Cat Fish, GBRs

[Seacrestbf]

Hello

 

I am having a tough time with cories? Can't keep the alive??? They are losing their Barbels?  Treated the tank with FURAN 2, did not help. Most of the other fish are doing great, Angels growing and breeding. Denision Barbs, Rainbows great. A little tough time with the GRBs, losing a few here and there, but they are breeding???   The parameters are good, water is a little soft? 

Thoughts? 

 

Thank you

 

[Guppysnail]

Are you feeding proteins and worms. They get very little correct nutrition from algae wafers not specifically made for them. Repashy does great. If they are not getting what they need they dig way to much trying to find it wearing at the barbles and gaining them infection and actually die from malnutrition. Any worms fresh or frozen baby brine microfauna of any type. I hope this helps. If you already do this I don’t know any other reasons this happens. I’m sorry for your situation 😥

[Seacrestbf]

Yes I am feeding Blood worm and Brine shrimp on occasion. Thank you

[Guppysnail]

I feed these often they seem to not sink into the gravel as much. All mine love them. By the way welcome to the forum 😁

[Colu]

The barbel damage could be caused by your substrate I would treat them with seachems kanaplex in food 

Edited August 9, 2021 by Colu

[Seacrestbf]

Thank you, any thoughts on why I Lose GBRS? 

[FishyJames]

On 8/8/2021 at 5:10 PM, Guppysnail said:

I feed these often they seem to not sink into the gravel as much. All mine love them. By the way welcome to the forum 😁

I feed these same sinking wafers.  Cory's love them.

[TankofFish]

substrate could be your issues, not sure what type you have but it looks like it has sharp edges

[Colu]

How long did you have them before they started dieing and Did you treat you GBR for parasites when you got them what  are your water parameters and what temp are you keeping them at

Edited August 9, 2021 by Colu

[Seacrestbf]

They usually last a 2-3 months or more, The PH is 76, the water is a little soft. The temp was 82 degrees, I was told that could be to hot, so I lower it to  79-80. No change. I have Lots of plants  The other fish are doing great. I did not treat for Parasites. They do not appear to be bloated, but the bellies are red? I brought one to the local fish store, (very knowledgeable. He did not have a answer for me? 

Thank you

[Colu]

Are you getting them all from the same place

[Seacrestbf]

No, I know they can be tough to keep, just can't figure out what I may be missing?

 

[Colu]

Are they eating ok before they die or  showing any symptoms or are you just finding them dead 

[JettsPapa]

On 8/9/2021 at 5:01 AM, Seacrestbf said:

They usually last a 2-3 months or more, The PH is 76, the water is a little soft. The temp was 82 degrees, I was told that could be to hot, so I lower it to  79-80. No change. I have Lots of plants  The other fish are doing great. I did not treat for Parasites. They do not appear to be bloated, but the bellies are red? I brought one to the local fish store, (very knowledgeable. He did not have a answer for me? 

Thank you

I haven't kept GBR's, but just about everything I've seen and read from people who have had long term success with them says the 82° is actually a little on the cool side, and 84° would be better.

I believe they also prefer lower pH.  My water is 8.2 pH and moderately hard, which is why I haven't tried them.

[Scott P.]

I think Dean says to keep GBR at about 84 degrees and a few degrees higher when spawning.

[HH Morant]

I like Colu's idea of dosing the food with antibiotics. It does look like an infection.

One cause could be a high bacteria count in the water column. Increasing the amount or efficiency of biological filtration may help. 

[HH Morant]

Rotting food/feces in the substrate could also be a source of the bacteria.

[Seacrestbf]

The tank is a 150 gallon with a Fx4 and a Fx6. It gets a 30% change every 5 days? I also have eco complete gravel, I do gravel vac just the top lightly to get the loose dead plant leaves and fresh poo. 

[laritheloud]

I don't think it's the substrate hurting your cories. I use eco-complete in my 29 gallon with corydoras, and I've never had that problem. I gravel vac a little bit where there aren't any plants. 84 degrees is just about right for German Blue Rams but a bit uncomfortably warm for cories.

Agree that it looks like an infection and a course of antibiotics is a good idea. I wish I had more advice than this. Do you have the numbers for your water parameters? I know you said it's good but numbers are helpful.