumb within a few months. I've had an Albino Cory, Peppered Cory, etc.   They do a great job, but don't seem to last long.
 
I vacuum the tanks almost everyday and 25 percent water change twice a month. My Ammonia levels are good.   Is there something I'm doing wrong?

 

[Livewire88]

Are you sure they are getting enough food? if you have smaller fish that eat all the food before it reaches the bottom of your tank your Catfish might not be getting enough food.
 
When you say you vaccum your tank every day, but only do a 25% water change twice a month. What do you do with the water that is removed when vaccuming the tank? I would assume you have to re fill the tank with fresh water?

 

[Paradise3]

Why do you vacuum everyday? You don't need to and you're taking all the food that they'll be eating from the bottom. They like to sift through sand and fine gravel to find food.

 

[Livewire88]

Adding to what I have said, use a turkey baseter to spray food to the bottom of the tank. 
 
This was you will know that your Corries will be getting enough food. 

 

[CezzaXV]

I'm just going to reiterate what the others have said really. Vacuuming every day seems rather excessive, and may be taking away their food source. Once a week should be more than sufficient.

I would also up your water changes to 25% every week too.

Do you have sand or gravel? Almost all bottom dwellers much prefer sand, and if you have gravel it may also be the case that food is dropping down between the grains where they can't reach it, nor can they sift through it.

Can I also ask what your ammonia levels are? "Good" is rather vague, and apologies if you know what you're doing, but "good" is a phrase used by people who it often turns out don't really know what they're talking about and have just been told this by their LFS.

 

[Starletta]

Are you sure they are getting enough food? if you have smaller fish that eat all the food before it reaches the bottom of your tank your Catfish might not be getting enough food.
 
When you say you vaccum your tank every day, but only do a 25% water change twice a month. What do you do with the water that is removed when vaccuming the tank? I would assume you have to re fill the tank with fresh water?

I bought one of these and absolutely love it! http/www.amazon.com/Automatic-Gravel-Cleaner-Sludge-Extractor/dp/B003C5U2SU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362109397&sr=8-1&keywords=eheim+gravel+vacuum    So easy to vacuum, yet not remove any water.

Adding to what I have said, use a turkey baseter to spray food to the bottom of the tank. 
 
This was you will know that your Corries will be getting enough food. 

  Yes, I have done that using a plastic pipette.  I feed them in the morning and vacuum in the evening. I don't use gravel, but bigger rocks about 1 inch in diameter and it is easier to do it almost every day.

I'm just going to reiterate what the others have said really. Vacuuming every day seems rather excessive, and may be taking away their food source. Once a week should be more than sufficient.

I would also up your water changes to 25% every week too.

Do you have sand or gravel? Almost all bottom dwellers much prefer sand, and if you have gravel it may also be the case that food is dropping down between the grains where they can't reach it, nor can they sift through it.

Can I also ask what your ammonia levels are? "Good" is rather vague, and apologies if you know what you're doing, but "good" is a phrase used by people who it often turns out don't really know what they're talking about and have just been told this by their LFS.

I use the API Ammonia Test Kit.  It always reads 0 PPM      Since I use larger rocks on the bottom, I won't replace the bottom dwellers. It's not fair for the little guys if they can't reach the food.

 

[This Old Spouse]

First of all, how many cory did you have at any one time? They like to be in groups of their own kind of 6 or more. And if you have rocks I'd imagine most of the food sifts beyond their reach.
 
They will only truly thrive if given a sand substrate. They'll snuffle through the sand and sometimes even dive into it. It seems you've put them in an environment that's completely opposite from their natural habitat, so it's not really a surprise they don't do well there.

 

[Paradise3]

First of all, how many cory did you have at any one time? They like to be in groups of their own kind of 6 or more. And if you have rocks I'd imagine most of the food sifts beyond their reach.
 
They will only truly thrive if given a sand substrate. They'll snuffle through the sand and sometimes even dive into it. It seems you've put them in an environment that's completely opposite from their natural habitat, so it's not really a surprise they don't do well there.

 
+1

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I would look to nitrate levels first. Your water change regimen may not be sufficient.

While many bottom feeders do well on sand, it is not true that they wont thrive with gravel.

The god info starts about 3 minutes in:

 

[aether.ed]

Whats the size of your tank and what filter are you using and how? (ie. where is the water movement? surface/mid/mixed). If not enough movement through the tank there may be dead spots of more toxicity or equally a lack of oxygen in the lower reaches of your tank due to poor circulation. Its just a thought, all i know is corys are relitivly tough little fish and shouldnt be the first to die off!
 
Also as people are saying, your water change and vacuum regime is a bit odd. What i would do is do a 10-20% weekly vacuum and water change and skip the daily vacuuming. Also i know you have probably cycled your tank but with a lack of detritus and rotting food matter you may be experiencing some sort of arrested cycle or a restart of your cycle, it is entirely possible to keep a tank too clean and this maybe what is happening. It happend to me, i was so obsessed with keeping my nice white sand spotless it killed off 6 fully grown hard as nails axolotls. Now i just do a weekly waterchange and i havnt had a fish death in over 7 years!
 
The stupid thing is i have a friend who only does his water change on his axolotl tank every 6 months, the tank is filthy and can barely see in but his axo's are thriving after over 10 years! the only thing i can put it down to is my tank was too clean!
 
Just my thoughts anyway!

 

[NorthEastFisherman]

I think they arent getting enough food cause you vacuum the food away before they can get a good meal out of it. I only vacuum the bottom when im doing a water change or when im cleaning the tank which i do every month or so.