# My Cory is Dieing in my new tank!



## Embers To Ashes (Jun 13, 2011)

I have a planted 20g long with 

4 zebra danios (3 are glofish)
2 baloon mollys
1 black neon tetra
1 glowlight tetra 
1 (small) pictus catfish
2 Guppys 
2 kuli loaches
1 Dwarf gourami
1 peppered corry cat
2 mystery snails


I dont have a test kit but I got it tested last week and everything was good. I cycled it with some guppys and aquarium starter and live bacteria products.

I think my cory has popeye. His eyes are more bulged out than normal. He has been slugish lately, but today I was watching him and he just started fliping out and swimming eraticaly for a few seconds. Then he would swim and then stop and float around. I have already scraped him off the filter once and he is currently laying on the bottom. He sometimes trys to swim and goes upside down and stays like that for a while. I treated the tank with melafix for him and permafix because my two tetras have something white above their mouths that looks like some kind of fungus.

I would quarintine but I dont have another tank. The best I can do is put them in a pot or something, wich is what I do with my guppys.

What should I do?


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I'm thinking you have ich and something else going on in the tank. IMO once a fish gets stuck on the filter it's better to just flush it now. But that's just me. Only because if you keep the filter on its going to just get stuck on there again. 

As for the pot idea that could work, I personally would use a plastic container like a old butter one. Poke holes in it and tape it to the inside of the tank. 

Also some fish don't respond well to meds. So keep that in mind. I'd treat them wth a quick cure ich med.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

white and fungus-looking above the mouth is a classic sign of columnaris, also called cotton-mouth. It is a nasty bacterial infection, so I suggest you treat the whole tank. Look it up. 

Start with a few big water changes so you have clean water to start with and can leave the med in long enough to work.

Agree that fish that get stuck to a filter are weak and seldom last long. Also agree that you need to keep it from getting stuck in the filter again. If you don't euthanize it, you need to put in a net or floating cage or something like that. You could also put a sponge over the filter intake so it is less dangerous to sick fish. If you do have columnaris in your tank, this won't be last weak/dying fish.

16 fish & snails in a new 20 gallon tank. Read the cycling stickies. You likely have "new tank syndrome" which is basically poor water quality from an not-yet-established filter colony and the stress from being poisoned harms the fish's ability to fight the disease-causing organism they picked up in the store or wholesaler from other fish from around the world. 

The first 2-3 months of one's first tank are the hardest a fish-keeper will likely ever face. Many people just give up and leave the hobby. But once a tank is established and all the illnesses that new fish brought home from the store are dealt with, its very common to go years without another problem. Hang in there. 

Yes, I'm sure the store said it was "fine". They want your money, Trust strangers on the net instead. We won't profit from selling you replacement fish.

Hint, use search, then advanced search to find old threads that are similar to what is happening in your tank. It can be faster that posting and waiting for a new response.


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## Embers To Ashes (Jun 13, 2011)

My tank has been running fine for about 5 weeks. I also used a gallon or two of water from my brothers turtle tank hoping that some of that well cycled water would help. I put one or two fish in at a time and the cory has been in there for about three weeks. I put him in a bowl of clean water and he is still alive but sluggish today.Last night one of my kuli loaches died as well. It apeared to be having seizures in the hour or so before he passed. Im thinking some kind of internal parasite. It is not ich. I know what ich looks like, I actualy work at a petstore and treat and take care of the fish, although it is not my specialty. I know I should have cycled my tank longer but my water tests where fine and my fish seemed fine. Everybody looks fine this morning.

After my loach died late last night, I did a 50% water change and put a water softener pillow in the filter because I have realy hard water. I also vacumed the gravel realy well and put in some stress zyme. What else should I do?

About the mouth fungus... wouldnt it have spread to my other fish by now? I have had my two tetras (although they are difrent species they school together) for about two weeks and they have it and none of my other ones do. Im starting to think they just keep runing into the side of the glass. But if it is a fungus, wouldnt the permafix help?


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## Embers To Ashes (Jun 13, 2011)

I just found my pictus catfish dead in a cave


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

5 weeks is about right for a killer nitrite spike. Although any dead fish can kick off on ammonia or nitrite spike, especially if you don't find it right away. If you have something that seeds the filter, give the tank a dose and repeat again in a week. 

Any fish is the tank is already exposed to every disease in the tank. Whether they get visibly ill depends on each fish's immune system. Some species are far more susceptible to some diseases that others. 

For water quality, its best to stock slowly,a few fish every week or two. But if you don't have a QT tank, this also gets you a wider selection of disease. 

I'm sorry if I offended you by knocking the stores. Stores know that someone who goes home to research might not come back so full stocking all at once is best for the store. Most pet store employees try hard to give decent advice, but many are pretty new to the hobby. Getting unbiased advice from people who have kept fish for decades is a good habit to get into. 

Melafix and pimafix can be helpful, but they won't cure serious disease. They are more like vitamins than antibiotics. 

What specifically is the "water softener pillow"? In general, hard water isn't a bad thing for most fish (discus and other "blackwater" species are exception). Traditional "water softening' that replaces Calcium and Magnesium with Sodium isn't helpful for fish. They like the Calcium and Magnesium. Any water softener you recharge with salt falls in this category. Just don't bother, its not helpful.

Real fungus needs a wound to get established and is rare in hard water. True fungus won't likely spread to other fish unless they've been fighting. Bacteria that look like fungus will go everywhere and infect every fish that hasn't already developed some immunity (like by surviving the same disease already).


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## Embers To Ashes (Jun 13, 2011)

Its a water softener pillow from API. I have realy hard well water. Normal water from my house goes off the gh scale on the test strips I use. I just recharged it before I put it in last night, but I just read that catfish are sensitive to salt. Is that what could have killed my pictus catfish? And what about my loach? My cory is still alive but swimming eraticaly when disturbed. All of the other fish are doing well, and the tetras are swiming with eachother and eating fine.

Also, when I found my pictus catfish he was very hard and ridged. He had no unusual spots, soars, fungus, or anything physicaly wrong with him. He was so ridged that I could not get him out of the cave and when I did he got stuck in the net. I had to cut his body loose.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Fish go into rigor mortis, same as dead people do. It means he was dead for hours before you found him, but not days.


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## endlerguppy (May 7, 2012)

*if i were*

if i were you i would not get anymore fish for at least a month and treat the tank if needed also get a test kit for the water and test at least once a week.message me if you need more info.


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2012)

Do not add any salt to a fresh water aquarium, it will harm your fish. That may have been the problem. 

Test strips can give you the wrong results. I suggest getting a liquid test kit from API, as it will give more accurate information.

Just because your levels looked normal when you tested them doesn't mean that your tank is cycled. I would cycle a tank for at least two months before adding fish, because some fish are sensitive, like cories.

I hope that you get your problem worked out and your fish live a long time.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

yes... I agree with letting things alone for a few weeks, except for a few water changes, and letting it stabilize. That should help.


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## Embers To Ashes (Jun 13, 2011)

I got my water tested today. 0 nitrates and 0 amonia. The cory is still alive but he just kind of sits in one place and dosn't swim around.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

no nitrate? Did you test nitrite? Nitrite is deadlier than nitrate. 0 nitrate indicates a tank not cycled. Did you use one of the "no water change" products such as sludge-away?


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