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1. Water parameters
a) Temerature range. 76 degrees
b) pH. 6.2
c) GH. don't know, but water is very soft
d) KH <1dH out of tap (although I've added crushed coral to raise the pH slowly over a couple months from 5.4 to the curent 6.2 so the KH is probably higher now.
e)Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, levels. 0, 0, & 0
f) Water change frequency 30% every 2-3 weeks.


2. Tank set up
a) Size. 33 gal long tank
b) Substrate. 50/50 flourite/gravel mix
c) Filtration. 1 Whisper 20/40, 1 AC150
d) Furnishings. Moderate to heavy live plants, 2 bog logs, 2 plastic caves.
e) Other tank mates. 3 Glass bloodfin tetras (2 others died in past 2 months, they are all over 3 years old), 4 ember tetras, 3 paleatus cories, 4 adult, 1 juvenile panda cories, 4 habrosus cories, 3 otocinclus.
f) How long has it been set-up?

3. Symptoms / Problem description

Past few weeks one of the habrosus has been tipping over onto his back when he stops swimming. He's able to swim level, but tips over otherwise. He is not flashing. His barbels are missing, but no obvious degenerative process going on near his mouth. He is learning to keep himself upright by wedging a tail between bits of gravel or resting between a tankmate and the glass. His dorsal fin is clamped. He's breathing normally. A second habrosus has recently flashed a couple times, and both his dorsal and caudal fin are clamped, he's also breathing normally. His (and all the other cories except the one above) barbels are fine.

4. Action taken (if any) Observation only.

5. Medications used (if any) Not sure what I'm dealing with. Would prefer not to medicate the rest of the tank if not necessary, but these little buggers are going to be hard to catch and put in a quarantine tank in my planted tank.

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.
Amy

Forgot to mention--tank has been set up for almost 2 years.

ph seems a bit low could be the cause i would try to raise it to around 6.5-7.0, although some species will tolerate a lower ph for a short time(i've got some as low as 5.5ph to breed them)many prefer a neutral ph. it could also be bacterial if they are suffering from barbel errosion,do you clean the gravel or sand regularly!

stuart

I gravel vac when I change the water. Since it's got a lot of plants, there are only certain open areas that I can really dig into to clean. I also can't reach behind the bog logs, but there are mostly plants back there as well.

I forgot to mention that I have had a recent MTS snail population explosion. My teenage son feeds the fish in that tank and I found out he was over-feeding a couple weeks ago, so I think the increase in snails is due to that. Mostly it was too many algae wafers, which were all eaten, but probably by the snails, too! The nitrates are zero so I think the plants are handling those as usual.

I got my cories to breed in the pH of 5.4 this past winter. I tried to hatch and raise two panda cories in a grow-out tank, but they died of ick. However, a panda fry hatched and survived on its own in the community tank and came out of hiding recently. He's about 4 months old.

But yes, I think the pH could be higher. My goal is around 6.5. I've just been raising it very slowly.

Only the one cory that's tipping has the barbel problem. I see no fungus, no erosion of his mouth other than the lack of barbels.

I am thinking the crushed coral could be making it hard for your cory in question to quest for his food.

The crushed coral consists of one cup along the back corner wall, and another cup in a media bag in my AQ filter. The cories are always fed at the front of the tank, so I don't think the crushed coral is the problem. I'm trying to think how the missing barbels correlate to the tipping over. My understanding is that barbels are not related to spacial issues.

If there was overfeeding previous to the tipsy fish, the first thing I'd think of would be swim bladder trouble. If so, I think you have a couple options - QT and treat with antibiotics or keep water quality up and observe to see if it improves on its own.

Jen

Thanks, Jen. I did a 50% water change, picked out about 30 MTS snails (they're getting smaller now, so I think I've gotten most of the big ones out) and I also took out my bog logs and vacuumed the substrate underneath where they were. It was pretty dirty, but not sure how much was the flourite dust and how much was mulm. Still it was a lot darker than the rest of the substrate I vacuumed. I picked a few snails off the bog logs, mostly babies, while they were out of the tank. I ended up ripping out alot of my hygro, but it should replant itself.

Both habrosus cories are still not acting normal. One is still flashing and the other is still tipsy. The tipsy one has figured out how to keep himself upright by planting his tail between bits of gravel. No other fish are affected. There is simply no way to catch these little guys in my tank without ripping out all my plants. Plus I have no QT tank. I'm going to be moving this fall and have broken down and stored any extra tanks. I'll just have to see how they do. When I move, I'll have to break down this big tank and that's when I'll catch all the fish--when all the plants are out. I don't want to have to do that twice.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.

Understandable - I have joked that I have a particular affinity for fish that are nearly impossible to net. My better half refers to it as "fish rodeo". The vacuum job will likely be helpful - cories are particularly sensitive to the cleanliness of the substrate.

Good luck, and hope the fishies start to do better.

Jen