# Corys and dark driftwood



## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Did anyone ever hear of corys dying from ingesting little pieces of driftwood that ends up on the substrate from plecos.

For some reason I can not keep a cory alive more than a few months in my current tank. 

All my parameters are excellent and I have successfully had a school of rummynoses and cardinals for over 1 year without losing one.

I have 4 dwarf plecos that chew on the driftwood and my thinking is that the corys are ingesting when the search for food and it's eventually killing them.

I always bought a few corys at a time and feed them add'l wafers, etc.


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## Error (Apr 16, 2004)

houseofcards said:


> Did anyone ever hear of corys dying from ingesting little pieces of driftwood that ends up on the substrate from plecos.
> 
> For some reason I can not keep a cory alive more than a few months in my current tank.
> 
> ...


Weird. I've never had that happen to me.

What temp are you keeping them at, and what species?


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

I've gone through a few panda corys and some juli. I know the pandas are more sensitive.

My temp was in the 78 - 80f range.


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

Are the corydoras starving?

Andrew Cribb


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I had the same problem in one of my tanks, could not keep Corys alive. I tried another tank with albino Corys and have been successful, no deaths. Both tanks have almost identical water parameters.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

I don't think so, because I was feeding a variety of flake, frozen and sinking wafers.
So I guess no one thinks it could be the driftwood pieces chewed up by my plecos.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Trenac,

Did you have alot of malaysian or dark driftwood in the tank. 
Because at this point I think that is the problem. I believe my dwart plecos are chewing it up and the corys are ingesting it. I could see the tiny pieces all over the substrate especially near the driftwood.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Even if you're feeding a variety of foods, it doesn't mean that enough is reaching the substrate. You should do some dedicated feeding for your bottom dwellers with either shrimp/crab pellets or some form of sinking wafer.

I think I lost a bunch of Pygmy Corys due to starvation. Now I make sure to toss in shrimp pellets and algae wafers 2-3x a week.


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## clay (Jul 3, 2004)

i believe pandas and julii prefer cooler temps. i had some of both with no luck in a 78-80 degrees. dropped the temp, and low and behold, they lived and laided eggs. usually around 70-75 is where i keep those tanks.

and good luck!


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

You could be right Clay.

If that's the case then I guess corys are out for my in my tank, because I keep my temp at around 79-80f for my angels,rams,cards,rummys,otos.


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## skids (Mar 23, 2004)

I'm no expert but have 6 pandas at 82F in a 75 long with discus and cardinals that have been happy and growing for almost a year now. Lowering the temp and adding a rio to make current is a great way to make a spawn since it simulates the start of the rainy season in Brazil. But that doesn't mean lower temps make for healthier cories per se.

I spoke to a few importers when I was looking for some rare cories and they pointed out that many cories and cardinals come from the wild with capillaria and other worms. The discus forums have lots of treatment and other advise on this. In a nutshell, the fish can live with the worms but then die off fast when stressed and if they lose wieght have trouble putting it back on, hence the starvation observations. > 95% of cardinals come from the wild and most are carriers. Treatment with hexamit and/or panacure is needed during your quarantine to clean the worms out. Even if you got the pandas from a local breeder (mine came from a local breeder and were just a few months old) they can be subsquently infected by adding wild caught cardinals or other fish. Since they are bottom feeders and the worm cysts sink in the feces, the catfish are at risk to pick them up.

Other Q's : Did your pandas live long enough to grow and put on wieght? If so then starvation may not have been the cuase. Unless new hungrier fish were added later.

Do you do weekly water changes of 25 -50% of the total water volume?
Do you have excellent aeration from an airstone, current and/or frequent gravel vac'ing to reduce detritus? Did they used to stay always at bottom or frequently bolt up to gulp some air? 
Do you measure pH, nitrites and NH4 occasionally?
Have at least a few gallons / inch of fish, ie not overcrowded?


I notice that mine are very sensitive to how "fresh" the water is. They will swim laps 24/7 on sides of tank after a water change or if I polish with my Vortex D1. Then after a few days when the unmeasurables wastes build up in the water ( I feed lots of high protein food like CBW and beefheart) that the swimming slows down to just nocturnally. Then after 5-7 days with no WC they are almonst listless. A WC then gets it all going again. My Gold Zebra loach has an even more shortened cycle of activity -> listlessness depending on water freshness.

BTW I have a CO2 by injection of 20-25ppm, pH 6.8, kH 4.5 to 5, gH 7-9, Nitrates 20-25ppm, Nitrites 0-5ppm (both on Tetra tests), and 0 NH4.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

That's interesting. No one has chimed in on my theory about the driftwood. I find a dusting of tiny chewed up driftwood pieces on my substrate from my plecos. I'm wondering if the reason my corys keep dying is the ingesting of these tiny driftwood pieces.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

houseofcards said:


> Trenac,
> 
> Did you have alot of malaysian or dark driftwood in the tank.
> Because at this point I think that is the problem. I believe my dwart plecos are chewing it up and the corys are ingesting it. I could see the tiny pieces all over the substrate especially near the driftwood.


 At the time I had on small piece of malaysian driftwood in this tank but no plecos to chew it up. So in my case I do not think this was the problem. However the tank I have them in now only has rock (petrified wood). In your case its hard to say if the chewed up driftwood is causing the deaths of the corys. If they are injesting the small pieces of wood then it could/may have a ill effect on them, however I do not think that they would consume the wood.

_Do you have a lot of open space (free of plants) in your tank where the cories can feed easily_?


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I really don't think the Cory's would ingest the driftwood pieces. They may check them out, but it's doubtful they'd actually eat it if it's not food.

My first thought is that they aren't getting their share of food, too. Try tossing a regular Tetra tab or something non-algae based (they aren't vegetarians even though they'll nibble on algae wafers) right before lights out so they have a chance to get it.


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