dying corys

[Turner]

Hi, i'm wondering if anybody could give any insight into the deaths of a
couple of corys.

I had a 20gal with 6 cardinals and 2 small corys, all added over the last 6
weeks or so. I recently added a pakistani/yoyo loach to help with some of
the snails. I was planning on adding at least another if all went well.
about a week after this one of the corys was discovered dead one evenin,
with no visible signs of injury. I don't recall any unusal behaviour before
this. I thought about blaming the loach but have read that these are fish
that are unlikely to harm others...

So i got a replacement cory, and this seemed to get off to a good start (as
did the original two) snuffling around at ground all over the place, and
looked more active than the other cory still alive. After a couple of days
i noticed 2 small holes (like little 1mm shallow white caves) in his head
just in frnt of his eyes, where his little 'nostrils' should be. I thought
maybe he was lile this from the start and i hadn't noticed. However, after
a couple more days i woke to find these holes had been made larger
overnight, and i could see a red blood vessel in it. he also had a red
patch on his side. He died a few hours later.

This seemed to me like an attack...and the loach seems the most physically
able. He hides during the day but comes at straight away at night digging
around. I've seen him chasing other fish occasionally, but only for a
second and never paying much more attention than that. The surving orignal
cory is still doing fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Sam

[Turner]

Just read about 'hole in the head'...a possible cause?

Sam



"Turner" > wrote in message
...
> Hi, i'm wondering if anybody could give any insight into the deaths of a
> couple of corys.
>
> I had a 20gal with 6 cardinals and 2 small corys, all added over the last
6
> weeks or so. I recently added a pakistani/yoyo loach to help with some of
> the snails. I was planning on adding at least another if all went well.
> about a week after this one of the corys was discovered dead one evenin,
> with no visible signs of injury. I don't recall any unusal behaviour
before
> this. I thought about blaming the loach but have read that these are fish
> that are unlikely to harm others...
>
> So i got a replacement cory, and this seemed to get off to a good start
(as
> did the original two) snuffling around at ground all over the place, and
> looked more active than the other cory still alive. After a couple of
days
> i noticed 2 small holes (like little 1mm shallow white caves) in his head
> just in frnt of his eyes, where his little 'nostrils' should be. I
thought
> maybe he was lile this from the start and i hadn't noticed. However,
after
> a couple more days i woke to find these holes had been made larger
> overnight, and i could see a red blood vessel in it. he also had a red
> patch on his side. He died a few hours later.
>
> This seemed to me like an attack...and the loach seems the most physically
> able. He hides during the day but comes at straight away at night digging
> around. I've seen him chasing other fish occasionally, but only for a
> second and never paying much more attention than that. The surving
orignal
> cory is still doing fine.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Sam
>
>
>
>

[NetMax]

"Turner" > wrote in message
...
> Hi, i'm wondering if anybody could give any insight into the deaths of
> a
> couple of corys.
>
> I had a 20gal with 6 cardinals and 2 small corys, all added over the
> last 6
> weeks or so. I recently added a pakistani/yoyo loach to help with some
> of
> the snails. I was planning on adding at least another if all went
> well.
> about a week after this one of the corys was discovered dead one
> evenin,
> with no visible signs of injury. I don't recall any unusal behaviour
> before
> this. I thought about blaming the loach but have read that these are
> fish
> that are unlikely to harm others...
>
> So i got a replacement cory, and this seemed to get off to a good start
> (as
> did the original two) snuffling around at ground all over the place,
> and
> looked more active than the other cory still alive. After a couple of
> days
> i noticed 2 small holes (like little 1mm shallow white caves) in his
> head
> just in frnt of his eyes, where his little 'nostrils' should be. I
> thought
> maybe he was lile this from the start and i hadn't noticed. However,
> after
> a couple more days i woke to find these holes had been made larger
> overnight, and i could see a red blood vessel in it. he also had a red
> patch on his side. He died a few hours later.
>
> This seemed to me like an attack...and the loach seems the most
> physically
> able. He hides during the day but comes at straight away at night
> digging
> around. I've seen him chasing other fish occasionally, but only for a
> second and never paying much more attention than that. The surving
> orignal
> cory is still doing fine.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Sam


