Panda Cory.... playing dead???

[Fishy3]

Tonight I noticed that one of our panda cories was playing dead. My BF said that it was munching on the tubiflex floating on the top of the tank... The tubiflex was in the tank since yesterday. I just took it out thinking that maybe it had something. When I put the net in the tank the cory swam to the bottom. Well now he is upside down again and my BF said that he thinks he is trying to get air? He is going up and down in the tank.... what do we do??? HELP!!!

[donT155]

Recently found my Peppered Cory doing something similar. I've never seen Corys "play dead".

They may surface for air occasionally, and swim up and down the sides of the glass continuosly. (That is just playing) But if I find one just "floating" upside down or floating on its side for an extended period of time, I get worried.

Does the fish have any other symptoms such as not eating, and sluggish swiming?

What's the pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate readings in your tank?

This might help:

http://www.tropicalresources.net/phpBB2 ... hp?t=17670

[Fishy3]

Everything is normal in the tank... he doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with him...

[coolfish]

I've never seen it but I've herd if a fish eats freeze dried tubiflex worms before it becomes saturated with water, it can cause bloating from trapped gases. The fishes stomach then becomes an uncontrollable swim bladder until the gas is expelled. How soon-(or long) after you fed the worms did this happen? Anyway, it's just a thought.

[JosephMCorbett]

When I feed flake to the tank, the Cories (being the greedy fish that they are) will swim to the top and along the sides of the tank where food accumulates or gets "herded" by the current to where they are. Sometimes after a few minutes of them swimming back and forth along the surface of the tank, they will stop to rest...just kind of floating for a few seconds befor they continue. This is normal, at least for my Cories. If you watch your fish on a regualar basis you become accustomed to "normal" behavior and abnormal swimming will then strike you as soon as you see it.

So, that's the question. Is the fish behaving normally? Is the fish swimming or doing something different than the others of the same species? Has it ever done this before? Did it just start recently?

As for what to do...my opinion is that if the tank is setup properly, stocked properly, fed properly, maintained properly, has "normal" water parameters, etc., etc. That is all you can do. I don't subscribe to treating a tank full of fish for one that is "sick". If you have a QT, you could move him there for further observation, try to identify what might be wrong with him, then treat that one fish. If this is not doable to you, then you should do nothing...at least for now.

J

[Fishy3]

Well I am sad to say that he couldn't survive the night. I checked all the parameters again this morning and nothing changed from the reading last night. I do not know what took him....

Jospeh: This was abnormal behavior, he was in my tank for a little over a month and then this started. No it did not do this before, my bf and I watch the tank at night like TV and neither one of the cories did this. It just started yesterday night about 7 or 8 PM and continued till after I went to bed, I checked the tank at 2 AM and he was still swimming around at the top of the tank and breathing.... when I put the net in the tank at about 2 AM he swam down to the gravel.

The tanks inhabitants are:

3 Cories (2 Spotted, 1 Panda) (I had 2 Panda, but this one died)
3 Cherry Barbs (Plan on trading these in)
3 Angels
2 Otos
2 Clown Loaches
1 Serpae Tetra (plan on getting a few more or trading this one in)
1 Rubberlip Pleco

We are looking into purchasing a bigger tank, if not by christmas definately when I recieve my income tax check, my BF wants a 125 Gallon Finally someone that loves fish as much as I do.

[Marn]

are you sure it wasnt ammonia burn .. did you happen to notice if he had red gills ??.. that just sounded like the behaviour of that ..
sorry for the loss ..
keep an eye on the other cories and chek there gills .. you will notice red around it ..
how often do you do your water changes ??.
i would do one now ..

Marn

[Fishy3]

I do water changes once a week... about 50% water change... I did one Friday and I plan on doing one in a little bit. His gills weren't red at all...

[Marn]

ok i guess that rules that out ..
i would have no idea why it was acting like that ..

Marn

[Fishy3]

See why I was concerned... I have no idea why he decided to just give up.... Nothing seemed wrong. At first I thought he was upside down eating on the tubiflex worms, but then he kept doing it after I removed them.

[pash]

Did you check to see whether his bagels were still intact before you disposed of him? I lost an albino a week of so and he was doing something similar to what you describe before he died. I discovered afterwards that he was missing a barbel. They can lose them on sharp objects in your tank or possibly aggression.