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Hello all. I'm new here and need some advice. I just found about 10 pygmy cory fry hovering around a plastic plant. I've been having some water quality issues lately, and have been doing frequent water changes. Everything is fine except for my nitrItes :/. I guess the water changes is what got them to spawn. I just wish they would have waited until the water got straightened out :/. I had no idea that they had spawned until I saw the fry just about an hour ago. Considering I only have 2 pygmy cories (I know they like to be in large groups) it was a major surprise. My problem is today I found my betta plagued with what I believe to be velvet. He has goldish, rusty patches, one on each side on his skin right before his tail fin starts. I removed him as soon as I saw he was sick. I was hoping I caught it in time, but I saw my trilineatus cory flickering against the gravel. That is supposedly a first sign of velvet :/. Anyway, what should I do with the fry? Do I need to remove them from the aquarium before I treat it? Does any one know if Quick Cure will work on Velvet? That is all that I have other than Fungus Eliminator. I would really like to try an raise these fry, and keep my other fish alive and healthy lol. Currently they are in a 10 gallon aquarium with 2 upside down cats (still juveniles), 2 trilineatus, 2 albino (one still really small), 2 pygmy cories, and one glass catfish. I know that is pushing it, but it is only until I find and set up a new 55 gal aquarium. Which I hope to be soon. If the fry do need to be removed the best I can do for now is a 1 gal tank with an UGF. Will this be good enough if I do very frequent water changes, until I can come up with something different? This hit me totally by surprise :/. Thanks everyone.

Firstly I would not move any of the fish out of the troubled tank. I would visit your LFS and get there advise on the best product for velvet and then treat the tank as per the instructions. Once the proble has been resolved I would then move the C. pygmaeus to the small tank. Set it up with just a thin layer of smooth grained sand, a box filter and a clump of Java moss. This set up is what I use for breeding C. pygmaeus, there is also no need to remove the adult fish after spawning, as long as there is plenty of cover in the form of the Java moss the fry will be OK.

ian

PS plaese add your location to your profile

Thank you Coryman. Unfortunately no where around here sells java moss and I won't beable to make it into town for a couple days :/. So far none of the fish are showing any signs of sickness. I'll keep the aquarium dark and see what happens. I really don't like using chemicals on my fish. I probably will move the fry today. They will much easier to look after in a smaller aquarium. I am aware they need to be kept extremly clean, and need to be fed more often a day then the adults.
How often can I expect the adults to spawn? Thanks
Crystal

Crissytal,

Make up a couple of spawning mope out of 4ply synthetic wool (Brown or green) Make a cardboad frame and wind the wool around it 50 times, tie the loop off at one side, cut the loop at the other then attach a piece of sponge to the tied off point, and there you have the ideal C. pygmaeus spawning and hiding media.

I would make at least two.

Ian