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I have a 10 gallon tank that loves to murder panda corys, and I'm hoping your wisdom spots something obvious and stupid that I've missed. https://imgur.com/wqWM5ab The LFS and I've tested the water dozens of times, and it always comes back fine: pH mid sevens, temp 24, ammonia and nitrite both zeroes, nitrate ranges from 20-40. The tank's been running about a year and a half. Every eight or nine days I kick up the sandy substrate and suck out a third of the water, mix in the same amount in a bucket at a similar temperature, pour in the right amount of water conditioner, wait about five minutes, and pour it back. And every two to six weeks, the last half-dozen or so panda corys I brought home from the LFS all die, while the two venerable adults keep a running tally. This is round four* for me now, but this group of rather small fish is doing better than any so far (with only one dead and one seemingly-sick after a week). For their part, the LFS says they've heard no complaints about the fish and "sometimes they just die, that's the hobby" is wearing thin. This is my doing somehow. (*I killed round three by loving up a water change and pouring too-cold water into the tank, that's on me) The other occupants are six or seven cherry shrimp, some unkillable number of bladder snails, and one fat happy assassin snail that does his best. The only plant to speak of is a clot of RIparium moss, that's grown to a prodigous size under the LED grow lights on a rough 8/16 cycle. The filter is a too-large Eheim 2211, and I wash its substrate out in clear wash water every month to six weeks. Decorations are your bog-standard aquarium thingies, sold at fish places for the purpose. (If you're thinking this is a lot of bioload for a small tank, you'd be right if they all lived to adulthood, but I don't expect all six of those small fish to do that and lo, they are not) The only thing I put into the tank, aside from water, is a quarter-pellet of sinking fish food per fish-day, a few flecks of shrimp food, and lately, a capful of Rally because I've no idea what else to do (and Canadian regulations would keep me from buying what I wanted even if I did). The clues so far: - The dead fish look fine, except for the fact that they're dead. - The living fish act "normally" for panda corys, which isn't saying much. The moribund ones sometimes have balance issues, sometimes have buoyancy problems, and sometimes just... die. - There's no pattern to where I find the bodies. Some sink, some float, some turn up in the moss, some I never find at all. - There is a pattern in when I find them - things usually go bad a day or two after the water change. The next scheduled one's tomorrow  - I saw one small fish being hectored by a shrimp not much shorter than it was. Something tasty is either on the fish, or is the fish... or maybe the shrimp was just being a dick. - The fish that brought me here was acting languid and reacted only to persistent pestering (with tweezers) and loud sounds. I found him under a decoration, along with a cloud of detritus. I do clean under there when I clean the tank, but man do I get silt clouds when I pull up the decor. Sick tank? Diseased adults carrying something that kills the young? Sunspots? Pets eating each other? Anthrax in the siphon hose? flakeloaf fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Feb 19, 2024 |
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Feb 19, 2024 05:22
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Thanks so much all of you for your help. Fragile fish and inexpert handling don't mix.Cowslips Warren posted:How long does a pet store have the Panda Cories before you buy them? In my experience, they seem to be much more sensitive than the bronze or peppered Cories. Not sure that's a breeding thing or because the line is so inbred or what. A great question. This tank was pretty full, the fish were (are) pretty small, and while the store does have a policy to hold new fish for a few days before selling them, I haven't seen many of those signs in the fish room lately. Stoca Zola posted:I can't see anything wrong with your temperature, or your maintenance schedule, although maybe the nitrates are a little high it still wouldn't be killing your corys that fast. If your substrate was leeching anything the shrimp should feel it before the corys do. Maybe the collecting detritus indicates a lack of flow? I do wonder about that! This filter moves a lot of water, but the outflow bar is on the back of the tank about an inch under the surface, pointed more or less straight down, and the return is also on that back wall because hoses are ugly. There's a bit of a cloud kicked up whenever I move those decorations (which you can see the remnants of below), which I can definitely do more often. I just don't want to stress anybody out. quote:And maybe you could try feeding them something different (repashy? vitalis soft pellets?) because they're young, they're growing, they need food to recover from the stresses of shipping and they're currently competing with snails for a quarter pellet of food. And I'm not sure how fussy they are about food either, have you seen them eating? You've got a big enough cleanup crew to not have to worry about overfeeding while you're getting the newbies stabilized. I have seen them eating! https://i.imgur.com/woxzDy5.mp4 Adult 2 and youth #4 are exploring the cover on the right but they'll be along shortly, I'm sure. Lights coming on means food, and you see the assassin's right there because he knows the bladder snails (whose eggs and large adults I sweep out regularly) will be along shortly. That guy was hauling rear end across the tank last night too, clearly in the mood for something he couldn't find underneath a fake castle. A CanPol poster suggested I dial back the food because the snails wouldn't be there if there weren't the food to support them, but I'd rather clean the water more often than starve small fish. I didn't get to it today (which explains the algae), but that's what tomorrow's for. quote:My experiences agree, panda cories are very fragile, especially when brand new freshly obtained. They don't like it too warm, they're small, they probably need regular small meals because they're sold as juveniles, and maybe they don't recover from stress as easily as other corydoras. I don't keep them any more because it's too sad when they die, and much like your situation, the tankmates of mine were completely fine. Yeah  It is a big fish store though, and there's lots of life to choose from! Kuhli loaches are interesting, bronze cories are said to be hardier, I liked the betta even if he did hate the shrimp, pea puffers hate everybody but they especially dislike small snails... if this group sticks around, great, if it doesn't, I'll explore a bit more diversity. I'm about done with frogs though, diving across the floor to catch crickets was annoying and ADFs are, by all accounts, too dumb to live. e: ok i'm guilty about that algae let's change this water e2: The colour wasn't exactly appetizing, but it smelled fine (a bit like wet garden) and the nitrate was on the 20 side of the "20 to 40" range. And now we wait
flakeloaf fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Feb 20, 2024 |
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Feb 20, 2024 02:37
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When my panda corys are "acting normally", which the remaining six are all doing in a very alive way, by the way (thanks thread!), they glass surf, steal air bubbles, pick at decorations, chase the shrimp, dart around the tank seemingly for no reason, and rest on everything that can be rested upon. They're fantastically bizarre little fish.
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Feb 25, 2024 15:23
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TIL that cherry shrimp attack panda corys. Mystery of the missing fish is sorted.
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May 2, 2024 00:00
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Asterite34 posted:Wait, like attacking a LIVE fish? I know cherry shrimp will happily scavenge on any corpses they find, I've never heard of them actually going after a fish that wasn't already dead Wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself. Murderous little bastard was definitely, persistently climbing on my fish and making eating motions. The fish jerked and swam away, the shrimp chased it. And it's not for want of food, cause i feed those little bastards well.
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May 2, 2024 01:33
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