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Tank size = 180L
Ammonia, nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <20
Temp: +/- 25 in the morning to +/- 27 just before lights go off.
Ph: 6-7.
30 % water change a week with treated tapwater.(which is very soft around here)
Substrate: course sand.
Tankmates: 3 bristle nose plecs, 1 banjo cat, 11 cardinal tetra's and 2 afrikan dwarf frogs.

I have 5 young bronze cory's and 2 adult albino cory' s. Last couple of days the cory's seem to eat less then normal and very often they shoot around the tank. They are allso startled very easy. Its definitely not the mating behaviour. It looks like they are stressed about something. All the other fish seem to be perfectly happy. Im starting to think that it may be a substrate problem like anaerobic bacteria. Its a planted tank and i just clean the upper few cm' s of the substrate And i use a filter head to blow the dirt away under the driftwoodcave so the sand almost never gets turned over there.

Could this be what im doing wrong?

Did anyone see this behaviour before with cory' s? Could the banjo's digging behaviour be the cause?

Thx in advance, Jamy

Hi Jamy,

Do you know for certain your nitrate test is ok? Is it still in date? This behavior sounds a lot like a water problem. A high nitrate causes fish to be stressed and frightened.
Have you tried a large water change?

Or maybe they could have worms? Are they itchy?

Good luck anyway Hope you find the cause of your problem.

Bye Jacqueline