fish are fighting

Question
Hello,

I was wondering why alot of my fish are picking on this one corey cat fish. I have a 6 gallon communal tank with mollies, tetras and angel fish and i just noticed that my one corey cat is in bad shape! they have nipped his tail off his front fins and top fin as well...he seems like he has infection now because he seems to float to the top not much but he's in really rough shape. When i see him swimming around it seems like everyone nips him...are they doing this becuase they know he's dying?? and why are the tormenting him like this...i feel so awful and don't know what to do...do i just watch him die a slow and nipped life or what? please answer as much as posible. Thank you so much!

Shan

Answer
Hi Shan,
Tetras have a tendency to nip so I would not be surprised if they are doing it.  There is not much you can do besides remove the injured cory cat.  When I keep tetras, I usually only keep them by themselves, or with a fish that are hardy such as the strong plecos.  Cory cats wiggle along the bottom floor and swim quite slow, which makes them susceptible. Your angel fish however, are bigger and faster and wont be bothered by the tetras.  What you can do for your cory cat is, buy Melafix, available at Petco and Petsmart.  Seperate the cory cat from the rest of the tankmates in a different container and add Melafix.  This medication heals promotes  faster healing.
-Matt-