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Delicate peppered cories?

4K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  Falina 
#1 ·
I've had a number of cories, some albino, some bronze (both aeneus) and some peppered.

Of the bronze and albino, I have lost only 1. I have lost 4 out of 6 of the peppered. They lasted a while and all went at different times, but in the exact same way. They would float and appear very limp. Initially I thought they were dead but their gills would move slightly. They would do this for periods of time and then swim about again seemingly happy and healthy enough. This would last a period of 2-4 days depending on the fish and eventually they would die. There were no other signs of illness.

At these times I checked the water parameters and all were OK.

Now the same is happening to the 5th peppered cory. I checked my water parameters earlier tonight when I noticed this behaviour:

Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20 (higher than normal, usually it is 10)

I wouldn't say I'm worried about the nitrate because it's still not at a poisonous level, and since this is the 5th time this has happened, and only the first time in this situation that the nitrates have exceeded 10 I don't think it is the culprit.

From the first death to now, approx 6 or 7 months have passed.

Does anyone know why this is happening, and why to only the peppered? Are they more delicate than the others? From what I've heard they are a hardy species of cory. I'm just at a bit of a loss as to why they are, one by one, just wasting away.

Thanks.
 
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#2 ·
that's terrible :)
i have no advise to offer as i feel as you do,
i have put mine through a lot and they came through,
the only time i have lost peppered is when i bought
really small ones,they never seemed to survive.
so sorry.
 
#4 ·
Thanks guys.

I just really can't understand what's going on. The onlt thing I can think of is, since I got them all in the same batch, there was possibly some inbreeding or something way back and so they're just not a good quality batch but I don't know how likely that is.

I'm down to the last one now. Hopefully he won't go the same way, but I'm not too hopeful at this point.

Thanks anyway.
 
#6 ·
Im no coryolgist but what temp is your tank at?

do you know if they were wilds or tank bred?

if by peppered you mean Corydoras paleatus then they prefer cooler water i think, like 15-25 celsius (59-77 f) so perhaps your running your tank a bit hot for them?

the Aeneus will almost certainly be tank bred i think so probably hardier than the peppered if they were wild, even if not certainly better suited to higher temps.

Remember that water hold less oxygen the hotter it gets, might explain the problems with a particular sp. your having.

just a thought
 
#7 ·
Thanks Mike.

They are indeed Corydoras Paleatus.

I keep my tank at 23-24 so I don't imagine the temperature is the problem, but thanks for pointing it out. I always prefer to keep my tank nearer the lower end of what is acceptable for the fish because of the oxygen levels, but also because higher temperatures only speed up their metabolisms which can, in the long term, lead to a shorter life for them. There should be enough oxygen for them because of the temp I keep them at, as mentioned, and because my filter causes quite a bit of turbulance on the surface which the fish seem to enjoy swimming against.

I guess there's really no way of me knowing if they were wild or tank-bred. The guy at the lfs told me that he gets the cories as an assorted bunch rather than species by species so he doesn't know either.

It seems however that them being wild is the most likely problem. Thanks for pointing it out. :)
 
#8 ·
looked on PC to see where paleatus originates from, no joy locality is listed as unsure, thought it might help us determine whether he gets them from the same exporter, Aeneus is listed as the Amazon and Paraguay (that's nice and specific lol), if he gets them as a mixed bunch that would lead me to think they are actually tank bred, both sp.

There is a detailed spawning log on PC as well, which means they are bred in the home aquaria.... hmmmm im outta ideas, like you said maybe just a bad batch!

edit - he should know where they come from, be surprised if he couldn't tell you whether he buys them from a breeder or importer
 
#9 ·
Sorry I wrote that in a misleading way and without much thought.

What I meant is that he buys them as a mixed batch, rather than species by species, meaning that he doesn't know as many particulars about them such as age or what species he is getting. I didn't think to ask him when I was last there whether he buys them from a breeder of importer, but as you said, since he buys them as a mixed bacth, and they come with the aeneus, it is most likely it is from a breeder. Sorry for the confusion as to what I wrote.

Guess a bad batch seem sto be the answer. It's a shame though, they were lovely.

I know they're not likely to grow as big as the aeneus, but they did seem even smaler than I would have expected compared to the others, so perhaps that's to do with them being a bad batch, if they're not growing well, or surviving like I would have expected.

Thanks a lot for your input.
 
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