Reply With QuoteGet rid of some of the guppys. Then switch to fast sinking and bulky foods like Tetra Bits.Feed abit more than you have to. The guppys will have to wait for the food to soften and by then the corys can reach it.
ok, yeah I'm pretty embarrassed to say this, but I'm posting this anyway in case it can help someone.
When I first bought my julii corydoras, I didn't have any guppies at that time. They were with a bunch of young angelfish, and cardinal tetras in a 30gal tank. They got along fine and I had absolutely no problems with feeding them. Everyone had plenty to eat.
When the angelfish were removed to another, it was just the cories and the cardinals. I was fooling around with the idea of getting some blue german rams and adding a few yellow female guppies. Well, I didn't go with the rams, instead now my focus has shifted to the pearl gourami, however I did get the guppies. Beautiful guppies I might add.
Anyway, the guppies grew up so nicely and fat and I managed to get about two dozen babies. that's about when the trouble struck. whenever I fed the fish, I would feed the guppies at the top, then drop some shrimp or algae or whatever pellets down for the cories. the guppies found out that the pellets tasted just as good as the other stuff at the top and ended at the bottom feasting on them. Which was fine then.
But then I started noticing that the guppies were eating them faster than the cories could. ...And the smallest cory got left out and couldn't find it fast enough.
So i changed to feeding them at night. ...not much difference.
a few days of this, then I found the young cory upside-down on the bottom, spinning uncontrolably. so not knowing what to do, and knowing that he had a hard time getting food, I put a small glass jar (about 1/2 cup) in the tank (with some air in it) on top of him. I put a shrimp pellet in the cup with him hoping he would get it and eat something. I reluctantly left him there while I went to work.
When I got back home (only 3 hours later), he was swimming normally! relieved, I let him back out and hand-fed him for a while.
I had actually lost 2 cories before doing this, and they were all acting the same. They were with the guppies in the 30gal tank. So after the young cory was doing much better I decided to get two more to make my total 5 again. of course, I chose the same size cories. And today,I had it happen again. yes- it was the smallest cory of the bunch, but I don't think it was the same one that did it before. He was upside-down in a bare-bottom tank (I had moved all my cories over to a separate baby-guppy tank to fatten them up and was trying some new live food)
Once again, I did the same proceedure. only this time I took him out of the tank and put him in the same small glass jar. I fed him softened pellets with a fish-dedicated medicine dropper and put fresh tank water in every few minutes. It did take a while, but I could tell that he was getting his strenth back. Once he could jerk around a bit I moved him back to the 30gal where there was gravel so he could rest right-side up. I put the glass jar (with air in it) on top of him with some fish food in it and I check on him every 10 minutes or so. about four hours later- he's back to normal.
Yeah. I've gotten a lot more careful about making sure that everyone gets enough food- especially the little ones who can't compete well. I hope this helps someone in some way.
(wasn't sure where to post this, sorry if I put it in the wrong place!)
Any additions/questions/remarks/reprimands will be accepted!
Breeding golden snakeskin guppies
Get rid of some of the guppys. Then switch to fast sinking and bulky foods like Tetra Bits.Feed abit more than you have to. The guppys will have to wait for the food to soften and by then the corys can reach it.
Never create what you can't control
When you mentioned upside-down, it is in a inverted position where you can see the underside clearly?Originally Posted by DazzleDiscus
I doubt very much that it is about nutrition, so reading this, I am more worried now about the overfeeding and water quality. I don't know how much it would help but have you tested for pH/kH/ammonia/nitrite/nitrate? Any readings?
Sorry, I don't know if I could be more optimistic about the condition, but from what I have read so far, most aquarists who reported the same symptoms didn't manage to keep them alive. All of them seem to expire after some time, so I fear that the problems are a lot more difficult and complicated than thought.
My initial thinking is that it is suffering from some kind of internal infection. When Corydoras can't swim properly, it seems as if they cannot maintain a certain neutral buoyancy. So there could be something wrong internally.
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...44&postcount=5
In any case, isolate those that show the symptoms (like what you have done). Always keep on top of the water conditions, siphon any uneaten food, make sure there is added aeration, probably try some generic internal bacterial medication and take it from there.
Back to your fear of nutrition issue in the main tank. Are your fishes showing sunken stomachs? You can try breaking up the food into smaller pieces and drop them all over the tank.
