Self poisoning I haven't seen, but I have had similar issues from acclimation. I'm not sure why but getting them into my tanks and used to my water has always resulted in some issues. With regards to use of aquarium salt, I think one of the major points of emphasis is that whenever you add salt to make sure you add extra air. Corydoras in general enjoy aeration and flow. They also really need that if temps are on the warmer side to increase oxygenation. I have used the max level dose per the ACO blog many times on my corydoras to help with fin recovery and barbel erosion. The salt really did help them, but it isn't something to use long term. One treatment followed by a few days of soak (up to a week) followed by a lot of water changes and recovery time. With that method, they haven't died or had any issues with level 1 through 3 in terms of aquarium salt use. Best of luck!
My black skirt tetra ate a Cory fry, head first the tail was sticking out whole thing. I was like omg. I tried to remove the Cory but it’s head was lodged, I said oh god this is so bad for my big fish poison wise. Two days later the Cory did not make it, but the black skirt survived any poisoning that happened. So scary. That poor little Cory! She spat it out when I placed her back into the tank so it wasn’t stuck thank goodness but it taught a lesson to everyone don’t eat the BABIES. 😮 Idk if the little Cory just had too little poison vs her size, but I was worried for sure
Nope. I have bred and shipped hundreds with no unexplainable incidents. Personally I think your fish had bad reactions to the salt. Corydoras do not react well to salt.
This exact thing happened to me! I bought 8 panda corydoras, and it took a 40min drive to get them home. I had 3 deaths in the first week, and now they are fine. The person who took them out of the tank was not careful about taking them from tank to bag. I ended up getting 6 more from the same store a month later, and had 2 more deaths.
I just appreciate a vet like you in the hobby sharing “the bad” along with the good. Makes us all feel better when things go haywire and we’re left scratching our heads
I think it's too hard to diagnose what actually happened unless there is toxicology or an autopsy involved. There are way too many factors that could contribute to a sick new fish. Perhaps if there was the bubbling in the bag or tank during the quarantine process, then maybe it's self poisoning. Otherwise, when it comes to new fish I learned that the trio meds are not good for sensitive or fragile fish. I believe Cory mentioned an alternative by spreading out the meds and using one type per week and every other week let them rest/eat. That's what I've been doing. It's a longer process. But patience is required in this hobby, any ways. Also, no use of salt when using meds. It's a bit much. But so sorry for your loss. These fish go through a lot by the time they get into your home so it's hard to avoid fish loss some times.
I'm from Germany and every Cory you buy in our country comes with activated carbon in the bag. I'm actually very surprised that's not a standard procedure in your country because the carbon takes the poison and keeps the water in the bags clean. And about the salt, catfish in general are really sensitive to salt and in my experience it is just better to treat them with other medication.
Someone’s probably already said it and I think the last video you referenced mentions, but I always thought scale-less fish couldn’t take normal salt treatment. You have to dramatically reduce time and amount. The cory tumbling is actually a sign of that, so my belief is it was definitely the salt. Probably better doing a mild dip for cories instead of leaving it in the tank.
Haha, maybe I'm just one of the few people online who will admit it! I'd rather tell the world about it and hopefully spare you some pain in the future.
I stopped quarantining my corys. I bought multiple sterbai and panda corys. Sterbais are very expensive. In quarantine, I lost more than half of each. Because I didn’t have enough to school, I went back and bought more. Well same issue, they kept dying. So again, I bought more…. Kept dying. I decided to then just add them straight to my display tank. I lost maybe 1-2 total but not quarantining them saved them. I had 24 sterbai and 18 panda total in the beginning, and only 11 sterbai and 9 panda have survived… finally going strong after 5 months. So I personally never quarantine my corys anymore. I used very low dose salt. Never again.
I know this is an old thread, but I have always done the same with Cory's. This last batch of 6 peppered Cory's I put in poisoned a whole 55 gal. tank! Within 5 - 6 days killed everything in the tank. I love corys but no more for me. That was a REALLY expensive learning experience.
After hearing this, it sounds like maybe the medication was hurting them and the corner of the tank had the least medication settling there. They don't have scales so scaleless fish/ bottom feeders/ catfish - they are gonna be having a hard time getting used to it.
Your vedios are very helpful ma'am. You share your mistakes to make us to learn about it. I've never seen a person sharing their mistakes in this hobby. I am planning to get my first aquarium after my exam and your vedios are very helpful.
I know this is a thing; but I’m a little suspicious. Corys get shipped all the time (they got shipped to your LFS). Seems like if this were a common thing, corys would be dying right and left
Thank you for being transparent! I’ve had fish deaths that have been so discouraging trying to figure why. Is it something I’ve done or bad quality fish or it just happens sometimes? I wish more experts like you would talk about this topic more. I think it would encourage more of us & prevent some from getting out of the hobby. Thanks again Irene!!
I think the QT meds just are harder on some fish too. Cories can be sensitive at times 😭 Salt and cories is FINE but do SMALL DOSES and short stays. I prefer to do salt baths for them any sickness or lethargy I do just do a ten minute Cory style salt bath (less salt) and they perk up. ❤
That's why I don't medicate for the first few days in QT to observe any issues then respond to those. I think automatically adding meds could make things worse for some fish.
I talked about this in another comment, but false julii cory seem to just have a bad genetic batch from large stores recently. I have seen many people, including myself, who ALL had this exact issue. They just randomly die shortly after getting them, or they loose buoyancy and then die. It didn't mater if the only medication was lots of fresh water, or salt, or ich-x, or anti-parasite meds, or nothing. They all die in the same way. This happened to me, another commenter, Girl Talks FIsh, and 2 of my friends. Exact same thing.
@@jigokutsuushin this 100% i would rather qt them for an extra two weeks MED FREE then Medicare some fish esp labyrinth fish I notice really don’t like the meds. If they’re already weak yeah idk but a little salt and clean water tested all the time should be a okay 👌 I keep a 5 gal storage bin with a lid as my qt container haha.
