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Sick cory and a potentially strange test result

1K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  Falina 
#1 ·
Yesterday I moved 3 mollies and 1 swordtail out of my 35g, and into it I moved 6 cories. There were already 2 cories in the tank. All were fine and I didn't check water parameters yesterday as I didn't think an ammonia spike would have occured since I would moving out a roughly equal amount of fish as I was moving in. Everyone seemed happy up until the small hours of this morning. When I got up this morning I notice one of the original cories Is lying in amongst one of my plants, at the bottom of the plant where it's thickest and is hardly moving. I tested the water this morning and my reading were:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 mg/l
Ph 6.5

Should nitrate be this low? If not, how do I increase it? The tank is not new, it has been cycled and running for 3-4 months.

Is the low nitrate reading likely to be the cause of my cories sickness, and if not, what could it be?

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Is the tank heavily planted? That would account for your reading.

Also, if you have a low tapwater reading for nitrate then there's nothing wrong with it. Mine typically sits at around 5 - 8.
 
#3 ·
It's reasonably well planted. Not as heavily as many photos I've seen here but there's 9 plants in it, and it's 35g so that gives you a rough idea.

I didn't think it was the water, because all other fish are fine and I'll stop worrying aboutt he nitrate reading now, thanks.

Any ideas what might be the cause of my cories sickness? Whatever it is has come on quickly, she was fine in the small hours, now she doesn't look like she'll make it much longer :(
 
#4 ·
It's hard to say. Are her gills moving rapidly, or is she showing any external signs of injury that you can see?

It could possibly be stress from the move, did you have any trouble netting her at all? What's the pH reading between the two tanks, and are they both at the same temperature?
 
#5 ·
The cory that is sick is one of the 2 original ones that was in the 35g already, not one of the ones I moved. She doesn't look injured or stressed. Her gills are moving a bit rapidly though.

I'll keep a good eye on her and post if anything unusual or different happens.

Thanks Kate.
 
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