u/According-Pin5108

I have a 10 gal tank, set it up at the beginning of the year, cycled for over a month. I have plants all throughout the tank. Originally had 6 Pygmy Corys to start, after a couple weeks, introduced some ghost shrimp and a betta. They all got along great, my betta is very calm, basically ignores everything in the tank.

I’ve had the corys since sometime in February, and it seemed like they were all doing fine. Once they got used to the tank, they wouldn’t really shoal/school. Sometimes a few would follow each other around, but they were active and I’d often be able to find them all.

At the end of April, one of the corys died. A week later, another. Now this morning, another. I check my water parameters and everything is normal.

Now this could just be a weird coincidence but at the end of April, my partner and I decided we wanted to try cooking new foods. We’ve focused a lot on Mexican cuisine since then. Cooking a lot of hot peppers, searing things on our cast iron/griddle, there’s been more smoke when we cook from charring veggies, etc. Some of the peppers are hotter than others, and when cooking we can feel it in our eyes or when breathing in.

Our fish tank is on our kitchen table. Coincidentally, a day or two after we make a recipe that uses a ton of cooked peppers, a cory dies.

The betta seems fine. But could the oils/particulate in the air be settling in my fish tank and affecting them?

Or could the corys be reacting to water changes?Be stressed because one died initially? Or have parasites/other from the lps? I’m at a loss and not sure what to do.

I have a 10 gal tank, set it up at the beginning of the year, cycled for over a month. I have plants all throughout the tank. Originally had 6 Pygmy Corys to start, after a couple weeks, introduced some ghost shrimp and a betta. They all got along great, my betta is very calm, basically ignores everything in the tank and really only pays attention to us outside the tank.

I’ve had the corys since sometime in February, and it seemed like they were all doing fine. Once they got used to the tank, they wouldn’t really shoal/school. Sometimes a few would follow each other around, but they were active and I’d often be able to find them all.

I’ve been fighting some brown algae in the tank so I’ve been cleaning the tank a bit more than usual. Using a bit of flourish excel to help boost the plants and hopefully minimize the algae.

At the end of April, one of the corys passed. A week later, another. Now this morning, another. I check my water parameters and everything is normal. I have a fluval ac 20 filter and an air stone.

Now this could just be a weird coincidence but at the end of April, my partner and I decided we wanted to try cooking new foods. We’ve focused a lot on Mexican cuisine since then. Cooking a lot of hot peppers, searing things on our cast iron/griddle, there’s been more smoke when we cook from charring veggies, etc. Some of the peppers are hotter than others, and when cooking we can feel it in our eyes or when breathing in.

Our fish tank is on our kitchen table. Coincidentally, a day or two after we make a recipe that uses a ton of cooked peppers, a cory died.

The betta seems fine. But could the oils/particulate in the air be settling in my fish tank and affecting them?

Or could the corys be reacting to the water changes? Or have parasites/other from the lps? I’m at a loss and not sure what to do.