Sorry to hear this. But thank you for spreading awareness and making yet another informative video. I am planning on ordering some Cory’s from AquaHuna sometime next month so I found this one extremely helpful!
@@maxxedtfout sorry to hear. I didn’t end up ordering them from there. I did some research on local fish stores in the major cities around me and ended up finding some very cool stores with very unique fish in stock. One of them had the sterbai Cory’s I wanted. It was a 40min drive from where I live, but definitely worth it. I now will only ever buy fish from locally owned pet stores because they treat their fish with meds and you can be as picky as you want. The store employees are all hobbyists and understand. They also are very informed and helpful. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest looking up locally owned pet stores in your area and visiting. It’s kind of like going to an aquarium and brings out the inner child in me lol
@@bulkingtoothpick5517 How awesome! I’ve learned my lesson. I am now down to 3 corys. My latest loss happened today and it has between just over two weeks since getting them. I don’t know what their process is but their fish don’t seem to be all that healthy. I had ordered some rice fish from them as well and they died off one by one. I normally go to a LFS but the selection has been small at the one closest to me and they are mostly saltwater. I’ve been slowly stocking my main display tank because I’ve had to source fish from elsewhere. I will say I have ordered from aquatic arts before too, that’s where my current rice fish are from, and their fish were in excellent health, I haven’t lost one. They also threw in some extras. I also got some rainbow fish from them some time ago, all have survived. The prices are actually almost comparable between the two but I think aquatic arts breeds many of their own where aquahuna may be just sourcing from wholesalers. Overall I think I would agree with you, the prices at the local stores are drastically lower and seem to have better quality fish. I will take your advice and make a point to visit some other LFS. 😊
This is the first time I have ever heard of Cory self poisoning. Very interesting. I did notice corys do not do well with quarantine meds especially salt. Scaleless fishes has issues with some of these med and salt.
Ive never heard of this. Sounds terrifying! I just bought 3 of these and they are adorable and don't care about other fish very much. They are pretty brave.
@@GirlTalksFish Agreed Cories are undoubtedly one of the most popular fish in the hobby, yet this isn’t something that ever really comes up as far as I’ve seen so it’s likely very rare
Thank you, Irene. I just added 6 Emerald corys and 3 have died. I live about an hour from the store, I think it’s self poisoning. The remaining 3 don’t look great but maybe they’ll be alright. I have had problems with corys, always losing a few and your explanation makes sense.
I’ve found that Corydoras are sensitive when first introduced, but once established they seem built proof. Get them past a month and they live for years. That’s just my experience though.
I had 3 Corydoras and one passed away in only having it for a few months and I’ve had the two now for a couple of years. I’m medicating the tank that they’ve both have lived in for a year or so. My one Cory always seems to get an injury lately, like a burn or blister on its back. I use pimafix and melafix and it seems to work. They both are always laying eggs at least once every 2 months but they do fine with each other. The one that’s seems to get injured was stuck in the castle for how long I didn’t know. Her friend was racing back and forth of the tank and then I realized she’s stuck. I put on my big gloves and poked her out. She was traumatized. She hid for a few days, ate a little bit and then I noticed she had torn her back fin and scraped her nose, I medicated immediately and she healed up with the same medication. Now she has this blister thing on her back again and I’m medicating once again now. I’ve never used salt on them, too scared to. I’ve heard they can puff up if in danger but I didn’t know they could release a toxin. Interesting. 😮
Nice to know! I noticed a pet co that had a bag of dead Corey cats …. People always talk turds about big stores but I bet this info is less known … but then what about the rule of acclimation…? Apparently Corey’s don’t really need acclimation as much as same temp water… to clean up poison… ?
I got 2 new panda Cory to add to school. When tried to transfer them they got stuck in the bag. I shook them off the bag and one went crazy, floated from tail up , then went upside down and breathing rapidly. I knew if I don’t calm it down the Cory it could have died. I turn off the light, added extra api stress conditioner and add a almond leaf over the breeder box. I have little bit of Carbon in my tank so that most likely rid of poison from the tank. After a while the Cory un flipped itself .
Maybe a little more shaded areas and hidies? Most of my fish tend to be less stressed, when it's not so bright and maybe beeing less stressed helps avoid problems or make them a bit less bad.
I feel like this happened to me recently, but then another time I did a QT treatment on my corydoras they all died too. I don't do a QT treatment on them anymore.
julii, false julii, pandas, they all hate salt. I try to get them from the store as soon as they arrive because they treat everthing with salt. It does something to their digestive tract.
hearting breaking. whoever decided to take these incredibly sensitive, smart aquatic individuals from the wild sucks. out of all the pets we decide to adopt, aquatics are among the most who suffer endlessly. if only the pet industry was run by people and co-ops like you. ❤
Oh no, I’m so sorry! I didn’t even know that self poisoning was a thing. I hope that gamer girl is OK! That’s a lot of tough stuff to learn right off the bat. Thank you so much for sharing it with us! You are always great at passing on your knowledge!
I think it's oodinium in the gills , if you can have a microscope you can see them. I'm breeding false Julie Cory's for a while now. From that behaviour I think they had oodinium in the store. You treated them after that two survive others died. New one that died has it to . It's my guess from my experience. As they are sensitive to salt they easily fall in to oodinium and trichodina
Wow, I did not know this and I love my pygmy Corys. I knew they had the spines but I didnt know they could poison themselves. Learn something new everyday. I'll definitely be more mindful of this in the future. Thanks for letting us know.
Very informative vid, especially about a topic that doesn’t come up too often, but one little detail got my attention… I spotted one or two new things swimming around your 20 gallon, and can’t wait to see the vid about them!
I just had this happen last night. The LFS put 19 corys in a single bag. When I got home and saw the foam in the bag, I put the corys directly in their tank and set up an aerator. I returned to the LFS today to tell them about it, and they stated they had never heard of this before and looked at me as if I was lying or didn't know what I was talking about. (I've kept fish for over 30 years and had this poison situation occur several years ago.)
