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A couple of days ago my 2 new Paleatus adults started swimming funny...by funny I mean they were hovering like hummingbirds all around the tank, often with one pushing down on top of the other until the other was forced to land on the bottom. I don't know that they ever went into t T spawning position. Maybe--hard to tell. There certainly were no eggs laid that I could see. But I thought maybe they were spawning because we were about to get hit with odd weather and even I could feel the change in the barometric pressure.

But the behavior continues and now they are bullying other cories off and on, especially the sterba and the pandas. For some reason they leave the albino cories alone.

And in the last 12 hours one of the peppers has displayed "Pop-eye" disease. I don't know if this is due to disease, damage, or something else.

At this point I'm more concerned about their dreadful behavior than the pop-eye. They are puffing their fins out like peacocks, headbutting the sterba, and pushing the baby panda cories around with their barbels.

I have a younger peppered cory in my main tank that I've had for months now. He's always been a perfect sweet amiable fish. But he is probably not sexually mature yet---the newer peppers I got to keep him company are not fully grown but they are mature.

So, any ideas why they are displaying such obnoxious behavior now? When I got them, they were pale and listless. Now they're very pretty. Not quite as blue-tinted and stunningly irridescent as my original one, but they are getting there. I'd hate to have to take them back to the LFS (once I treat the pop-eye, if I can) but they are stressing out my sterba. I don't like bullies...so back they would go. Still, I'm surprised. I thought cories were peaceful. And I didn't think anybody would want to breed in the quarantine tank. But then, I'm not a catfish. What do I know about what their idea of a honeymoon suite is? IF that is even what is going on. For all I know they could be two alpha male types fighting for the chance to be boss cory.

Hi Hellocatfish,

Although I never kept Paleatus, it sounds like they are display the typical behavor of excitement and pre-spawning display and not bullying.
I do have Sterbais and Pandas. They are kept in different tank since each species prefer opposite temperature. And each species of Corys have different idea/trigger of spawning season, especially the water parameter goes.
Anyway, it seems your Paleatus are all males and they are looking for suitable female to spawn with. That is why they bump and tickle with wiskers other Corys(Sterbias and Pandas). The reason, they don't bother Albinos is they look so different. I suspect they can see some color. So I'll say go get them few females for them, then the male Paleatus would be happy and they would bother other Corys less often. Although they still mistake other Corys as suitable partner sometime and tickle with wiskers sometimes.
If you are still concern about the high activity of the Paleatus toward other tankmate. There are few things you could do. Give them their own tank and get some females for them. If the female is ready to spawn(well fed and have stored eggs), they will.
If that is not possible, I would say add more shelters and hiding place by adding more plants, bogwood, stones, decorations., etc. Then, whoever doesn't bothered by male Paleatus would find the place they can escape.

And about the pop-eye, I do not know what caused. But sounds like your male Paleatus are excited in the water you have.

The paleatus are trying to spawn and their aggression is harmless.
Popeye points to at least some period of poor water conditions and is an entirely separate issue. Clean the tank by making large partial water changes and maintan good water change regime and remove any popeyed fish for euthanasia. There is no cure and it can be infectious.

hellocatfish,
First things first: it's important to know the water parameters in which they are kept. I believe there is a posting at the top of the Corydora forum which will tell you what information is pertinent. Also, do you have a photo of the C.paleatus with popeye?

Is this the tank with the new canister filter? If so, they may be playing in the current.
Amanda

The water parameters are good and water changes on quarantine tank are minimum of 40% daily. No ammonia, no nitrites, nitrates variable due to water changes but less than 10--however I don't really trust this tank is cycled because the nitrites tend to look like they inch up if I'm late with the water change that day--meanwhile on the main tank that has the canister filter, I haven't changed the water in several days and everything is fine though nitrates are starting to creep up.

Main problem in quarantine tank though has been algae growth andit is always on the same spots on the glass every time. None on the plant anymore, which had been washed in hot chlorinated water.

The paleatus with pop-eye hides every time I go to check on his eye so I don't have a photo. But the opacity that was starting to form cleared up after I dosed the tank with Jungle Buddy medicine that has anti parasite and antibiotic medicine in it. I have lost two aeneus, one right away and the other later. But they were damaged in transit and I had expected that. The clerk had not filled their bag properly and when I got them home their gills had reddened and one was clearly on his way out to begin with. The one I had lost first had died in a hospital tank and I saw what I felt could possibly be a worm--it was very small and filamentous and appeared to have one end that looked a little toothy or something. So just in case, I tried the jungle buddy fizz tablets. I've never medicated a tank before so I was full of anxiety but other than losing an aeneus I had expected to lose anyway (His stomach turned dark reddish brown near death) the fish experienced no problems. I still have one aeneus left that had actually the worst looking gills of the bunch.

The aeneus looked fine in the LFS and okay in the bag most of the way home and didn't get red gills until we were almost home.

I am not sure the popeye is really popeye. I think the paleatus smacked his eye with all the rough-housing he has been doing lately. It's not protruding that much--I think it was just a bit swollen. It really looked like a black eye people get when they get punched.

The two paleatus continue to swim with one practically sitting on top of the other--this is almost constant now. But now the panda cories are starting to chase the paleatus around. It's crazy in there. I would worry that they are in distress except there is still plenty of quiet behavior when everyone goes rooting for food or takes a nap.

If I get a chance I will restore the hospital tank and put the paleatus with the bruised eye in it. But I know he's going to be very angry about that. There is indeed a good current in there from two HOB filters and the paleatus and pandas love it. Sterba are more interested in trying to join the other sterba in the main tank. They apparently can see each other since the tanks are close together and they've been clamoring to join each other since day one. When I feel it is safe to start integrating the populations, the two sterba will be the first to be transferred. They have looked excellent from the start and it's always been a temptation to skip quarantine but I'm locking down quarantine for a full month and the last to be transferred will likely be in there 2 months total.

In most cases popeye, the disease, is essentially one of the incurables.

When it is the result of trauma then the fish may always be this way and may or may not be blind in the affected eye.

If it still has the problem after a month in quarantine then it is likely the result of trauma and will be harmless to the affected and other fish.

You are taking all the reasonable precautions an aquarist can under these circumstances.

Well I did take it one step further right after my last post. Once I got my daughter and her friend set up in an activity I went to try and take a pic of the paleatus and noticed his or her belly looked darker and reddish more so than the other's. The light in there is not good at the moment because it's still their naptime and the main light is off (they all seem to nap around late afternoon after the morning sunlight is gone from the room and the room darkens). Anyway rather than take more chances since the other quarantine fish look great, I netted out both paleatus. Whatever they go through, they go through together not just for their own sakes, but also because if one has something nasty, the other one may likely be harboring it also, since they have been so close.

I'm aware I may just be looking at a paleatus with ripening eggs or something like that, and not an illness. However, I've looked at enough egg-full cory photos to have enough doubt to take this precaution. If I am mistaken, I doubt any harm will be done to the pair. Some stress, sure, but it is a chance I better take, given that the albino aeneus got a dark red belly before dying. Whatever killed that fish progressed fast and behavior just a short time before had been normal.