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I have an established S.A. tank. with alot of driftwood and javamoss. The tank inhabiants include some senstive fish: Blue Rams, Rummynoses, Cardinals, Otos and 3 Dwarf Plecos (Snowball, Albino, Candystripe) All live fine, but whenever I put a Cory in regardless of species it dies within a few weeks. All water parmeters are excellent as you can see I have some sensitive fish. The only thing I could think of is the temp (My tank is usually at 83F) or little pieces of driftwood are striped off by the plecos and end up on the gravel and plants. Possibly the corys are ingesting this and it's killing them. Any thought?

My Scapes

Mine have the same tendency to do this with harder water mine have only lived in water of about 6.o little more little less. The temp i keep mine in is quite a bit cooler than 83 and i sugjest you lower that temp anyway. Mine cories have thrived in about 74F and have been slugish in 82+F. You should try to adjust the temp and the ph of your tank and see if that gives you any results.

Fish1, I would lower my temp, but I'm afraid my other fish cards, Rams would suffer. The higher temp keeps ick and other things away. Have you ever had the problem with the driftwood pieces. At first I thought it was algae of some sort and fish waste, but it's little tiny pieces of malaysian driftwood.

My Scapes

tetratech, remember that disease only comes from when there is a problem. Basically, disease is ALWAYS there, what you have to worry about is stress in your fish, so keeping the temp that high only raise's the fish's metabolism and this could cause problems, however that is another topic.

If you are worried about ick and want to keep the temperature high, then pull your temp down to about 78. This is still good at keeping ick at bay (i have NEVER had ick in my tanks and that is where I aim my temp for).

Cories are cooler water temperature fish, just consider what it takes for them to BREED! Bringing the temp down to between lower 70s and higher 60s will usually get your cories to breed.

Another thing is that with higher temperatures means lower life expectancy so even though you might be protecting that ram from ick(which shouldn't even occur unless the water conditions are dismal) that ram will live a considerably abridged lifespan. Especially since Rams only live two years on average..............