Help My Sick Albino Cory!

[PlatyLady]

I came home from work today to discover my cory laying on his right side. At first I thought he was already dead, but he moves a very little bit, breathes, and occaisonally twitches his barbs. I'll have more specific perameters later, but the perameters as of last week are pH 7.7, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 30ppm, Nitrates 0. The only thing that looks visibly wrong with him looks like a small red vein which has appeared on his right fin (the one he's laying on). He was my first fish EVER, so I'm really attached to him. Can anyone help???

[PlatyLady]

forgot...the only thing that has changed recently was a temperature drop. The temperature dropped almost 10 degrees in a matter of days (the heater broke, and I live in the midwest, where we got a lot of snow and ice, and the temp has averaged 25degrees as a high for the day).

[Fishnut2]

I bet it's an albino Paleatus corie. The Paleatus are inbred so much in Florida, they occasionally have swim bladder problems that develop. I had one that would "play dead" for several years. They can lead healthy lives other then laying on thier sides all the time. The red blotch sounds like it was picked on by your algae eater. It may have picked on the fish because it seen it's weakness. The temperature drop is not a problem. I purposely drop the temp on cories to induce spawning. 8-10 degrees is common.
Watch to see if the algae eater is picking on it. You may have to get rid of it.

[PlatyLady]

the red vein doesn't particularly look like something that someone did to him. It reminds me almost of a broken arm. But, good News!! I got a new heater, and it seems to have mysteriously completely cured him! He's swimming around, doin' his cory thing, completely upright, and the red vein looking thing is totally gone! I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why did he come around? Did it have something to do with a temp?

[locojay]

I would guess that there was nothing wrong with the little guy at all. My albinos give me the same scare from time to time and I've had them for a couple years now. Once in a while I'll see one kind of tilted at about a 45 degree angle and just recently one of them has really freaked me out. He's managed to burrow out some gravel in the corner of the tank and make a space just large enough to fit his body into. I don't know if you can picture it but this guy gets into this space and is completely vertical, nose in the gravel and tail pointed straight up. The first time I saw it (about 3 weeks ago) I thought for sure he was dead. But as soon as I put some food in the tank he wiggled out of his spot and carried on eating as usual.

[PlatyLady]

I guess the laying on his side thing was probably just him being wierd, but now I've noticed something else on the other side fin. It almost looks withered or stunted or something. He's swimming fine, but any thoughts about what's going on now??

[Cory Lover]

Originally Posted by PlatyLady

I guess the laying on his side thing was probably just him being wierd, but now I've noticed something else on the other side fin. It almost looks withered or stunted or something. He's swimming fine, but any thoughts about what's going on now??

Hi,

Is there any chance that you could get a pic of his fin??? Does the fin look raggedy, because if it does it could be fin rot.

Cory Lover

[PlatyLady]

Originally Posted by Cory Lover

Hi,

Is there any chance that you could get a pic of his fin??? Does the fin look raggedy, because if it does it could be fin rot.

Cory Lover

I don't have a camera, but I'll see if I can borrow someone else's. No, it's not raggedy at all. Try to picture an old lady whose hands are are somewhat bent and shriveled. He's swimming around like he always has, and he's moving the fin-in-question just like before, it just looks funny. Ideas??

[Cory Lover]

Hi,

I'm kinda stumped. Maybe just wait a week or so and see what happens. If it doesn't get worse, he should be fine.

By the way, you should get a couple more Cories because they really like being in groups.

Cory Lover

[PlatyLady]

yeah, I keep meaning to get a few more, but how many more would be appropriate for this ten gallon? Tank mates are listed in my signature below. Thanks for any suggestions!

[Christine]

Not to be Captain Obvious, but you said your nitrItes were 30ppm and your nitrAtes were 0? Are you sure you didn't mix those up?

As far as stocking... imo you are pushing (over) the limits now. I think golden algae eaters get large? Plus, youll be having more platy babies... and if your endlers are a pair, more of them.

[PlatyLady]

Originally Posted by Christine

Not to be Captain Obvious, but you said your nitrItes were 30ppm and your nitrAtes were 0? Are you sure you didn't mix those up?

As far as stocking... imo you are pushing (over) the limits now. I think golden algae eaters get large? Plus, youll be having more platy babies... and if your endlers are a pair, more of them.

Yes, I did switch the ites and ates. Sorry. I think you're thinking of Chinese Algae Eaters when you say they get large. I am under the impression that they don't get larger than around 4", plus I'm just holding onto him for my dad for the time being. He's got a 175g (I think, either 155 or 175) and he wanted a golden algae eater for his tank, but all of the algae eaters they sell at our lfs were too small and would have been eaten/harassed by the big fish in his tank. The GAE will only be in my 10g for about two more weeks, as he has grown large enough to make it in the big tank.

As far as platy babies, I actually sell them at 8-12 weeks to both private fishkeepers and a few lfs'. Two of the platies I list as tankmates will be gone soon, as they are now big enough to be sold. The only fish I keep are the ones that I buy for myself. The endlers are too young to tell for sure if they are a pair, but I actually think that they might be two males. I was walking through the lfs the other day and they had this immensely overstocked tank full of "guppy" fry and a few common plecos. I noticed these two endlers in this sea of fry and rescued them from being big-fish-fodder. I think that I'm just going to get them big enough to sell back to the store.

So, in summation, the only real, permanent tankmates are as follows: 1 male platy, 3 female platies, and 1 albino corey. Sorry for the lengthy reply, but it had to be explained fully or it would have made no sense

[Cory Lover]

Hi,

I would get two more Cories.

Good luck!

Cory Lover