Cory Help Not Eating And ID

[jd_7655]

I've been out of the hobby for a while and just set up a new tank. I made the mistake of using two corys as starter fish to cycle my aquarium. I had forgoten thier not as hardy as I tought. I let the tank sit for 24 hours before adding them and I thought it would be ok. They were having a hard time so I went out and bought some bacteria starter and added to my aquarium and filter. Today thier doing much better but not swimming around as much as they were in the petshop. Its been 48 hours since I added them and thier not eating. I tried feeding shrimp pellets and hikari algae waffers which my old corys used to love. What should I do? will they come around? or should I try live black worms? I like to save the black worms as a last resort I hate feeding them and once they get hooked it's hard to get them off. Also the cory were in a planted tank at the LFS and may have been finding live food in that aquarium.

I aslo need an ID heres a pick if someone could help me out

THX

[kim m]

C. stenocephalus, C124 or C127 are good bets (all from Peru).

I have always had a difficult time getting longnoses/hognosed species to feed on pellets. They seem more into frosen bloodworms or chopped earthworms.

[OldMan]

The problem with your cory is not likely anything to do with what you are feeding. You have placed a cory into an uncycled tank.
My first guess is that you have started to build up some ammonia in the tank. It will be made worse by the repeated attempts to feed them. Do a quick test of your ammonia levels to verify where you are, then most likely you will find it necessary to do a 50% water change to make the value drop to less than 0.25 ppm. If you carefully clean up the uneaten food using a gravel vac while you are changing the water, you will stand a better chance of the cories lasting through tomorrow.

[jd_7655]

Thx for the help I went into the back yard a found a small earth worm and chopped it into small peices. They played with the pieces for a while but I removed them. I'm gonna try blood worms tomarrow.

All the food that I put in gets taken out if it's not eaten. I have nylon over my filter intakes and it does a good job of catching uneaten food. So far I've only put a small sliver of an aglae waffer and one small shrimp pellet all of which have been removed.

I guarntee thier is amonia since the tank cycleing and correct me if I'm wronge but wouldn't a 50% water change start the cycle over or prolong it. I cranked up the o2 which should help a bit.

The corys are showing interest in the earth worm so I'm gonna wait till tomarrow and change food tatics.

[Carp37]

Having got back into the hobby after a 17 year hiatus, I inadvertently subjected Corydoras sterbai, Megalechis thoractata and Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps to pretty awful cycling last June. 11 months on and they're still all there, but I did have to do 60% water changes every day for a month until the tanks cycled.

[OldMan]

A water change won't hurt your cycle at all. If there is detectable ammonia then there is enough for the ammonia eating bacteria to increase their numbers. If you move it down from .20 to .10 then there is still a surplus for the bacteria but its a lot easier on your cories.