Oh and use a CUP to catch your corydoras! Those fins get caught and it will hurt them and can infected and so on. Clear cup, slowly corner them and scoop. 💕
Well i wouldve loved to see The clip live, unfortunately i had to search for my granda who has been lost for over an hour in The city(had to search for her) . Fortunately everything its fine.
Why do you quarantine and treat the fish? Do you do this for all new fish even if they don’t show signs of illness? What are the trio of meds you use? I’ve had fish tanks before, like 20 yrs ago and all these new steps that we never did before are making me doubt myself.
This happened with my corys! I put 6 in an established tank and they were fine for a out 2 weeks when they started dying off one by one. It definitely wasn't starvation and it couldn't have been ammonia because the guppies in the tank were fine. I assume this is what happened
I mostly rely on observing the health of flora and fauna to gauge my water quality, but when you can't find the issue it's usually worth pulling out the old test kit.
i have found that when i did drip acclimation i lost two of the four false julli cories the first night but with the next two batches i bought i just floated bag for temp and dropped them in and had 100% survival so i think getting them out the bag as soon as possible is best for them.I also dont use any medications on them just very clean sand and frequent water change and they heal themselves of any fungal problems from injuries.
I managed a fish store for years, and currently breed corydoras catfish. I'm not saying self-poisoning couldn't happen, but I have received hundreds, maybe thousands, of bags of corys shipped from all over the world and I don't think I've ever seen it. Much more likely is a reaction to the meds.
Corydoras do not have scales and they are especially sensitive to contaminants or the presence of ammonium, nitrates and nitrites and also to products such as methylene blue among others.
I'm so glad I found this video!! We're upgrading some fish to a larger tank, and planning a community set up for the soon-to-be empty tank. Cories are the first fish on my list!! My LFS is about 25 minutes from my house, so I hope we don't run into this problem.
Bought 3 Cory catfish from Petco, 1 died immediately, 1 died in first day, and 1 died in the second day... I have to prevent Corydoras self-poisoning by completely dumping out all the original water, but then I also need to gradually acclimate them with tank water little by little. God, I just can't win no matter what :(
I have scoured the internet for information on this. I know that it is a speculative topic but people do need to be talking about proper care for these fish. I have been losing a lot of panda cories trying to get my tank stocked and I think it's because they are probably more poisonous than others and the responses I am seeing on forums nobody is talking abou tthis aspect of care for these animals and I think it is i a issue of animal rights to a certain extent. The betta keepers had to push real hard to get the public and chain stores educated that stacking these fish up in cups and selling tiny tanks is inhumane and I think it is a similar issue with the poisoning issues with corys. I think fish stores and fish keepers both need to become well aware of this issue because it is causing them to die and I just want to take a moment to thank you for taking your time to raise public awareness and help with getting the public educated on this matter because it matters a lot.
I had 3 Jullie corydoras with other corys like pigmy, peper, panda and Venezuelan. All of them were active and healthy. First death of Jullii couple of weeks ago and second today. Both of them exhibited a strange spinning swim behaviour before dying. I suspect Whirling disease or something going on with only this type of corys maybe
My fish store here in the uk,quarantine’s all their fish before putting them out for sale..I’ve bought six small panda Cory’s and six Emerald..had no problem whatsoever with them in my tank.. Sorry for your loss.
I had the exact same issue with the same false julii cory. Mine would either randomly die shortly after getting them, or randomly have swim bladder issues / loose buoyancy then die. This exact same thing happened to 5 of 8 of my false julii cory catfish. This did not happen to any of my other fish in quarantine or in my main tanks. I have heard of this exact same thing happen to other people with false julii cory catfish. I think their is a genetic problem with recent batches of false julii cory catfish and I would avoid them in the future.
@@toqorange548 Yea It really messed me up because I was treating them for everything I could and they all kept dying in the exact same way. But I am pretty sure after talking to lots of people that it is genetic and there isn't really anything you can do other than try and see who survives.
I have also had problems with losing corydoras during quarantine. I always use aquarium salt and keep the temp about 86°F during quarantine on my tropical fish to help fight off parasites. Emerald and albino corys fare well, but the smaller corys I've tried just don't. I agree they could be more sensitive to the salt
I got 5 panda Cory catfish and one betta fish. Fast forward to 4 days later, 4 of my Cory catfish died 😭and only one survived. Now I got a new one and they paired together and everything looks fine.
I thought my Betta fish had fin rot, so I cut every fin that was sick. I have other fish too but none of them get sick. it's been more than 3 weeks but it doesn't feel like his fin has grown. what have I done wrong?
I never herd of that I had a corydouras as well and I got him from a fish shop and he wasn’t active so he died. You might have gotten a sick one or he was genetically a bad one it’s normal for some fishes to die not all are going to make it due to genetic
I have two cory species, Sterbai and Julii, and they have the barbs on their fins as well. They are cute, but they pack a sting. Of the nine corydoras I've bought for my tank so far, four of them have died. I attribute the losses to bacterial disease, not self poisoning. My most recent death was yesterday, in a Julii I had been keeping in the "hospital" tank for what I think was gill disease. Corys may be a "hardy" fish, but I've found them to be more difficult to keep than others.
Thank you for teaching me another thing i didn't know about these cuties. I've watched oodles of vids on corys b4 buying mine & I've been enjoying learning the in person experience with my school of 8. * bonus they nestled right into their post quarantine tank, making me really glad to have it set up more like my other tanks, while my hospital tank is fairly basic. I didn't know the excretions they release could be life threatening if left bagged too long. Your experience to have dinner has me a little concerned about ordering multiple online vs attending a swap where if need be for them i could set up a little travel system in a cooler or something to give more water and more space? Probably overthinking- intrested on your thoughts or anyone who may read this. Also wondering if an online shop would be willing to bag an order of say 6 into 2 bags vs all in one, and would that help? Obviously I'd ask the owner as well and make sure to read their policies.
