So my cory catfish lost its barbels. I heard its not a huge issue as long as your cory catfish eats its food. I’m using shirmp pellets right now, but looking for better suggestions if anyone has any. Is there any way it can regrow it? Ive started to do daily 25% water changes to help my cory.
Cory catfish lost barbels
- Thread starter RainGamma
- Start date
outofwater
Fish Addict
Depends on how extensive the damage is. If it's really down to the face level, they might not regrow at all. May I ask how it happened? Do you have gravel or sand as substrate? And of course, keeping water fresh and within parameters will help if those are to regrow
i use sand. I’m pretty sure its this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076FVMK2T/?tag=ff0d01-20. I think it was my water parameters so im going to keep doing 25% water changes for a week.
That looks like growing medium to me. Great for promoting plant growth. However I'd add half an inch of clean round particle sand over the top of it.
The usual way to set up a tank is to have a bottom layer of large size pebble type stones, ie 10mm size, so that beneficial bacteria can flourish in it, then add the growing medium on top of that, perhaps to another half and inch, then top it off with small grain gravel or sand. Either of which should be smooth to prevent barbel damage.
The usual way to set up a tank is to have a bottom layer of large size pebble type stones, ie 10mm size, so that beneficial bacteria can flourish in it, then add the growing medium on top of that, perhaps to another half and inch, then top it off with small grain gravel or sand. Either of which should be smooth to prevent barbel damage.
outofwater
Fish Addict
From my limited experience, anything other than soft sand is less than optimal for cories, even round polished pebbles aren't quite suitable because they like to dig and sift. Can't quite tell from the picture, but it'd seem that black sand is not that small or "soft" and may be the reason for the lost barbels .
Do you have any more cories? These are social fish, they need mates to thrive. Bare minimum would be 3 or 4 if your tank is small, at least 6 being ideal. You can see the difference when the substrate and the numbers are there, they behave differently.
Do you have any more cories? These are social fish, they need mates to thrive. Bare minimum would be 3 or 4 if your tank is small, at least 6 being ideal. You can see the difference when the substrate and the numbers are there, they behave differently.
There are a few reasons for barbel degeneration in Corydoras. Rough substrate whatever the medium is one, bacterial issues is another (and likely the more common, depending), water conditions (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), more rarely barbel nipping by another species.
I believe I have seen Imagitarium sand mentioned on CorydorasWorld with no serious negatives, so far as the "sand" is concerned. The bacterial issue would bother me however.
@RainGamma how many cories do you have in this tank? What other fish do you have?
What are the parameters, meaning the GH (hardness) and pH and temperature? What are the results of testys for ammonia, nitrite or nitrate?
While the cory may "live" without its barbels, this is still a very serious issue as the underlying cause can lead to much worse problems.
I believe I have seen Imagitarium sand mentioned on CorydorasWorld with no serious negatives, so far as the "sand" is concerned. The bacterial issue would bother me however.
@RainGamma how many cories do you have in this tank? What other fish do you have?
What are the parameters, meaning the GH (hardness) and pH and temperature? What are the results of testys for ammonia, nitrite or nitrate?
While the cory may "live" without its barbels, this is still a very serious issue as the underlying cause can lead to much worse problems.
I only have one cory right now. Sadly my other cories got sick a while ago. I haven't been able to find any cory catfish near me, I'm planning to get a total of 5 slowly. I want to make sure my cory catfish is okay first. I have 4 green swordtails they are all pretty small in size.
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
KH: 80
GH: 180
PH: 7
Temp: 78
Sadly, I don't have a ammonia tester, but I'm planning to get one soon.
outofwater
Fish Addict
Sorry to hear about losing the other cories, I'm assuming you don't think this is related to that, but do you know what happened to the others? As far as I know the sword tails wouldn't be bothering the lone cory, but maybe you can confirm if you've seen any signs of that.
Only relatable info I can give is that a dwarf gourami that I introduced last to my tank turned out to be a hungry bully who goes after any other fish for food, including coming all the way down and nipping at my cories for their pellets. It got so bad that a small male got nipped fins, got pale and had some barbel loss, out of sheer stress I assume. He's better now but it took nearly a month for his color and attitude to recover (after I moved the gourami to another tank) and his barbels are improving but still nowhere near as long as the other cories. Don't mean to hijack your thread, just sharing what I've seen when fish are under stress. Your cory being all alone for now might have him down.
Only relatable info I can give is that a dwarf gourami that I introduced last to my tank turned out to be a hungry bully who goes after any other fish for food, including coming all the way down and nipping at my cories for their pellets. It got so bad that a small male got nipped fins, got pale and had some barbel loss, out of sheer stress I assume. He's better now but it took nearly a month for his color and attitude to recover (after I moved the gourami to another tank) and his barbels are improving but still nowhere near as long as the other cories. Don't mean to hijack your thread, just sharing what I've seen when fish are under stress. Your cory being all alone for now might have him down.
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