What is happening to my cory? (longish)

[Sterving]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I checked the forum. With the new house, renovation and marriage, there isn't much time left for anything else these days.

Anyhow, I did my best to upkeep the two tanks that I have. The 29 gal tank is moderately planted and houses several red swordtails, two albino cories, some mystery snails and quite a few MTS.

A little background:

One of the swordtails had a (fungus or bacterial?) infection about three months ago that resulted in complete loss of his sword, some scales, and generally left him very thin. It looked like a piece of white cotton was stuck to his tail. The tank was treated with tetracycline hydrochloride (AP's T.C. Capsules) according to directions. That seemed to clear it away. The affected fish recovered only marginally, that is it became more active and socialized with others more. However, one morning, about two weeks ago, I found him swimming erratically and out of control, almost like a shot down plain in a tailspin. I figured, there wan't anything else I could do, but to put him to sleep (wet paper towel wrap, freezer). Sigh.


The cories:

The cories never seemed to be affected by the happennings in the tank. They always kept to themselves, fat as they were, not a care for anything. A few days ago, I noticed that one was behaving a little odd. I know that cories don't always lie on their bellies. I noticed that long ago, thinking the cory was passing away, lying on its side. But it was just their normal ways. This time however, it's serious. I can find him lying on his back, upside down or any other way imaginable. His breathing is barely noticeable. He moves if I touch him, but it is rather erratic now. There is nothing unusual that I can see in appearance: color is normal, no leisons or spots; fins are in top shape.

The cories are about 1.5 years old and about 2 inches long. I am not sure what their normal life expectancy is, but I think it should be more than 2 years. The other cory looks unaffected by the other's affliction.

Any fish MD's out there? Can anyone tell me what's going on?

Any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.

[CardBoardBoxProcessor]

my SAEs did that no too long ago.. they all loked fien and jsut started goign stuid and then sjut died.. I still dunno why..

[Sterving]

I think I'll have to euthanize (sp?) him . He now looks like he's paralyzed on one side. He also breathes heavily now. His swimming is uncoordinated and he often just lands on a leaf or gets stuck in the plants upside down or other abnormal positions. Needless to say, he hasn't been eating since it started.

[jaidexl]

there's really no way to isolate the problem without knowing the water parameters, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and temp. any amount of the first two can stress the fish into catching an infection, nitrates over 40ppm are said to cause stress, but i can't confirm that. high temp can promote bacterial growth.

you might want to hold out on the euthanasia, it's up to you. i've personally experienced and have also read about others finding out the 'he' was actually a 'she' that exhibited the same symptoms until releasing eggs, although after that much time, it's probable that you would have seen this before. for the record, my healthy cories take naps on their bellies all the time. i used to think they were dead until i noticed their eyes tilting down to scan the floor.

personally, i would stop the meds and do a series of 25% water changes over the next few days.