Are there any other fish that can suffer from self poisoning? There's bound to be more than just corys with poisonous spines or that pollute water when stressed.
Ugh, I lost a reticulated one in a similar way -- made me very sad. The fish store employee accidentally hit a barb when capturing him in the store -- luckily the other two survived
I recently experienced a big die off in a 40gal I’ve been trying to set up right since February. Six julli corydoras, one white cloud minnow, one hillstream loach, and a guppy fry all died, due to what I assumed was an ammonia spike after a cloudy bacteria bloom. My conclusion was that I jumped the gun adding fish, assuming the tank was properly cycled. However, when I tested for ammonia it didn’t seem THAT high. All this time, I’ve been assuming that my test strips were old enough to not be reliable. Now I’m wondering if I over stressed the corydoras and they made a less lethal ammonia spike worse? The Corydoras died first, and exactly like yours. In the end the only survivors were one Juli and the big emerald that I had bought because he was the only one at the fish store, and looked really lonely. The only non-Cory survivors were the two kuhli loaches I already had and one Otto catfish that never experienced any “ammonia” burns, unlike every other fish… After the big die off, I’ve been adding fish very slowly, buying stragglers when the local shop has low stock, and I haven’t had any more issues.
Hi, I once "poisoned" my own corydoras by not knowing to dechlorinate my tap water. Corys were really sensitive to it, gills burned and they eventually died. And making more water changes didn't help. The pleco of course, didn't seem to be troubled by it.
I am very interested! My daughter and I have 2 x20 g fresh water community tanks…. Long story short , we are successful with tetras, guppies, gouramis, Molly, beta ….. but ours corydoras are dying within 0-2-4 month ….watched the video! Very possible ….. we are giving another try we have panda corys -🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
I like to do tons of research on whatever fish I'm going to buy. weeks of watching videos and reading everything I can find about the particular fish. every once in a while I will lose a fish I just purchased , but it is always some preexisting condition the fish had and not me experimenting on live animals with a lack of knowledge.
My fishstore always makes sure all corydoras have some active carbon sticks in the bag with them to prevent problems in shipping. You could always being some yourself and ask the employee to add some to the bag just to be sure?
If it was self poison, they would have been effected a lot sooner than a couple days into the treatment. I’ve had cories literally gasping for air in the bag from a 10 minute drive from the store. That I know was self poison.
I am keeping corys for almost 6 years now and i noticed they are really sensitive to salt. When i do buy new corys it's my practice not to put meds in QT unless there are signs of disease. I quarantine fish for atleast 4 weeks though.
corydoras are a catfish. if you look up salt sensativies with fish, catfish are on the top of the list, remember they come from extremely soft water, as low as ph 5.5. I did not know about self posioning though that is interesting to read. I often buy my corys as super little babies and let them grow, maybe their poison isnt developed yet
I wonder if the fact that you were dealing with false julii didn't have have something to do with it too. I've had the hardest time with them, while my pandas and pigmys do thrive. Maybe they just don't travel well, or are more sensitive than other species?
Recently I bought 8 Pygmy Corydoras and a dozen Ember Tetras. I had a 45 min drive from the fish store to my home and then I floated the two bags in my aquarium for about 20 mins. When I went to open the Pygmy bag I noticed that it wasn’t as tightly inflated as fish bags usually are and one of the cories had gotten stuck in a bottom fold of the bag and was dead. I released the rest of the cories and one by one they died over the course of 2 days. Maybe poison? I honestly don’t know. I thought maybe because they were in the bag too long orvthey just didn’t acclimate well. All parameters in the tank were good and the Tetras are doing great. Anyway, it’s sad.
Lost 6 of 8 not long after buying. Julii too. Like last week. All other fish ok and tank water is good! This is good timing and good information thank you!
*Have you ever seen corydoras self-poisoning before? Were you able to help your corys recover?*
Self poisoning I haven't seen, but I have had similar issues from acclimation. I'm not sure why but getting them into my tanks and used to my water has always resulted in some issues.
With regards to use of aquarium salt, I think one of the major points of emphasis is that whenever you add salt to make sure you add extra air. Corydoras in general enjoy aeration and flow. They also really need that if temps are on the warmer side to increase oxygenation. I have used the max level dose per the ACO blog many times on my corydoras to help with fin recovery and barbel erosion. The salt really did help them, but it isn't something to use long term. One treatment followed by a few days of soak (up to a week) followed by a lot of water changes and recovery time. With that method, they haven't died or had any issues with level 1 through 3 in terms of aquarium salt use.
Best of luck!
My black skirt tetra ate a Cory fry, head first the tail was sticking out whole thing. I was like omg. I tried to remove the Cory but it’s head was lodged, I said oh god this is so bad for my big fish poison wise.
Two days later the Cory did not make it, but the black skirt survived any poisoning that happened. So scary. That poor little Cory! She spat it out when I placed her back into the tank so it wasn’t stuck thank goodness but it taught a lesson to everyone don’t eat the BABIES. 😮
Idk if the little Cory just had too little poison vs her size, but I was worried for sure
Nope. I have bred and shipped hundreds with no unexplainable incidents. Personally I think your fish had bad reactions to the salt. Corydoras do not react well to salt.
This exact thing happened to me! I bought 8 panda corydoras, and it took a 40min drive to get them home. I had 3 deaths in the first week, and now they are fine. The person who took them out of the tank was not careful about taking them from tank to bag. I ended up getting 6 more from the same store a month later, and had 2 more deaths.
