Dying cory...where to put him?

[themusician]

So, it turns out my cory is still hanging in there, if only barely (see my earlier post). I would be shocked if he made it through the night.

I recently bought all the stuff for a hospital tank but I haven't had the chance to set it up yet. I didn't realize I was going to need it so soon. The way I see it, I have three choices for what to do with him:

1. Put him back in the tank with the other fish. Pros: stable water with filter, heater, etc. Cons: other fish to stress him out, and if he has a disease I continue to expose him to the other fish.

2. Leave him in the bucket where he is. Pros: little water movement to stress him and the full benefit of the bubbler (there's extra CO2 in the tank). Cons: no filter, and more importantly, no heater.

3. Set up the hospital tank on the fly and put him in that. Pros: has filter and heater. Cons: I don't think I can take enough water out of my tank for the new tank, but the shock of putting him in new water might do him in. Also, it's not cycled.

I know I overthink things quite often, and I know I'm overthinking this, but I'm amazed this little guy is hanging on and I want to give him the best chance possible. What do you think?

[Lady Hobbs]

Put him in the spare tank. No need to transfer water and it contains no useful bacteria anyway.

And don't drive yourself crazy over this cory. I know you love him and all but you can get a healthy one for $2. :)

[KcEE]

Yeah, i agree with Lady Hobbs. Put him in the hosp tank. fresh clean water. Probably add some aquarium salt and see how things go from there...Hope he gets better...wonder whats wrong... : )

[themusician]

I don't know what's wrong either, but as of this morning, he's still alive! I'm really astounded because last night he just looked terrible.

Because it was so late last night when this all went on, I ended up deciding not to set up the hospital tank. I realized that I hadn't even gone so far as to check it for leaks yet and I didn't have a solid surface that could bear its weight without doing major rearranging. It would have been a major task to undertake at 11pm. Furthermore, he had gone from sitting perfectly still in the bucket (sometimes on his back) to swimming around and around the outside edge, so I decided to put him back in the main tank and hope for the best.

And he's still alive! I can't tell how healthy he is because the tank lights are still off and everyone is still sleepy, but I did see him move a little. I have to leave for work in 10 minutes, so if he's still alive and kicking when I get home, I'll get that hospital tank set up.

And yes, I know he was cheap. And yes, I know I can easily get another fish. And no, I will not be extremely sad if he dies, because he's just a fish. But as long as he's still alive, I want to do the best thing possible for him, because he is a living creature.

[msjinkzd]

When you set up your hospital tank, you can use part of your media from your established tank to seed the new filter. You could also hang some gravel from the established tank in a nylon in the flow of the filter discharge on the new tank to help jump start a bacteria colony.
as far as being replaceable, I agree with you, I always attempt to treat a sick fish to the best of my ability. Good luck, hope your cory makes it!