The nature of this hobby and using text messaging to describe problems
makes an analysis of the water usually the best starting point. Please
post your water's parameters, particularly ammonia, nitrite, pH and your
water change routine. Are you familiar with new tank syndrome?
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Gail Futoran]

"Turner" > wrote in message
...
> Hi, i'm wondering if anybody could give any insight into the deaths of a
> couple of corys.
[snip]
> This seemed to me like an attack...and the loach seems the most physically
> able. He hides during the day but comes at straight away at night digging
> around. I've seen him chasing other fish occasionally, but only for a
> second and never paying much more attention than that. The surving
> orignal
> cory is still doing fine.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Sam

While waiting water parameters (see NetMax's
post), I'll mention that I have cory cats as well as
several otocinclus in with two yoyo loaches, one
about 3" & very active, and I have no problems
with the other fish. I don't think the loaches are
your problem.

Did you quarantine the new cories? It might be
they brought something with them that killed them.

Gail

[Turner]

Sorry for not posting water paramters before...

i fishless cycled the tank and ammonia and nitrite levels have read 0 all
the time there have been any fish in the tank. (cycled about 6weeks ago).
Nitrates read around 15ppm, changing 15% water twice a week, vacumming the
gravel.

pH around 7.6, high i know, but this is the same as the LFS and the cardinal
tetras have been doing great so far (6 weeks).

Didn't quarentine the corys, the first two i got at the same time and one of
them is still doing fine (but alone at the moment), even since the
replacement died. The first corys death was quite mysteriuos to me as there
were no signs before hand.

thanks for any help

Sam


"Turner" > wrote in message
...
> Hi, i'm wondering if anybody could give any insight into the deaths of a
> couple of corys.
>
> I had a 20gal with 6 cardinals and 2 small corys, all added over the last
6
> weeks or so. I recently added a pakistani/yoyo loach to help with some of
> the snails. I was planning on adding at least another if all went well.
> about a week after this one of the corys was discovered dead one evenin,
> with no visible signs of injury. I don't recall any unusal behaviour
before
> this. I thought about blaming the loach but have read that these are fish
> that are unlikely to harm others...
>
> So i got a replacement cory, and this seemed to get off to a good start
(as
> did the original two) snuffling around at ground all over the place, and
> looked more active than the other cory still alive. After a couple of
days
> i noticed 2 small holes (like little 1mm shallow white caves) in his head
> just in frnt of his eyes, where his little 'nostrils' should be. I
thought
> maybe he was lile this from the start and i hadn't noticed. However,
after
> a couple more days i woke to find these holes had been made larger
> overnight, and i could see a red blood vessel in it. he also had a red
> patch on his side. He died a few hours later.
>
> This seemed to me like an attack...and the loach seems the most physically
> able. He hides during the day but comes at straight away at night digging
> around. I've seen him chasing other fish occasionally, but only for a
> second and never paying much more attention than that. The surving
orignal
> cory is still doing fine.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Sam
>
>
>
>

[Margolis]

Sounds like you just got some corys from a sick batch that the lfs had.
Just luck of the draw.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[Craig]

It is DEFINATLLY the loach. sorry to tell you, ive kept a few in my
time, and they are always bullies, i just put one in my community to
remove my snails and imediatly he started attacking the cories.

The loach are too fast and active, and although they do no damage, its
just the stress of the constant harassment (their territorial as
anything so chase fish)

i keep mine with a 9 " oscar and they never fight, these fish can stand
up for themselves.

(dont feel too bad, the nets full of bad advise, as are most fish shops)

i found if you get the loach young enough they are ok, but as they
mature they get angry. i had 2 at nearly 5" which stripped my tank
bare, killing every fish, eventually the other loach was killed and
eaten by his peer.