I knew some cat fish had that spinny thing, but I didn't know they could poison themself O.o
I just appreciate a vet like you in the hobby sharing “the bad” along with the good. Makes us all feel better when things go haywire and we’re left scratching our heads
I think it's too hard to diagnose what actually happened unless there is toxicology or an autopsy involved. There are way too many factors that could contribute to a sick new fish. Perhaps if there was the bubbling in the bag or tank during the quarantine process, then maybe it's self poisoning. Otherwise, when it comes to new fish I learned that the trio meds are not good for sensitive or fragile fish. I believe Cory mentioned an alternative by spreading out the meds and using one type per week and every other week let them rest/eat. That's what I've been doing. It's a longer process. But patience is required in this hobby, any ways. Also, no use of salt when using meds. It's a bit much. But so sorry for your loss. These fish go through a lot by the time they get into your home so it's hard to avoid fish loss some times.
I'm from Germany and every Cory you buy in our country comes with activated carbon in the bag. I'm actually very surprised that's not a standard procedure in your country because the carbon takes the poison and keeps the water in the bags clean.
And about the salt, catfish in general are really sensitive to salt and in my experience it is just better to treat them with other medication.
Someone’s probably already said it and I think the last video you referenced mentions, but I always thought scale-less fish couldn’t take normal salt treatment. You have to dramatically reduce time and amount. The cory tumbling is actually a sign of that, so my belief is it was definitely the salt. Probably better doing a mild dip for cories instead of leaving it in the tank.
why do all the bad things in this hobby always happen to you?
Haha, maybe I'm just one of the few people online who will admit it! I'd rather tell the world about it and hopefully spare you some pain in the future.
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It does feel like she has much worse luck than usual. Really sucks because she’s doing everything possible to keep these little guys going.
They happen to all of us who've been in this hobby long enough. She's just brave enough to share.
I've been keeping fish for 35 yrs and I never added all that blue stuff ?!
I stopped quarantining my corys. I bought multiple sterbai and panda corys. Sterbais are very expensive. In quarantine, I lost more than half of each. Because I didn’t have enough to school, I went back and bought more. Well same issue, they kept dying. So again, I bought more…. Kept dying. I decided to then just add them straight to my display tank. I lost maybe 1-2 total but not quarantining them saved them. I had 24 sterbai and 18 panda total in the beginning, and only 11 sterbai and 9 panda have survived… finally going strong after 5 months. So I personally never quarantine my corys anymore. I used very low dose salt. Never again.
I know this is an old thread, but I have always done the same with Cory's. This last batch of 6 peppered Cory's I put in poisoned a whole 55 gal. tank! Within 5 - 6 days killed everything in the tank.
I love corys but no more for me. That was a REALLY expensive learning experience.
After hearing this, it sounds like maybe the medication was hurting them and the corner of the tank had the least medication settling there. They don't have scales so scaleless fish/ bottom feeders/ catfish - they are gonna be having a hard time getting used to it.
I believe it's the chemicals you were putting in the quarantine tank. They are very sensitive to chemicals.
Yeah, she basically killed them.
It’s almost like medicating fish that aren’t sick isn’t a great idea…
Don't be so cruel to her it's her first time keeping these fish, everyone makes mistakes
Right, catfish are scaleless. Makes them more susceptible to the chemicals in the water.
Your vedios are very helpful ma'am. You share your mistakes to make us to learn about it. I've never seen a person sharing their mistakes in this hobby. I am planning to get my first aquarium after my exam and your vedios are very helpful.
I know this is a thing; but I’m a little suspicious. Corys get shipped all the time (they got shipped to your LFS). Seems like if this were a common thing, corys would be dying right and left
Thank you for being transparent! I’ve had fish deaths that have been so discouraging trying to figure why. Is it something I’ve done or bad quality fish or it just happens sometimes? I wish more experts like you would talk about this topic more. I think it would encourage more of us & prevent some from getting out of the hobby. Thanks again Irene!!
I think the QT meds just are harder on some fish too. Cories can be sensitive at times 😭
Salt and cories is FINE but do SMALL DOSES and short stays. I prefer to do salt baths for them any sickness or lethargy I do just do a ten minute Cory style salt bath (less salt) and they perk up. ❤
That's why I don't medicate for the first few days in QT to observe any issues then respond to those. I think automatically adding meds could make things worse for some fish.
I talked about this in another comment, but false julii cory seem to just have a bad genetic batch from large stores recently. I have seen many people, including myself, who ALL had this exact issue.
They just randomly die shortly after getting them, or they loose buoyancy and then die. It didn't mater if the only medication was lots of fresh water, or salt, or ich-x, or anti-parasite meds, or nothing. They all die in the same way. This happened to me, another commenter, Girl Talks FIsh, and 2 of my friends. Exact same thing.
The meds seem to be too much
@@jigokutsuushin this 100% i would rather qt them for an extra two weeks MED FREE then Medicare some fish esp labyrinth fish I notice really don’t like the meds.
If they’re already weak yeah idk but a little salt and clean water tested all the time should be a okay 👌
I keep a 5 gal storage bin with a lid as my qt container haha.
Really unnecessary to use QT meds for Cory’s. She basically killed them.
Basically you could have picked them up another day & taken them home straight away! Plus the shop should have put less in the bag!! Incompetents!!
Sorry to hear about your bad luck. I’ve found my corys to be very sensitive to salt. So I use other meds to treat them when necessary.
Sorry to hear this. But thank you for spreading awareness and making yet another informative video. I am planning on ordering some Cory’s from AquaHuna sometime next month so I found this one extremely helpful!
