Pygmy corys deaths
Posted: 30 Oct 2004, 16:48
Hi.
I was hoping you guys could help me out.
5 months ago or so I bought a group of 10 pygmy corys. They did well for a while; eating and schooling and they were a pleasure to watch and keep. However, in the past months I have been suffering regular deaths and now I am down to 3.
Before I go unto describing anything else, I would like to provide you with my tank specs:
20g tank, heavily planted.
Sand substrate with some root tabs for fertilization. (The sand is inert ergo, the tabs).
Water Temp: 79 F
pH: 6.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
Water changes: weekly, 30-50%.
CO2 DIY: 22 ppm.
Tank mates: One 2" common pleco. (Sorry, I have not gone into the proper ID of the species). 6 harlequin rasboras. 1 Black skirt tetra. Various mystery snails.
Lighting: 65 watts 10K compact fluorescent bulb. Hours: 8 hours a day.
Fertilization: Dosing of macro fertilizers once a week.
Food: a variety of flakes (brine shrimp, spirulina, community, cyclopeeze, etc.), spirulina tablets, shrimp pellets, live brine shrimp (both adults and babies), freeze-dried pacifica plankton, freeze-dried mysys shrimps, freeze-dried tubifex worms, live micro worms, live white worms. I feed once a day one or two of the feeds above mentioned.
I have previous experience with several species of corys as I am originally from Venezuela and South American corys are very common and cheap over there. This never happened before.
What I have found on the bodies after death is a bit of a swollen stomach and some loss of fin tissue, especially the caudal fin. However, there were no bloody markings, no signs of fungus or anything resembling fin rot. It was most like if something had bit off a chunk of fin. I have no idea what this is.
Hopefully some of you can help me out. I really like to care well for my fishes.
Thanks,
Mary.
I was hoping you guys could help me out.
5 months ago or so I bought a group of 10 pygmy corys. They did well for a while; eating and schooling and they were a pleasure to watch and keep. However, in the past months I have been suffering regular deaths and now I am down to 3.
Before I go unto describing anything else, I would like to provide you with my tank specs:
20g tank, heavily planted.
Sand substrate with some root tabs for fertilization. (The sand is inert ergo, the tabs).
Water Temp: 79 F
pH: 6.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
Water changes: weekly, 30-50%.
CO2 DIY: 22 ppm.
Tank mates: One 2" common pleco. (Sorry, I have not gone into the proper ID of the species). 6 harlequin rasboras. 1 Black skirt tetra. Various mystery snails.
Lighting: 65 watts 10K compact fluorescent bulb. Hours: 8 hours a day.
Fertilization: Dosing of macro fertilizers once a week.
Food: a variety of flakes (brine shrimp, spirulina, community, cyclopeeze, etc.), spirulina tablets, shrimp pellets, live brine shrimp (both adults and babies), freeze-dried pacifica plankton, freeze-dried mysys shrimps, freeze-dried tubifex worms, live micro worms, live white worms. I feed once a day one or two of the feeds above mentioned.
I have previous experience with several species of corys as I am originally from Venezuela and South American corys are very common and cheap over there. This never happened before.
What I have found on the bodies after death is a bit of a swollen stomach and some loss of fin tissue, especially the caudal fin. However, there were no bloody markings, no signs of fungus or anything resembling fin rot. It was most like if something had bit off a chunk of fin. I have no idea what this is.
Hopefully some of you can help me out. I really like to care well for my fishes.
Thanks,
Mary.