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ok, I thought one of my peppered cories was dead and I was about to take him out of the tank and then he started moving again. He was hanging vertically right side up by the filter just hanging there so I thought he was dead. What could be wrong here? I have not checked the water parameters but if it was a prob with the water i would think the other fish would be affected too. but they appear to be okay as far as I can tell. it is this one cory catfish that i am worried about. what should I do???? no other physical symptoms at least none that i am aware of.

maybe he was just playing dead? Having a nap?

Is it your newly set up 20 gal? You really should if at all possible get your own water test kit. I don't know if I could sleep at night with out one.

Whats the temperature? Do you have aeration? The fact that it's only that one cory may account that it wasn't at full health and that maybe ammonia or nitrites in the tank may be killing an already unhealthy fish. Just a possibility. I've found that if I have a fish thats "belly up" but still alive I can put it in a gallon ziplock bag floating in the tank with an aerator for a couple hours and it will usually come back and live on. I would also do a water change just in case. Hope that helps. Keep us updated.
Josh

I have the same problem also. It happened to just one catfish. The other catfish are fine and lively. All other tetras in my tank are doing well too. It has happened for about one month by now. The "weird" catfish is able to eat and hunt for food when it "snapped" out from the "daze".

Anyone knows what is wrong with it?

Sorry, here are the extra information...

I have the tank for more than half a year now, and have been keeping the catfish (C. paleatus) and its friends for more than 3 months.

It doesn't look like water parameters problem since no other catfish and other species are dying or sick in the tank for the past few months.

andywoolloo wrote:maybe he was just playing dead? Having a nap?

Is it your newly set up 20 gal? You really should if at all possible get your own water test kit. I don't know if I could sleep at night with out one.

no this is another, smaller tank which I am keeping these cories in temporarily until the 20g is fully cycled. It is a 2.5 gallon. I have test kits and I tested the water after doing a major water change and ammonia/nitrite was high both at .5 ppm. I had added amquel to help bring it down and today did yet another water change but the water is still filthy. the vaccuum tube to siphon out water that I have is a bit bigger than one I should be using. It siphons out water faster than I can clean the gravel thoroughly. I have looked for another one at the store but they don;t seem to carry the mini tubes that I am looking for. arghh. I have looked at more than 1 store. i will have to keep up the water changes until the water clears up. as for the cory catfish, he seems to be doing better but I am still concerned about him bc he looks emaciated than the others. he eats fine so no problem there. maybe it is just bad water that is making him under the weather. i don;t know. he was pretty healthy when I got him at the store with the other corys, didn;t notice anything wrong until lately.

I have one Fundulopanchax gardneri killifish that keeps going belly up (I have a trio and it's always the same female). Every time this happens I'm always close by, so I can bring her back. I usually stick her into another tank till she comes to. Maybe you should get your cory out of that tank. Put it into another tank. Maybe even your new 20. Anything is better than what it's currently in.
Is it only those two cories in that 2.5, or are there more fish? Even with a fish or two in that tank, you should have aeration. Although cories can live in oxygen-poor water and even breath atmosperic oxygen, the high ammonia and nitrite are impeding it's ability to take in enough oxygen. The fact that you have any ammonia/nitrite shows that your 2.5 isn't fully cycled (which seems to be your reasoning behind keeping it out of the new 20).
Good luck
Josh

Plecofanatic1989 wrote:I have one Fundulopanchax gardneri killifish that keeps going belly up (I have a trio and it's always the same female). Every time this happens I'm always close by, so I can bring her back. I usually stick her into another tank till she comes to. Maybe you should get your cory out of that tank. Put it into another tank. Maybe even your new 20. Anything is better than what it's currently in.
Is it only those two cories in that 2.5, or are there more fish? Even with a fish or two in that tank, you should have aeration. Although cories can live in oxygen-poor water and even breath atmosperic oxygen, the high ammonia and nitrite are impeding it's ability to take in enough oxygen. The fact that you have any ammonia/nitrite shows that your 2.5 isn't fully cycled (which seems to be your reasoning behind keeping it out of the new 20).
Good luck
Josh

if the cory is sick I don;t want to spread whatever it may have to the 2 cories that are in the 20g right now. in the 2.5 g there are actually 3 cories in there not just 2. I have 5 cories in total. there are also a couple guppies in the 2.5 gallon too. Now I know that is very cramped but like I said I didn;t have a choice as my other 5g leaked. and the cories were in that one. when I checked the levels in my 20g (cringe) the nitrite read high like 3.0!! so I am assuming it is just going thru its cycle and I don;t know if moving the one cory would be the best option right at this point. do i need to let the tank just be or would doing a water change in the 20g disrupt its cycle?? oh, and the 2.5gallon does have a Whisper Filter in there.