How did it go 👀 I lost 6/18. And my juliis looked a bit deformed 🤨
@@maxxedtfout sorry to hear. I didn’t end up ordering them from there. I did some research on local fish stores in the major cities around me and ended up finding some very cool stores with very unique fish in stock. One of them had the sterbai Cory’s I wanted. It was a 40min drive from where I live, but definitely worth it. I now will only ever buy fish from locally owned pet stores because they treat their fish with meds and you can be as picky as you want. The store employees are all hobbyists and understand. They also are very informed and helpful. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest looking up locally owned pet stores in your area and visiting. It’s kind of like going to an aquarium and brings out the inner child in me lol
@@bulkingtoothpick5517 How awesome! I’ve learned my lesson. I am now down to 3 corys. My latest loss happened today and it has between just over two weeks since getting them. I don’t know what their process is but their fish don’t seem to be all that healthy. I had ordered some rice fish from them as well and they died off one by one. I normally go to a LFS but the selection has been small at the one closest to me and they are mostly saltwater. I’ve been slowly stocking my main display tank because I’ve had to source fish from elsewhere. I will say I have ordered from aquatic arts before too, that’s where my current rice fish are from, and their fish were in excellent health, I haven’t lost one. They also threw in some extras. I also got some rainbow fish from them some time ago, all have survived. The prices are actually almost comparable between the two but I think aquatic arts breeds many of their own where aquahuna may be just sourcing from wholesalers. Overall I think I would agree with you, the prices at the local stores are drastically lower and seem to have better quality fish. I will take your advice and make a point to visit some other LFS. 😊
This is the first time I have ever heard of Cory self poisoning. Very interesting. I did notice corys do not do well with quarantine meds especially salt. Scaleless fishes has issues with some of these med and salt.
Ive never heard of this. Sounds terrifying! I just bought 3 of these and they are adorable and don't care about other fish very much. They are pretty brave.
Uhh, well, cories at catfish and they have venomous spines, soo yeah, they always carry that risk
I wouldn't worry too much about it. Corydoras are pretty hardy in general, so I don't think most people ever experience this.
@@GirlTalksFish Agreed
Cories are undoubtedly one of the most popular fish in the hobby, yet this isn’t something that ever really comes up as far as I’ve seen so it’s likely very rare
Why did you not take them directly home?
Because she wanted dinner 😢
Thank you, Irene. I just added 6 Emerald corys and 3 have died. I live about an hour from the store, I think it’s self poisoning. The remaining 3 don’t look great but maybe they’ll be alright. I have had problems with corys, always losing a few and your explanation makes sense.
I’ve found that Corydoras are sensitive when first introduced, but once established they seem built proof. Get them past a month and they live for years.
That’s just my experience though.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I’ve had major issues with Julii corys, I always have a few losses. Bronze, Sterbai, pandas, no issues. I wonder if they are just more temperamental.
I had 3 Corydoras and one passed away in only having it for a few months and I’ve had the two now for a couple of years. I’m medicating the tank that they’ve both have lived in for a year or so. My one Cory always seems to get an injury lately, like a burn or blister on its back. I use pimafix and melafix and it seems to work. They both are always laying eggs at least once every 2 months but they do fine with each other. The one that’s seems to get injured was stuck in the castle for how long I didn’t know. Her friend was racing back and forth of the tank and then I realized she’s stuck. I put on my big gloves and poked her out. She was traumatized. She hid for a few days, ate a little bit and then I noticed she had torn her back fin and scraped her nose, I medicated immediately and she healed up with the same medication. Now she has this blister thing on her back again and I’m medicating once again now. I’ve never used salt on them, too scared to. I’ve heard they can puff up if in danger but I didn’t know they could release a toxin. Interesting. 😮
Had never heard of this before. Interesting. Very sad but interesting. Hope your daughter wasn’t too upset.❤
You shouldn't use salt with scale less fish like corydoras. But you can use epsom salt that isn't actually salt, but can treat fungus
Another great, informative video from Girl Talks Fish. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much! 😊
Corydoras needs fine sand, it's vital to their health
Sorry that happened. Thank you for sharing what you learned.
Thanks great information
Nice to know! I noticed a pet co that had a bag of dead Corey cats …. People always talk turds about big stores but I bet this info is less known … but then what about the rule of acclimation…? Apparently Corey’s don’t really need acclimation as much as same temp water… to clean up poison… ?
I got 2 new panda Cory to add to school. When tried to transfer them they got stuck in the bag. I shook them off the bag and one went crazy, floated from tail up , then went upside down and breathing rapidly. I knew if I don’t calm it down the Cory it could have died. I turn off the light, added extra api stress conditioner and add a almond leaf over the breeder box. I have little bit of Carbon in my tank so that most likely rid of poison from the tank. After a while the Cory un flipped itself .
I really appreciate you sharing the bad and good. You are amazing!
I didn’t know that corydoras have spines or that this can happen. Learn something new everyday.
Maybe a little more shaded areas and hidies?
Most of my fish tend to be less stressed, when it's not so bright and maybe beeing less stressed helps avoid problems or make them a bit less bad.
I feel like this happened to me recently, but then another time I did a QT treatment on my corydoras they all died too. I don't do a QT treatment on them anymore.
the real lesson is only grab fish if bringing them straight home. :D
julii, false julii, pandas, they all hate salt. I try to get them from the store as soon as they arrive because they treat everthing with salt. It does something to their digestive tract.
hearting breaking. whoever decided to take these incredibly sensitive, smart aquatic individuals from the wild sucks. out of all the pets we decide to adopt, aquatics are among the most who suffer endlessly. if only the pet industry was run by people and co-ops like you. ❤
I would suggest just observing during quarantine instead of dosing medication right away.
Oh no, I’m so sorry! I didn’t even know that self poisoning was a thing. I hope that gamer girl is OK! That’s a lot of tough stuff to learn right off the bat. Thank you so much for sharing it with us! You are always great at passing on your knowledge!
I think it's oodinium in the gills , if you can have a microscope you can see them. I'm breeding false Julie Cory's for a while now. From that behaviour I think they had oodinium in the store. You treated them after that two survive others died. New one that died has it to . It's my guess from my experience. As they are sensitive to salt they easily fall in to oodinium and trichodina
Active Carbon packs
Interesting.... Thanks
Sounds like they were in the bag too long. Maybe also the stress from the meds
thank you for the video! and answering all of my questions!!
Wow, I did not know this and I love my pygmy Corys. I knew they had the spines but I didnt know they could poison themselves. Learn something new everyday. I'll definitely be more mindful of this in the future. Thanks for letting us know.
