[Kitfox]

Hello,

I bought a new albino cory cat a few days ago, and lately he has been very lethargic. not sure what is wrong so I decided to see what you guys think.

However just as I started typing this, he began to roll around on the sand floor and have a LOT of difficulty swimming - he is definitely sick. He is NOT coming up for air more often than usual, but when he does try to get some air, he flails back down to the ground and lands on his side. Definitely bad.

I put him in a quarantine tank but I don't know how to treat him. From the picture it looks like he's got fin rot on his dorsal fin? And/or a swibladder problem? He has been worsening quickly today, and he has trouble laying on his belly. He fell on his side again in the quarantine tank - I gently nudged him over and he landed on his belly again. He's laying still now. Only moves to get some air and to wink. His breathing speed is normal.

All other fish in my 10gal tank (including the other albino corys i bought with this one) seem healthy and active. Did a 25% water change before I added in the new ones. Water is treated with SeaChem Prime.

Oh yeah, and... I bought these new albino corys at Petsmart. The guy who "helped" me get these fish grabbed them with his hands and dropped them into the container. Not sure if that's what harmed this little guy, but it did irritate me. And he tried to tell me that corys are not schooling fish and can live alone. URgh...

Picture! There's a shrimp pellet next to him but he hasn't been eating today.

 

[SpottedPleco]

Fin rot usually presents with a black or red, ragged edge of the fin... I'd say from looking at that photo that it is probably not Fin Rot.

It very well could have been trauma from being physically handled at the pet store (I'm kinda baffled as to why he thought catching corys with his hands was a good idea o.o).

I am going to gladly hand over any sense of expertise on this fish to the next poster with more experience, but it sounds like it could be a few things;

Not adapting to new water parameters... Maybe he doesn't like something about his new tank?

Could be he was really happy in his new home, over-ate, and is working through some bloat? Maybe fast him for a day or so.

Hurt at pet store, sore/recovering.

Without more information, I'm going to advice keeping water conditions pristine and hope he pulls through. StressCoat or Prime might be helpful if you don't use already.

If you start noticing other symptoms you might have more to go off of... I picked up a Betta a few weeks ago who looked fine at first, but about 3 days after I brought him home and he was bubble-nesting away, he began having similar symptoms to your Cory, and a day or so later he had the tell-tale columnaris saddleback sore.


Keep an eye out for any bumps, dots, lumps, or discolorations (in albino fish, it's pretty easy - red, black, grey = bad) but until then, the best thing to do is provide ideal conditions to that fish - is the QT close enough to the regular tank that the isolated cory can see his friends? be alone might also cause stress in schooling fish.

best of luck!