Pepper corys get blood spots

[T]

Ok this is a strange one.I'm not a big cory fan but I got 3 peppers as an early christmas present from a friend.She didnt know about observing the fish in the tank to pick out the helathiest so on loooking in the bag I could tell one was not in good shape.He didnt make it past quarentine but the other two were fine.After a few days of them going into my planted tank I noticed on had a little red mark on its side that looked like a little blood spot.He still seemed in good health so I didnt really worry and in a day or so it went away.But this has happened a few times now and not just on the one fish.Any ideas what it is, the spots dont stay long and dont appear to bother them.Nothing in the tank appears to be picking on them either(the only fish I noticed was my mango pl*co but only when they try to explore his cave).

Thanks!

[Coryman]

Please read the the first post in this section, it was put there so you can help us to help you.

Ian

[T]

1. Water parameters
a) Temerature range. 78-80F
b) pH. 7.2
c) GH. not known
d) KH not known
e)Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, leavels.

Ammo :not known(run out of tablets)
Nitrate :20ppm
Nitrite :0ppm
f) Water change frequency
(Most LFS's will check your water and give a list of readings).

30% Weekly

2. Tank set up
a) Size. 30gal Planted
b) Substrate. Fine gravel
c) Filtration. Fluval 204 and internal(interpet I think)
d) Furnishings. Plants, bogwood, some rocks
e) Other tank mates. Pl*cos(mango, clowns, baby royal)tetras, platies, bolivian rams(pair), ottos
f) How long has it been set-up? almost 2 years

3. Symptoms / Problem description

Red(blood)spots on sides

4. Action taken (if any)

none

5. Medications used (if any)

none

[Coryman]

Everything would appear to be fine, the only thing that may bother the Corys is the temperature. C. paleatus are one of a number of Cory species that are happiest in cooler water, temperatures in the low 70s suits them best. If you have another tank I would consider moving the C. paleatus into that and keep them cooler. Other than that I cannot see anythig that would cause the problem.

Ian

[T]

Well I got an ammonia test kit and it reads zero, also I took back my florida flag fish that were bothering my platies in case they were biting the cories too.Also I picked up 2 more peppers(now have 4).I'll drop the temp a bit and hopefully things will be ok, so far the red spots have not been back.