Not sure on the setup of your tank but I find that having some decorations and plants generally help. They provide hiding places, and food may get trapped in them. Most fishes would have difficulties getting to them, but the Corydoras would have access to them as they sift through the substrate, among the nooks and corners.
But I doubt very much that your Corydoras are suffering from nutrition issues. Let's see if any others have different thoughts and ideas.
Yes, pretty much completely turned over. I could see the belly and anal fins.
Water testing:
pH- stays a little bit below 7.0
ammonia- 0
nitrite-0
nitrate- between 10-15
if it matters, phospate always stays about 1.5 (from our tap water)
and the water is on the soft side.
Breeding golden snakeskin guppies
That's what I thought before, that there was something wrong internally. I'm not disclaiming that there isn't, just that what I did somehow helped. I checked on him again today and still seems fine. I've become very wary of the medications simply because when I used them in the past, they all pretty much failed. I tried medicating the first two cories that shows the signs, but to no avail.
I always siphon out any leftover food particles- especially in the barebottom tank.
no other fishes show malnutrition or sunken bellies, and i can't really tell if the cories do or not. The tank is pretty well planted, and I have some nice pieces of driftwood arranged in it. I have strategically placed food before (and will continue) and you can imagine my surprise when the 3 glass shrimp picked up the food and ran with it. quite funny to watch. Anyway, will keep you guys updated. thanks
Breeding golden snakeskin guppies
I want to say that I have a lot of respect for you, for what you have done to take care of your cory.
Never create what you can't control
... which is why I quantified it with "probably try". I have more misses than hits where medications are concerned and try to avoid them if I could, especially when exact diagnosis is not always possible.
In any case, if you were to do a google search on "spinning corydoras", the resulting information aren't too optimistic. Perhaps, good water conditions and nutritious food would help in some form of recovery. All the best.
Oh yeah, about the glass shrimps, there are some reports that they are nasty fellas and would not hesitate to use their pincers on their tank mates, some resulting in injuries (that may be serious enough to bring about deaths). However, I am not able to confirm this but they have such pincers for some obvious reasons. So I probably would consider removing and house them with larger fishes instead, but of course, all things considered, your mileage may vary.
Thanks blim!
Yeah, it's hard to tell when and what medication should be used. ...as always, prevention is better than cure.
I might have the name wrong on the shrimp, as I've never actually looked them up to be sure. My two females which are the oldest, are about one inch long. I have noticed that they would try to "push" the young guppies away from their food and would on rare occations lunge at them. I have yet to see an injury on any of my fish. The shrimp usually grab the food and run into hinding, but when a cory or adult guppy comes around they usually jump and leave. For right now though, I'm not worried about them- though that could change if they get a bit more aggressive. will keep an eye out for that.
the cory is still moving around... normally. 'tis strange.
Thanks Quixotic!
Breeding golden snakeskin guppies
Hi guys!
I had some experience with a similar problem. I bought 6X Julii Corys from a pet shop, ofc in reality they where Cory Trilineatus, no problem so far. Now… these fish were small so I couldn’t see when I bought them how damaged they where. There barbells where badly injured, they were very short and every fish had only 1 pair of very small whiskers (I think usually they should have 2 pairs with the longer pair just under the chin). The 2 smallest corys where not only missing their barbells but actually the front part of their snout was missing too.
The smallest of the group died on me about 2-3 weeks after I purchased them. I could clearly see that this little fish couldn’t eat. Without his whiskers and snout he couldn’t find the food pellets and even if sometimes just by pure luck he would stumble on the food, he was unable to eat it. He was just swimming by it. I’m sure he died of starvation and the symptoms were the same as the ones explained in this thread, upside-down on the bottom, spinning uncontrollably.
However I have also noticed this kind of behavior on the biggest cory when I used by accident too much aquarium salt in his water. I was trying to treat 2 of my tiger barbs that were coming down with a slight case of itch. After a 45% water change, the cory got back to normal. So what I was trying to say here is that it is possible for a cory to die in this manner with starvation but you should also watch the amount of salt in your tank.
I had my corys for about 2 months, and they seem fine now, except for the little one that died. The other small one without a snout seems to handle himself well so far, put on a little weight too.
