Emerald Cory. :(((((

FishySuzy

One of my Cories in my 25 Gallon. Oh man, he looks so bad, it makes me wanna cry. It's bottom jaw is swollen and there is blood in his skin. I've put him in a little area where he's isolated from my other fish, but I'm really worried the one of the Angels or Golds have bullied him because his tail is also ragged looking. I don't think it's my gravel and my parameters are looking good. My temp is about 75 and I don't know what else is going on.
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 5-10 ppm
Nitrites - 0
PH - 7.6

MoneyMitch

definitely sounds like a bully problem in ur tank, i would look for a new home for the culprit or the victim.

1077

You say one of your cory's doesn't look good. What do the barbels ,or whiskers look like on other cory's? I have found that cory's nearly always do better over sand substrate. If the grain size of gravel is large or has sharp edges as opposed to being smooth,then over time,,the fishes barbels can be worn down from their constant shuffling through the gravel in search of food. Once the barbels or (whiskers) become worn down to nubs, then infections can take place.
Up until this weekend I had been keeping eight Julii cory's in a 56 gal with small smooth gravel. Before this,they were on sand bottom 29 gal. I moved them back to the sand substrate this weekend cause I noticed that nearly all of their barbels were nearly nubs even though my gravel was smooth and rather small grain size.
Your water parameters sound good and were it me,I might consider setting up a tank if possible with sand substrate and placing the fish there. (after the tank cycles)
Keep those water parameters up and fish will have a good chance of healing. If the fish does not get better,I would euthanize it rather than treat the whole tank for unknown illness.
I have doubt's that the Angelfish is the culprit and do not know what Goldie's are. If goldie's are chinese algae eater,,then there is your culprit. These fish are actually poor alagae eaters and become aggressive as they mature. Hope some of this helps.

FishySuzy

Goldies are just what I call some plain Goldfish I have. I put him in an isolation net and looked at his underside today and he's looking great. The swelling and redness is gone. His bards are worn down so I'm keeping him in the net for a couple more days, just in case, you know? It's confusing though because my other one is just fine.
On a related note, I do feed them sinking pellets and regular flakes, all of which get caught in my plant leaves so the problem with my substrate is confusing.