[celine]

I was looking in my tank today to count shrimp, and i looked over and saw a cory sitting in the corner. usually, as soon as they see you, they run & hide in the back of the tank, but this one was just sitting there. it then began to swim to the other side of the tank, but it was very slow & wobbly. it then landed in the cabomba...on its side.

it's now laying on the substrate, in the middle of the cabomba, still on its side, & breathing very quickly. also, the "ribs" (her ribbed looking scales, idk how else to explain them) seem to be sticking out a bit.

she's always been larger than the other corys, (thus the name, big momma), but now she's ridiculous!!! maybe 2 inches long, and 2-3 inches around!!!!!!!!

tank specs:
-15 gallon
-inhabitants: 3 sterbais, 4 otos, 5 neons, 5 snowball shrimp (2 of which have saddles!!!!!!!!!! :bounce: but i digress...)
-been set up 3-4 months
-have had cories for 9-10 months
-did a 30% water change 2 days ago

today was the first time i saw this guy looking so bad, since they usually do hide, it's hard to keep track of them. my best guess right now is either she's preggers (which i would LOVE), or has parasites & is gonna be dead within the next few days (which would be a lovely going away to college gift :icon_conf)

here's a pic, she's been like this for about an hour (i really appreciate any advice anybody can give me!!!):

 

[celine]

y'all, she's lookin worse!!! I woke up this morning, and she's laying in the front of the tank, still on her side, breathing fast, but now she's SPASMING!!!! like having seizures!!!!

and I did see what looked like eggs, small yellow/orange spheres, on her sides.

any advice would be reeeeally appreciated!!!! I love my sterbais, and I hate seeing her look so uncomfortable!!!! I get home from work in 5 hours, and do have an extra tank I could move her into, if that would help.

 

[Epitaph]

Check the length of its barbels for any loss. Loss of barbels is a good indication of exposure to dirty water. Other things to look for are inflammation and fungus on its body.

Sounds like a bacterial infection to me though. If the fish refuses to eat during this period, then recovery seems very low. If you have a breeder box, I would put the fish in there and give it a de-shelled, boiled, and crushed pea. Do 10% water changes everyday and raise the temperature up by a degree or two.

 

[celine]

well, i came home from work to find her where i left her this morning. she has been burried under a tree in my back yard.

my concern is now on the other fish in the tank. could they get sick too? also, one other cory is quite large (not as much as she was, but close). it's still swimming around happily with the other, smaller, male cory, very crazily along the glass. should i quarintine them?? any preventative meds i can use?? (i know that corys are very sensitive to medication)

 

[150EH]

Sorry to hear about your fish, could it have been old age? I just had a
Kribensis that was born in my tank die, I remembered taking photos of the fry so I checked the date 3-31-05, so he was 6 years 5 months.

 

[Epitaph]

Best preventatives are clean water, good diet, and proper living conditions. These are better than any medications. A healthy fish won't be infected so easily. If any more are infected, its a clear indication something is terribly wrong and will be the same if the treated fish is returned to the same environment.

Have you thoroughly inspected the corpse for any abnormality?
Doing 10% daily water changes temporarily until things have settled down doesn't hurt.

I doubt the fish died to old age as Corydoras have a long lifespan and the symptoms doesn't sound like a natural death. If I have to speculate, it would be dropsy simply because the OP said its lateral plates are protruding.

By the way, what kind of substrate are you using currently?

 

[celine]

Sorry to hear about your fish, could it have been old age? I just had a Kribensis that was born in my tank die, I remembered taking photos of the fry so I checked the date 3-31-05, so he was 6 years 5 months.

aawww...im sorry. at least he lived for a long time! she was young, not quite fully grown when i got her 9 months ago.

Best preventatives are clean water, good diet, and proper living conditions. These are better than any medications. A healthy fish won't be infected so easily. If any more are infected, its a clear indication something is terribly wrong and will be the same if the treated fish is returned to the same environment.

Have you thoroughly inspected the corpse for any abnormality?
Doing 10% daily water changes temporarily until things have settled down doesn't hurt.

I doubt the fish died to old age as Corydoras have a long lifespan and the symptoms doesn't sound like a natural death. If I have to speculate, it would be dropsy simply because the OP said its lateral plates are protruding.

By the way, what kind of substrate are you using currently?

the only thing was that she was quite large around the middle, and her belly was slightly off-colored. it might of been dropsy. but i'm still not ruling out pregnancy having to do something with it.

apparently the 2 cories remaining drowned their sorrows in losing their friend by mating.....lol. so ive been seeing eggs scattered, and saved a few from being eaten by the neons.

i'll deffinetly be doing water changes tomorrow, and friday. i move out on saturday, but i can come back early next week to check on everybody.

i have eco-complete

 

[Chlorophile]

Not dropsy... the scales on the fish are quite noticeably different in the case of dropsy, sort of pinecone looking.
If the fish was distended, internal parasites are most likely, if not that then a bacterial infection.

 

[Epitaph]

Not dropsy... the scales on the fish are quite noticeably different in the case of dropsy, sort of pinecone looking.
If the fish was distended, internal parasites are most likely, if not that then a bacterial infection.

The noticeable difference in appearance is because catfish are scaleless and cories have lateral body plates. You can't get a pinecone appearance from a catfish with dropsy.

The protruding lateral plates, bulging eyes, bloated belly, and sluggish behavior all seem to indicate dropsy.

 

[150EH]

I agree with the clean water, good feed, and proper care to keep fish healthy and I never add any meds to my tank. I've had fish die from eating something too big that they couldn't get down and they can get swim bladder problems and intestine blockage, sometimes they just go early even with the best of care.

 

[ErikO]

"the only thing was that she was quite large around the middle, and her belly was slightly off-colored. it might of been dropsy. but i'm still not ruling out pregnancy having to do something with it."

I've been having some problems with my Sterbai as well. From the research I've been doing, it seems like a lot of times after an unexplainable illness or death of a female, the rest start spawning. Maybe egg bound.

 

[celine]

so dropsy seems to be the general consensus?? which is good I suppose, better than parasites that would spread easier.

and yes, the remaining two do seem pretty...active. it's weird cause they also seem more courageous now, the don't run away as fast. I thought these guys were supposed to like living in larger groups?

 

[JRMott]

When I had cories, I think I only had a 2 or 3 (it was a 10 gallon tank a the time). They were very active despite being in a small group. They were a lot of fun to watch, a big group would be fun I think.

I'd do a large water change if you haven't already. While I generally don't freak out worrying about my other fish if one dies, it would be a good idea to do a couple water changes over the next week to get fresh water in the tank.