Strange fish, and with all the re-classification of the botia species is
hard to tell where you stand with them. (chances are they arnt actually
yo yo loaches but another one of the same genus with differant
behaviours) trust me there are 100s

take his back to the store and get a clown laoch to get the snails, they
get a lot bigger but it will cure your problem. when the fish gets so
big (itll take a long time, ive only ever seen them at 4" tops, but
their surposed to get to 12") return him to the store, im sure theyll
gladly give you top dollar for such a prized fish. and failing that, you
might grow attatched to the little guy and get him a bigger tank, a few
friends, who knows. lol

Good luck, i gaurantee removing the loach will solve the problem Craig



--
Posted via CichlidFish.com
http://www.cichlidfish.com/portal/forums

[NetMax]

Just another opinion, and you can see that opinions can vary here ;~)

I wouldn't worry too much about your pH of 7.6. I've kept Cardinals in
that without any trouble. Loaches and corys co-habitate but not very
well (imo). I generally use one or the other, as they both occupy the
same area of the tank but only the loaches are territorial. Keep an eye
on yours to see how it works out. It varies by situation. Loaches do
have a nasty bite and can be quite aggressive, but the probability of
your cory dying from other causes is higher. The skeletal structure of a
cory make them fairly undesirable as a food item. This is why they are
not aggressive or territorial fish, they don't need to be. Other than
their eyes and their underbelly, corys are single minded tanks, bent on
finding food. It's rare for a fish to intentionally kill a cory, because
they don't have territory as a reason (a cory will always yield
territory) and they are not good eating (too bony). As Margolis said,
probably got a 'bad' one.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Turner" > wrote in message
...
> Sorry for not posting water paramters before...
>
> i fishless cycled the tank and ammonia and nitrite levels have read 0
> all
> the time there have been any fish in the tank. (cycled about 6weeks
> ago).
> Nitrates read around 15ppm, changing 15% water twice a week, vacumming
> the
> gravel.
>
> pH around 7.6, high i know, but this is the same as the LFS and the
> cardinal
> tetras have been doing great so far (6 weeks).
>
> Didn't quarentine the corys, the first two i got at the same time and
> one of
> them is still doing fine (but alone at the moment), even since the
> replacement died. The first corys death was quite mysteriuos to me as
> there
> were no signs before hand.
>
> thanks for any help
>
> Sam
>
>
> "Turner" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Hi, i'm wondering if anybody could give any insight into the deaths of
>> a
>> couple of corys.
>>
>> I had a 20gal with 6 cardinals and 2 small corys, all added over the
>> last
> 6
>> weeks or so. I recently added a pakistani/yoyo loach to help with
>> some of
>> the snails. I was planning on adding at least another if all went
>> well.
>> about a week after this one of the corys was discovered dead one
>> evenin,
>> with no visible signs of injury. I don't recall any unusal behaviour
> before
>> this. I thought about blaming the loach but have read that these are
>> fish
>> that are unlikely to harm others...
>>
>> So i got a replacement cory, and this seemed to get off to a good
>> start
> (as
>> did the original two) snuffling around at ground all over the place,
>> and
>> looked more active than the other cory still alive. After a couple of
> days
>> i noticed 2 small holes (like little 1mm shallow white caves) in his
>> head
>> just in frnt of his eyes, where his little 'nostrils' should be. I
> thought
>> maybe he was lile this from the start and i hadn't noticed. However,
> after
>> a couple more days i woke to find these holes had been made larger
>> overnight, and i could see a red blood vessel in it. he also had a
>> red
>> patch on his side. He died a few hours later.
>>
>> This seemed to me like an attack...and the loach seems the most
>> physically
>> able. He hides during the day but comes at straight away at night
>> digging
>> around. I've seen him chasing other fish occasionally, but only for a
>> second and never paying much more attention than that. The surving
> orignal
>> cory is still doing fine.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Sam

top-posted by demand