# Cory laying on side, dying?



## justjason88

I have 2 adolfo and 2 sterbai corys which have been in my tank for about 6 months, it's well established and all parameters are fine. Last night i fed the tank frozen bloodworm. Today 1 adolfo is upside down laying on the substrate, it occasionally moves but has now come to rest between some plants; it's slowly breathing whilst laying upside down. Also, 1 sterbai is laying on its side and occasionally moving but spending more time upside down/on its side than moving. Anyone know what this is? I've trawled google for an hour and come up with constipation or swim bladder problems or underlying problems with the fish from breeding. This has happened to me before in the past but never this bad, i expect both will die by the morning as they are displaying the same signs and symptoms as a sterbai i had die about a month ago and another adolfo about 2 months before that. For some reason i can never seem to keep my corys alive for more than 4-6 months    which is such a shame because they are great fish. All other fish are unaffected.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Jason

Here's a short video of what the sterbai is doing. The adolfo you see is the unaffected one.
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j53/t ... G_0223.mp4


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## jack-rythm

My cories all did this and sadly died   I think the corys love a over oxygenated tank and if there is co2 they seem to suffer.. I don't know if u have co2 running though?

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## justjason88

yeah i do unfortunately


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## thelats1981

Were the bloodworms full defrosted? Sounds daft but fish struggle with cold food. may also be stress if theres a real frenzy with feeding the bloodworms? cory's do better in larger shoals, feel more secure and can deal with active tank mates better. im not convinced this would be an oxygen issue as i thought cories were actually adapted to be able to use atmospheric oxygen, hence them swimming to the surface for a gulp of air! also dont think your parameters should concern you, its an established planted tank, unless you massively overfed an ammonia spike would be unlikely.


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## thelats1981

Noticed your still online, whats status on cory?


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## justjason88

Yes i always cut off half a cube and leave it out for half hour to defrost and then chuck them in a bit at a time. The sterbai has now died, that's the quickest i've seen a cory deteriorate it took roughly 1-2 hours. The adolfo has since moved but is still upside down, thankfully still breathing. 

Admittedly i have (or had) only 4 corys but surely if they were stressed because there weren't enough of them then they wouldn't display this weird behaviour and then die but just sit and huddle instead of grazing and looking for food on the substrate? It's also weird both are suffering from the same symptoms, i've only seen it happen 1 at a time


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## thelats1981

Hi jason, sorry wasnt sayin was def stress just tryin to work out possibles. Tank and substrate look really clean which would normally be first concern with corys. not in your case. it is def wierd that 2 fish acting weird at same time. May also suggest that this isnt a chemical or parameter issue. Im no expert so would try and rule things out. if it was o2 i would expect them to be gasping at urface and other fish to be affected.


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## thelats1981

Ok, 2 apologies- spelling and speed of response. its coming from mobile! What is the substrate? have u added any root tabs or supliments at all? in fact have you changed anything at all in last few days?


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## justjason88

Sorry mate my reply looked defensive, i was just putting my thoughts down on paper like you. I agree, if CO2 was a problem the other fish would be affected and the drop checker would also help indicating this. I note no abnormalities apart from the obvious on the 2 affected corys. I had a good look at the sterbai when i took him out and he looked perfectly healthy. 

Substrate is ada aqua soil amazonia. I don't dose any ferts at all because the plants do fine from the substrate and the CO2. No root tabs or supplements at all.

The only thing i can really think of is either they overfed and became bloated/constipated which would affect their swim bladder (from what i read) or they have an underlying problem with both of them and they just weren't as hardy as the others. But with constipation i also read they get over it within a day or two, they don't die from it. Also too much of a coincidence of them both dying or suffering from same symptoms on the same night if they have a genetic problem.

Really at a loss here. Thanks for your help anyway lats


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## thelats1981

Wont be constipation unless they are gettin bloodworms every day! also be unlikely both affected at same time. the ada substrate leaks ammonia, but only early doors and your testing for that anyway so not that. could i make a suggestion?


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## justjason88

Sure, i'll take any advice. When i re did the tank i had only the substrate and water in for about a month, well over the recommended 3 weeks, so it won't be that.

Check this thread, this was back in July. I don't think it had an infection, i'm pretty sure this cory also died for same reasons as the one today but i just can't find why or what from!
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=22491&p=232254#p232254


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## thelats1981

Checked out ur journal earlier mate. Ace pal. im no aquascaper and cant grow plants (hookin up pub bottle co2 this weekend!) and have inert substrate! error, but no chance of rescaping cos of fish BUT am geek in terms of fish health or at least other peoples knowledge of. If u havent changed anything and fish not obviously distressed then maybe isnt a chemical or parameter thing?


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## krazypara3165

have you done a water change recently, or disturbed the substrate?


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## thelats1981

What i was going to suggest was trying a larger shoal of small corys. ive got 10 arcuatus and they are ridiculously funny to watch. The worse thing when a fish dies is that you assume you are doing something or not doimg something which is to blame. Your tank is clean, well maintained, you keep an eye on the fish, not much more you can do mate.


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## thelats1981

Water change is a good shout, any change from the norm. Some corys are sensitive but you would still expect some behaviour change from other fish?


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## jack-rythm

If your running co2 kit an air pump in for a few hours.. This happened to me so I know it's oxygen levels. Corys become more sensitive to oxygen levels.. Just try it and see what happens. What can u loose?   I have had exactly the same problem.

Jack

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## justjason88

last WC was a week ago, ill try sticking an air pump in, thanks for for your help and comments

Lats i also found it difficult to rescape because im heavily stocked on fish but if you buy a perspex 100L box from ikea and fill it with water and a bit of substrate you can transfer your fish to that with the pump while you rescape. Mine lived happily in that for 3 months


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## nry

I would be curious on the source of the food if they've only done this after feeding?

Cory's are pretty hardy and my group of 4 appear happy and are always active.  I'm also tight on feeding, mine get fed every other day or so.


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## dw1305

Hi all,


> I would be curious on the source of the food if they've only done this after feeding?


 I think "nry" is on the right track and it is the blood-worms. I don't feed any frozen blood-worms, and out of the live home "ranched" ones (apologies for the cross-post) <http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?p=28549> I feed, I throw away any that aren't entirely red and wriggling.  

Cories love Grindal worms, and if you aren't too squeamish cut up Earth-worms, and you could always us these as a supplement to a good quality pellet (I'd recommend "TA Aquaculture" for dry food).

I've fed live blood-worms (from relatively clean water) off and on since the 1970's without any problems, but you only have to look on some of the more specialist forums, and there is a large amount of circumstantial evidence linking rapid fish death and frozen blood-worms <http://www.britishcichlid.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1336&start=20>.

cheers Darrel


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## REDSTEVEO

I have kept two Cory Sterbai in my tank with CO2 running for the last two years and I fed frozen blood worm maybe twice a week and never had a problem. But like others have suggested I am inclined that they either ate the blood worm while it was still frozen or just ate too much and became constipated. Pressure on the swim bladder and upside down they go. Its never happened to mine yet, although it has happened to other fish when I used to keep black mollies a long time ago.

Cheers,

Steve

ps did you sell your Lily pipes?


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## justjason88

Thanks for this, i can only point towards the bloodworms too. Expensive lesson indeed.


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## jack-rythm

No had them dropped round with all my stuff the there week so still have the lilys.   maybe looking into a new project so may keep them if I can't sell them. This time it will be without all the horrid commotion !  

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