Corys Bleeding!?!

**Gemini** · 04-02-2009, 03:12 AM

Ok well I think there is something amiss with my corys. At different times they all get a spot like in the pic. It heals within a week - but I don't know what causes it! I thought maybe they get stuck somewhere - but I can't think where. And not all of them. The inhabitants are:
9 paleatus corys from 2 yrs to 3 mths old
1 RTS
1 Betta
1 BN
The tank:
29G
Weekly water changes of at least 50%
0,0, <5 (only once actually seen a nitrate result on a test and that was when there was a breeding net holding ***).
The tank is moderately planted with about 8 java ferns, a echnidorus something, and some swords. The substrate is sand. There is some driftwood and a coconut cave.
The only thing I can think of is do they stab each other?
I never see fighting - the RTS chases the BN but thats it.
The guy in the pic is the latest one with a mark - his top fin got torn during a brief stint inside a pot I took out of the tank. He thought he'd hang out in the pot - needless to say when the water was gone he flipped out. So yeah.
Oh and the corys don't seem unhappy as the little buggers are always breeding. A week doesn't go by without at least one pair doing their thang and leaving eggs around the place.

**cocoa_pleco** · 04-02-2009, 03:24 AM

looks like septicemia, hard to treat disease and almost always fatal

**Gemini** · 04-02-2009, 03:33 AM

It comes and goes though. Like one will get a spot and a couple of days later is fine. Has been happening for months - this is the first time I could get a pic of it.

**cocoa_pleco** · 04-02-2009, 03:57 AM

hmmmm, anything sharp that he could be getting cut on?

**Gemini** · 04-02-2009, 04:09 AM

Driftwood, lava rocks, internal canister filter, and a heater. I can't imagine any of it being sharp enough. I've run my hands over everything and can't get a scratch.
I do have a piece of fishing line holding a ball of moss - do you think if they got wrapped in that it would look like that?
I must admit cocoa you have me worried - I googled septicemia and it looks like identical!! I'm using liquid test kits but I'm going to take a jar of water to the good LFS tonight and see if they get any ammonia readings or anything.

**cocoa_pleco** · 04-02-2009, 04:10 AM

doubt the fishing line could do it, not sharp enough

**Gemini** · 04-02-2009, 04:17 AM

Yeah I didn't think the fishing line was that hard.
I just don't understand it. Surely they wouldn't keep spiking each other. I can't even think where they would get stuck. There is no tight spots that I know of.