Albino Cory

igoryek69 · 12-09-2006, 07:01 PM

I got an albino cory and most of the time he swims up and down the walls of my tank. Then he stops and goes for a search of food in the gravel and then goes back to swiming up and down. Is that normal behavior or something's wrong? Thanks.

Tommy Gun · 12-09-2006, 07:10 PM

Probrably normal and common with fish who are getting accustomed to a new tank. However, if your tank is still cycling, it could be suffering from ammonia or nitrate poisoning faster than most fish since it is scaleless. If you have salt in the tank, it could be hurting from that as well.

igoryek69 · 12-09-2006, 07:27 PM

Yeah my tank is still cycling, 2nd week. I checked ammonia levels this morning it reads close to 3mg/l and no nitrites or nitrates. Ph is 6.5

Tommy Gun · 12-09-2006, 11:20 PM

This really could be ammonia problem then and I would consider taking the fish back to the store that you bought it at. I know that is not what you want to hear, but if you look really closely at it, you will notice that it has skin and not scales. This means that the fish is less 'armored' if you will, and can be burned or stressed by things like ammonia, nitrites, and salt. It would be similar to you pouring salt on an open wound from what I have read from some experts lately. It is not really a good situation for this fish, in my opinion and from my experience.

Please understand that I am not trying to insult your intelligence, but if you understand that your tank is not cycled, you really should not be putting any fish into the tank. I noticed from your video, which I really think you have done well with the tank so far, that you are headed in all the right directions but you are putting your fish's lives in jeopardy by continually stocking the tank with new fish. The few white cloud minnows that you already have in the tank are going to do the job for you, however it is going to take them some time. They are fish that can deal much better with a 'less than healthy' environment and while cory cats are tough, they are just not fish that should be put into a tank without it being cycled. I realize that people have been keeping fish for a long long time and much of this information is new to you and sometimes it is hard to believe that a fish tank can be so complex, but trust me, it really isnt impossible and with a little patience, you can save yourself a lot of stress by keeping your fish unstressed.

Everytime you add a new fish, you are taking a risk of introducing Ich into your tank (among other things, but Ich is most common usually) because at the LFS, there are fish coming in and out of tanks constantly and they cannot be sure each one is not a host themselves. In many cases, Ich can still be avoided because the other fish in the tank are healthy enough, and generally have a good slime coat/stress coat formed to not allow the Ich protozoa to attach to them as easily. This is why Ich is so prevalent in stressed fish because stressed fish do not have a good slime coat or ability to fight problems like this. In your tank, and you will have to trust me on this, all of your fish are stressed, so if one fish gets Ich, most, if not all of them will have it sooner or later. This is going to cause you so many more problems that you just do not need, especially in a small tank like yours.

However, it is your tank and your decision and so no one can force you to do anything but I hope that I have at least given you somethings to think about from this post and my others as well. You will be much happier if you wait, and even if you dont, you will someday realize why all of a sudden your fish live to a good old age after so many died before them. This is how people figured out that their tank's were cycled years ago, even when I was a kid, and so today, we are just trying to help skip all the bad parts and enjoy the good parts.

jd@ga · 12-09-2006, 11:54 PM

Synodontis nigriventris (upside-down catfish) this is totally normal if this is what you have.

igoryek69 · 12-10-2006, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommy Gun

This really could be ammonia problem then and I would consider taking the fish back to the store that you bought it at. I know that is not what you want to hear, but if you look really closely at it, you will notice that it has skin and not scales. This means that the fish is less 'armored' if you will, and can be burned or stressed by things like ammonia, nitrites, and salt. It would be similar to you pouring salt on an open wound from what I have read from some experts lately. It is not really a good situation for this fish, in my opinion and from my experience.

Please understand that I am not trying to insult your intelligence, but if you understand that your tank is not cycled, you really should not be putting any fish into the tank. I noticed from your video, which I really think you have done well with the tank so far, that you are headed in all the right directions but you are putting your fish's lives in jeopardy by continually stocking the tank with new fish. The few white cloud minnows that you already have in the tank are going to do the job for you, however it is going to take them some time. They are fish that can deal much better with a 'less than healthy' environment and while cory cats are tough, they are just not fish that should be put into a tank without it being cycled. I realize that people have been keeping fish for a long long time and much of this information is new to you and sometimes it is hard to believe that a fish tank can be so complex, but trust me, it really isnt impossible and with a little patience, you can save yourself a lot of stress by keeping your fish unstressed.

Everytime you add a new fish, you are taking a risk of introducing Ich into your tank (among other things, but Ich is most common usually) because at the LFS, there are fish coming in and out of tanks constantly and they cannot be sure each one is not a host themselves. In many cases, Ich can still be avoided because the other fish in the tank are healthy enough, and generally have a good slime coat/stress coat formed to not allow the Ich protozoa to attach to them as easily. This is why Ich is so prevalent in stressed fish because stressed fish do not have a good slime coat or ability to fight problems like this. In your tank, and you will have to trust me on this, all of your fish are stressed, so if one fish gets Ich, most, if not all of them will have it sooner or later. This is going to cause you so many more problems that you just do not need, especially in a small tank like yours.

However, it is your tank and your decision and so no one can force you to do anything but I hope that I have at least given you somethings to think about from this post and my others as well. You will be much happier if you wait, and even if you dont, you will someday realize why all of a sudden your fish live to a good old age after so many died before them. This is how people figured out that their tank's were cycled years ago, even when I was a kid, and so today, we are just trying to help skip all the bad parts and enjoy the good parts.

Thanks for your input, I understand exactly what you're saying. Dont think for a socond that I would take anything you have to say as in insult. I'm learning from you and others like you. I thank you and everyone else for their comments and suggestions. I am not looking to add anymore fish, untill atleast my tank is cycled. The reasong I bought albino cory is because there is some fish food that's left no matter how little I try to feed the clouds and he seems to do a good job on cleaning it up. I will only have 3 clouds and 1 cory untill the tank is 100% cycled. At that point I may concider getting a few more clouds. I know ammonia right now is at a mid to high level eventhough I did a 20% water change to make it easier for the fish and that will slow the cycling a bit, but I will try to have this small 5 gallon tank cycled without loosing any fish and causing as little stress for them as possible. Thanks again, Igor.

Tommy Gun · 12-10-2006, 09:09 PM

I totally understand why you would want one of these corys in your tank. In fact, it makes perfect sense really. If you are having a hard time keeping the ammonia levels down, it is probrably because you have enough fish to add ammonia quickly and/or need to vaccum out the substrate better. Actually, the extra food on the bottom of your tank would have been just another ammonia source for your tank to use when cycling, but with fish in there, I wouldnt try to overfeed for that reason.

Good luck. Like I said, I dont think you will have a long wait for the tank to cycle, but then again, I wouldnt want to mislead you on some sort of timeline since that is just not predictable from what I understand. Just keep an eye on your fish so they do not suffer too long. The effects of ammonia burns and poisoning can be long term, irreversable, and prevalent long after the tank is cycled.

igoryek69 · 12-10-2006, 10:06 PM

What I will do is feed the fish every other day, I was told to do that, while the tank is cycling. I hope this wont starve the fish and keep ammonia not as high untill tank is cycled. What do you think Tommy Gun?