Help another cory without a tail

[scotchbonneteater]

Oh dear another of my Julii cory cats has died and has no tail just like the one ten days ago, and looks exactly the same as previous photo.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...d.php?t=109317

They were all OK last night and I moved everything around after the last incident which points to someone being naughty.

Any ideas as to who from my stocking list ?

[ddavis1979]

This may sound nuts, but I am suspecting a pleco. Plecos are typically very peaceful, but my clown pleco at home gets a bit aggressive if anything gets too close to its hiding place. They are also nocturnal, and your attacks seems to be happening overnight. Thats all I got.

Could it also be some kind of fin rot or bacterial rot?

[scotchbonneteater]

I cant see it being fin rot or bacterial as I watched them for an hour last night and they were all in good condition, seven hours later and bam, no tail and dead. Can fin rot happen that quick ?

[Stlouisfish]

DDavis I can't imagine the fish would look like that so quickly if it were fin rot? Those things don't start off looking that severe (at least from photos I've seen posted by others) - wow - but I do agree it's probably happening overnight - time for a fishcam or a sleepless night trying to catch the culprit.

[scotchbonneteater]

I think I'll have to move the 2 bulldogs out into the 70 and see if it still happens as they seem to be the most aggressive! They are a breeding pair and I don't really want to disturb them but also don't like picking out dead Corries

[scotchbonneteater]

Today I got to the bottom of the mystery. The male Bulldog Plec has been looking after his eggs in a pile of 6 large (4-5 inch) rounded stones, the cory's go in and the pleco protects the brood, but there is a small problem! The 2 stones at the back are close together and to small for the cory's to get through so they get stuck and the plec eats their tails. How do I know this ? You guessed it, found another chap stuck without a tail being feasted upon by the assassin snails, poor little guy was a bit of a mess. I have now carefully moved the rocks so that the cory's can't fit in unless they try the front door which is constantly guarded by dad. The eggs are now fry thats the third clutch but the fry wont live

[Stlouisfish]

Wow - at least you figured it out.

Looks like you didn't need to pull an all nighter to see what was going on and fixed the problem. May that be the last of the cory deaths and I hope some of your fry survive.