Last edited by zoli; 23rd Oct 2007 at 00:44.
hm. glad to hear they are doing good now. good point on the addition of salt. I read somewhere in a magazine that corydoras don't have a good tolerance for salt, which is one of the reasons why I don't use it in the tank.
I do wonder though... how did your cories get in that state? I mean, was it more likely that they were in poor water quality (high nitrates and such) or that they were housed with sharp substrate? Did you notice the gravel being sharp in their tank when you bought them?
Breeding golden snakeskin guppies
I couldn't see the substrate cuz the tank walls were full of brown algae, and there were a lot of corys in that small tank (panda, serpai, trilineatus). Yes, they were housed in very bad conditions and in a civilized country you wouldn’t even think of buying fish kept in such conditions, furthermore you probably would call some animal protection service. But I live in Romania and animals have no rights here and there are only low quality pet shops. It is also very hard to find other types of corys, you normally only get the standard albino paleatus cory and if you’re lucky you get to see some wild type paleatus. So it was a kind of a quest for me to find these trilineatus (labeled julii) corys. After a lot of searching and forum posting I found this shop, kinda far from where I live, and I went there determined to get some. I was so happy to find there these corys that I didn’t even check them out (would’ve been hard to do it anyway, they were small, many and kept in an overcrowded dark, algae infested small tank).
I don’t think that poor water quality (high nitrates levels) could ever do this. I have 2 theories on how they got this way….1 is that it could be that the substrate was sharp, as you said, or 2…. maybe there where a lot of small corys kept in a very small tank with no food and maybe they just ate off each others whiskers. I lean toward the whisker eating theory cuz I see that the bigger the cory is, the more complete its barbells are. The smaller corys are the more damaged ones.
I hope they survive and thrive cuz I love them and I try to give them the best conditions I can. They seem to be ok now, had that little problem with the salt but it’s gone now. I keep them in a 40 gallon tank with 6X rosy barbs and 8X tiger barbs. The tiger barbs usually leave the corys alone, there is some occasional nipping going on by the dominant male tiger barb but it’s very little and never in the snout or whiskers area. The corys don’t seem to mind this too much, sometimes they don’t even care to move away. The rosys are totally peaceful.
it's heartening to see your love for your fish and your determination to get the fish you want despite adverse conditions. I'm sure your fish will thrive well under your tender loving care!
I agree with illumnae- and hope that they live well for a long time to come! The small cory that I had that was spinning around did it again a few days ago, and after a day or two of hand feeding it, it seemed to be doing alot better. but it didn't last long and soon it wouldn't take anything I offered. Sigh. He died that night. I was thinking it might have to do with parasites, but have no proof.
Ironically, the same hour he died I found four newborn baby guppies, three of which are see-through yellow, the other will be gray and blue. bitter-sweet night.
an addition: the other cories are doing very well and are staying quite active. I'm feeding them more, and vacuum it up when they're done. I'm pretty confident they are getting enough to eat. allwell. I have to go to a funeral viewing today---
hope you guys are having a better week than I!
Breeding golden snakeskin guppies
Never create what you can't control
Sorry for your loss. Don't be unduly worried, as long as they do not show any unusual behaviours, they should turn out fine.
yes I'm very sorry for your loss too. It might have been internal parasites indeed.
Thanks, I'm not too worried about them. They seem to be doing very well for the time being. Thanks everyone!
Breeding golden snakeskin guppies
nofancifultitlestoinclude inthisspace.
kudos to you dazzlediscus for all your efforts in taking care of your cories! as what quixotic said, i'm sure that with all the amount of care which you're showering on your cories, they'll definitely do very well! i have a community of corydoras sterbais in my tank as well, but i've never had any experiences of them spinning. this information is definitely useful to me. cory cats are one of the cutest fishes around, so please continue to update us on your progress and future diagnosis!
zoli, romania can't be that bad!!!
-clint- ~apisto keepers unite!~
yeah
do you know if they can regrow their barbells? I know fish can regrow their fins, but what about mouth parts? seems like they should be able to...
Breeding golden snakeskin guppies
Never create what you can't control
It is believed that their barbels can regrow, but may take a long long time, perhaps even up to 6 months to a year?
The main problem is to ensure that they are eating well, as barbels are their sensory organ searching for food, and that they don't succumb to secondary infections due to the damaged barbels.
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