This is my favorite video you've ever done. I learned SO much!
i think the bigger trilineatus you are talking about might be a different type like leopardus
This is why I don’t get cories anymore 😕
Very informative vid, especially about a topic that doesn’t come up too often, but one little detail got my attention…
I spotted one or two new things swimming around your 20 gallon, and can’t wait to see the vid about them!
fr i thought i missed a video or something
yess i was looking for someone else who noticed
I was honestly hoping it'd get brought up at the end as the topic of the next video
Wow, so informative yet unfortunate.
An interesting niche as the upbeat bittersweet bearer of sad weird news.
I have read that Corydoras are scaleless fish, and they have a bad time with medications and salt. One has to be very careful with the dosage.
I just had this happen last night. The LFS put 19 corys in a single bag. When I got home and saw the foam in the bag, I put the corys directly in their tank and set up an aerator. I returned to the LFS today to tell them about it, and they stated they had never heard of this before and looked at me as if I was lying or didn't know what I was talking about. (I've kept fish for over 30 years and had this poison situation occur several years ago.)
Oh and use a CUP to catch your corydoras! Those fins get caught and it will hurt them and can infected and so on.
Clear cup, slowly corner them and scoop. 💕
No better way to learn than with actual experience. Thanks for sharing!
Well i wouldve loved to see The clip live, unfortunately i had to search for my granda who has been lost for over an hour in The city(had to search for her) . Fortunately everything its fine.
Why do you quarantine and treat the fish? Do you do this for all new fish even if they don’t show signs of illness? What are the trio of meds you use? I’ve had fish tanks before, like 20 yrs ago and all these new steps that we never did before are making me doubt myself.
This happened with my corys! I put 6 in an established tank and they were fine for a out 2 weeks when they started dying off one by one. It definitely wasn't starvation and it couldn't have been ammonia because the guppies in the tank were fine. I assume this is what happened
I mostly rely on observing the health of flora and fauna to gauge my water quality, but when you can't find the issue it's usually worth pulling out the old test kit.
i have found that when i did drip acclimation i lost two of the four false julli cories the first night but with the next two batches i bought i just floated bag for temp and dropped them in and had 100% survival so i think getting them out the bag as soon as possible is best for them.I also dont use any medications on them just very clean sand and frequent water change and they heal themselves of any fungal problems from injuries.
I managed a fish store for years, and currently breed corydoras catfish. I'm not saying self-poisoning couldn't happen, but I have received hundreds, maybe thousands, of bags of corys shipped from all over the world and I don't think I've ever seen it. Much more likely is a reaction to the meds.
They are so heckkkkin adorable!
Corydoras do not have scales and they are especially sensitive to contaminants or the presence of ammonium, nitrates and nitrites and also to products such as methylene blue among others.
I'm so glad I found this video!! We're upgrading some fish to a larger tank, and planning a community set up for the soon-to-be empty tank. Cories are the first fish on my list!! My LFS is about 25 minutes from my house, so I hope we don't run into this problem.
You use so many chemicals & the salt mixed in will change the chemical compound! Maybe treat for obvious problems not just treat as standard.
Bought 3 Cory catfish from Petco, 1 died immediately, 1 died in first day, and 1 died in the second day... I have to prevent Corydoras self-poisoning by completely dumping out all the original water, but then I also need to gradually acclimate them with tank water little by little. God, I just can't win no matter what :(
I have scoured the internet for information on this. I know that it is a speculative topic but people do need to be talking about proper care for these fish. I have been losing a lot of panda cories trying to get my tank stocked and I think it's because they are probably more poisonous than others and the responses I am seeing on forums nobody is talking abou tthis aspect of care for these animals and I think it is i a issue of animal rights to a certain extent. The betta keepers had to push real hard to get the public and chain stores educated that stacking these fish up in cups and selling tiny tanks is inhumane and I think it is a similar issue with the poisoning issues with corys. I think fish stores and fish keepers both need to become well aware of this issue because it is causing them to die and I just want to take a moment to thank you for taking your time to raise public awareness and help with getting the public educated on this matter because it matters a lot.
I had 3 Jullie corydoras with other corys like pigmy, peper, panda and Venezuelan. All of them were active and healthy. First death of Jullii couple of weeks ago and second today. Both of them exhibited a strange spinning swim behaviour before dying. I suspect Whirling disease or something going on with only this type of corys maybe
My fish store here in the uk,quarantine’s all their fish before putting them out for sale..I’ve bought six small panda Cory’s and six Emerald..had no problem whatsoever with them in my tank.. Sorry for your loss.
I had the exact same issue with the same false julii cory. Mine would either randomly die shortly after getting them, or randomly have swim bladder issues / loose buoyancy then die. This exact same thing happened to 5 of 8 of my false julii cory catfish. This did not happen to any of my other fish in quarantine or in my main tanks. I have heard of this exact same thing happen to other people with false julii cory catfish. I think their is a genetic problem with recent batches of false julii cory catfish and I would avoid them in the future.
I'm going through the exact same thing reading through this comment. Got 6 down to 3 now. Water is fine but they just start dying one by one
@@toqorange548 Yea It really messed me up because I was treating them for everything I could and they all kept dying in the exact same way. But I am pretty sure after talking to lots of people that it is genetic and there isn't really anything you can do other than try and see who survives.
I have also had problems with losing corydoras during quarantine. I always use aquarium salt and keep the temp about 86°F during quarantine on my tropical fish to help fight off parasites. Emerald and albino corys fare well, but the smaller corys I've tried just don't. I agree they could be more sensitive to the salt
Salt is really bad for corys
I got 5 panda Cory catfish and one betta fish. Fast forward to 4 days later, 4 of my Cory catfish died 😭and only one survived. Now I got a new one and they paired together and everything looks fine.
Thanks for the information
I thought my Betta fish had fin rot, so I cut every fin that was sick. I have other fish too but none of them get sick. it's been more than 3 weeks but it doesn't feel like his fin has grown. what have I done wrong?
Just to point out, wouldnt this be considered venomous? Usually poison is something you ingest, venom is something inject or bitten into you.
