# Sick Corys



## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Before I start, let me say that I have learned my lesson about quarantine tanks and will not be adding any more new fish at any point without quarantining them for at least two weeks in the future. 

In my 30 gallon (3 foot) tank, I have the following:
7 neon tetras
1 dwarf gourami
3 bolivian rams
3 peppered corys
4 (now 3) emerald corys

I tested the tank yesterday and came up with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrate, and about 20 nitrite.

About a week ago, I only had 3 peppered corys and decided I wanted to add 3-4 more to bring the school up to a good size. I bought 3 from Petco that looked healthy in the tank. When I got them home, one of them was swimming strangely but the other two were fine. I did notice a red spot on the base of the fin of the one swimming badly. I acclimated all three in a 1 gallon tank, slowly adding tank water, but after about 1.5 hours only added the two healthy looking ones, preferring to observe the other. By the end of the night, he was dead.

The next day, I noticed that one of the other corys that I had just added had a similar red spot at the base of his fin. I had felt that the woman at Petco was somewhat.. aggressive with the net so I thought maybe these fish had just been beaten up a bit. Sure enough, by night, he was dead too.

You can guess where this is going... next day, red spot on the final new cory, took him out of the tank and into the 1G tank for observation. He seemed to perk up a bit and was swimming okay. I think he survived most of the night but when I awoke the next morning, he was floating as well.

I have also relearned my lesson about being patient when adding fish - I should have waited longer before adding more corys, but I thought maybe this was just a bad batch from Petco. This past week was my last week at my job and I have been feeling stressed, so getting my corys felt like a bit of therapy.

I bought four emerald corys from a different Petco that I have had better fortune with in the past. My LFS does not do guarantees on fish, nor are their prices on these particular fish better. They are also much further away.

I acclimated them the same way, in a 1G tank slowly adding tank water over about 1.5 hours. This was Tuesday, by the way. The emeralds have been in the tank since Tuesday night and have appeared to be doing great. Foraging, playing with each other, the works.

Today, I was delighted to find six of the corys snuggled up next to each other under a piece of driftwood. Upon searching for the seventh, my wife found him on his side on the opposite side of the tank, dead. He was definitely fine last night around 9:30 when the lights went off. Sure enough, he appeared to have the same symptoms of the peppered corys that died last week, a reddish spot at the base of his fin and some reddening under his body.

I've attached a picture (sorry for the dead fish pic!) so you can see. I'm 99.9% sure that this was not there last night, but the fish was dead this morning.










My research has led me to septicemia, though I am not 100% sure. Is anyone really ever 100% sure when it comes to fish? Most advice I've gotten is to always quarantine in the future, and wait to see if the infection hits the other fish in the tank. Now that it has, is there anything I can do? I can get a rubbermaid container or something to use as a hospital tank but at this point I feel like I need to treat the whole tank with medication. I love the fish in there and don't want anything to happen to them.

Please advise as to the best course of action! I actually have to take a trip to the (good) LFS later this afternoon to pick something up for a friend so I can buy some medication then if necessary.


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Owner at the LFS suggested issues with pH being too low for recently added fish, even though the rams and gourami haven't been in the tank much longer than the new corys. I tested my pH and though I am finding the test kit particularly hard to read, it doesn't appear to be significantly high or low - somewhere in the 7.0-7.6 range.


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## Redbug (Sep 10, 2012)

Sad for your loss. I have also had a death of a cory. A false Julii cory. One died about a month ago and I thought it may have been a sick when I got it. I had only had the first one a week. I am now worried it is something I am doing. A platy died last week.( he was at least 18 months old so he might have reached the end of his life).

Ammonia, nitrates and nitrites all 0. Ph 7. Planted tank, 24 degrees. Canister filter and air stone. Diet, shrimp pellets, mosquito larvae and algae in tank.
I do 25% water change weekly, condition water and add 1 ml liquid co2, 4 ml flourish. Similar pinkish blush round gills and under belly on dead cory similar to yours Dustin86.
Sorry not to be of help, I just hope some one has some advice.
:fish5::goldfish::fish10::animated_fish_swimm:fish5::fish9::goldfish::fish10::animated_fish_swimm:fish5:


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Fish Disease and Treatment sounds bacterial so look at "red pest" Most bacterial issues require treatment to be fed to effected fish,along with possibly needing to treat tank to keep from spreading.Sometimes "labling" disease is not so diffacult, but bacterial issues often take serious observation. Good luck ,I wish I could offer"solid advice",but tough to tell.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Here is another link to diagnose. Fish Disease, Diseases of Fish, Medications & Fish Health Treatments

The first thing I thought was the septicimia also when you posted the red marks. I have had fish that have shown it, I never cured it, but the fish also lived through it. Maybe it was cured, but the symptoms are seemingly still there.

Kind of hard to say what fish have and especially difficult when the death occurs not too long after you got the fish.


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Thanks all for the replies. I know I'll probably never know exactly what it is/was. I'm most concerned about the old fish catching whatever it is but I don't want to blast the tank with meds. So far it's only been the new fish, so I will just keep observing. The second one of the old fish shows symptoms or dies I will definitely do a treatment.


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## Redbug (Sep 10, 2012)

Thank you Coralbandit and Jrman83 for sites on fish disease etc. will peruse
With great interest. So far my three remaining cory's look fine.:goldfish:


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## Redbug (Sep 10, 2012)

Good luck Dustin86, hope we can move on from our losses. Hope I wasn't to rude jumping in on your post.:fish10:


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