If your just buying corys yourself and the travel is long so why not buy activated carbon from the same store and add it in the bag with them.
I never herd of that I had a corydouras as well and I got him from a fish shop and he wasn’t active so he died. You might have gotten a sick one or he was genetically a bad one it’s normal for some fishes to die not all are going to make it due to genetic
Same thing happened to 8 pygmy Corydoras I ordered online, Now I know.
Do you have a source for corydoras self poisoning?
Do all corydoras (like albino and pygmy corys) have poisoning feature or is it just the false julli corys?
I have two cory species, Sterbai and Julii, and they have the barbs on their fins as well. They are cute, but they pack a sting.
Of the nine corydoras I've bought for my tank so far, four of them have died. I attribute the losses to bacterial disease, not self poisoning. My most recent death was yesterday, in a Julii I had been keeping in the "hospital" tank for what I think was gill disease. Corys may be a "hardy" fish, but I've found them to be more difficult to keep than others.
kinda unrelated but is that a new betta in the background i see !!!! 🤭
Why do fish all of a sudden seem like harder pets than the most😅
Thank you for teaching me another thing i didn't know about these cuties. I've watched oodles of vids on corys b4 buying mine & I've been enjoying learning the in person experience with my school of 8. * bonus they nestled right into their post quarantine tank, making me really glad to have it set up more like my other tanks, while my hospital tank is fairly basic.
I didn't know the excretions they release could be life threatening if left bagged too long.
Your experience to have dinner has me a little concerned about ordering multiple online vs attending a swap where if need be for them i could set up a little travel system in a cooler or something to give more water and more space? Probably overthinking- intrested on your thoughts or anyone who may read this.
Also wondering if an online shop would be willing to bag an order of say 6 into 2 bags vs all in one, and would that help? Obviously I'd ask the owner as well and make sure to read their policies.
Very unfortunate events, I'm sure you all were very discouraged .I am glad you did get the result you were hoping for :).
Ive noticed youve got a new betta id love to know about it😁
How do you remove the salt from the water?
Are there any other fish that can suffer from self poisoning? There's bound to be more than just corys with poisonous spines or that pollute water when stressed.
Ugh, I lost a reticulated one in a similar way -- made me very sad. The fish store employee accidentally hit a barb when capturing him in the store -- luckily the other two survived
I recently experienced a big die off in a 40gal I’ve been trying to set up right since February. Six julli corydoras, one white cloud minnow, one hillstream loach, and a guppy fry all died, due to what I assumed was an ammonia spike after a cloudy bacteria bloom.
My conclusion was that I jumped the gun adding fish, assuming the tank was properly cycled. However, when I tested for ammonia it didn’t seem THAT high. All this time, I’ve been assuming that my test strips were old enough to not be reliable.
Now I’m wondering if I over stressed the corydoras and they made a less lethal ammonia spike worse? The Corydoras died first, and exactly like yours. In the end the only survivors were one Juli and the big emerald that I had bought because he was the only one at the fish store, and looked really lonely. The only non-Cory survivors were the two kuhli loaches I already had and one Otto catfish that never experienced any “ammonia” burns, unlike every other fish…
After the big die off, I’ve been adding fish very slowly, buying stragglers when the local shop has low stock, and I haven’t had any more issues.
Hi, I once "poisoned" my own corydoras by not knowing to dechlorinate my tap water. Corys were really sensitive to it, gills burned and they eventually died. And making more water changes didn't help. The pleco of course, didn't seem to be troubled by it.
I am very interested! My daughter and I have 2 x20 g fresh water community tanks…. Long story short , we are successful with tetras, guppies, gouramis, Molly, beta ….. but ours corydoras are dying within 0-2-4 month
….watched the video! Very possible ….. we are giving another try we have panda corys -🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
It could explain what has happened every time I purchase corys. I always lose a few. Its so depressing, they are such a great fish!
I like to do tons of research on whatever fish I'm going to buy. weeks of watching videos and reading everything I can find about the particular fish.
every once in a while I will lose a fish I just purchased , but it is always some preexisting condition the fish had and not me experimenting on live animals with a lack of knowledge.
My fishstore always makes sure all corydoras have some active carbon sticks in the bag with them to prevent problems in shipping. You could always being some yourself and ask the employee to add some to the bag just to be sure?
If it was self poison, they would have been effected a lot sooner than a couple days into the treatment. I’ve had cories literally gasping for air in the bag from a 10 minute drive from the store. That I know was self poison.
I am keeping corys for almost 6 years now and i noticed they are really sensitive to salt. When i do buy new corys it's my practice not to put meds in QT unless there are signs of disease. I quarantine fish for atleast 4 weeks though.
corydoras are a catfish. if you look up salt sensativies with fish, catfish are on the top of the list, remember they come from extremely soft water, as low as ph 5.5. I did not know about self posioning though that is interesting to read. I often buy my corys as super little babies and let them grow, maybe their poison isnt developed yet
Nice tank. What a wild ride. Yikes
I wonder if the fact that you were dealing with false julii didn't have have something to do with it too. I've had the hardest time with them, while my pandas and pigmys do thrive. Maybe they just don't travel well, or are more sensitive than other species?
Recently I bought 8 Pygmy Corydoras and a dozen Ember Tetras. I had a 45 min drive from the fish store to my home and then I floated the two bags in my aquarium for about 20 mins. When I went to open the Pygmy bag I noticed that it wasn’t as tightly inflated as fish bags usually are and one of the cories had gotten stuck in a bottom fold of the bag and was dead. I released the rest of the cories and one by one they died over the course of 2 days. Maybe poison? I honestly don’t know. I thought maybe because they were in the bag too long orvthey just didn’t acclimate well. All parameters in the tank were good and the Tetras are doing great. Anyway, it’s sad.
Lost 6 of 8 not long after buying. Julii too. Like last week. All other fish ok and tank water is good!
This is good timing and good information thank you!