Lately my tank has problems...

[kevin007]

i just dont know why, one of my cories lost it's barbels, and it seems very stressed, while my other cories are fine..?

 

[karrihug]

i have heard that if they loose their barbels they can't find food. could be why he is stressed. i would post in the catfish forum and see if there is anything you can do for him.

 

[canarsie11]

What kind of substrate are you using?

 

[kevin007]

What kind of substrate are you using?

look at the picture in my sig..and i think he isn't eathing..no more?

and..wont the barbel grow back??? i know it will but i want to know what is causing the probelm, started yesterday

 

[ger87410]

I read somewhere that you want the substrate small (like > 1/8")and not sharp as it could damage the barbels. <-- That's almost a direct quote.

 

[cometcattle]

I heard the loss of barbels on corys was due to poor water quality.

 

[canarsie11]

I have read somewhere, probably here on this forum. If the substrate is too large, then it can cost cories to wear down there barbels cause they like to dig with them. Thats why they say they love sand.

Maybe not large, but maybe how coarse it is, the constant digging and searching for food on aqauarium floor can dull its barbels. Your pic looks large coarse substrate, but cant really tell.

I know they will grow back if put in more suitable tank with better substrate.

Can anyone back me up on this?

 

[canarsie11]

I heard the loss of barbels on corys was due to poor water quality.

I know it is not this......

 

[bunjiweb]

It looks like you have quite large substrate in your tank which is not good for the corys. They like fine substrate to rummage amongst and obviously if they are doing this amongst larger substrate they are rubbing and effectivly filling down their barbels much quicker. This may be why his fell off.

Ben

 

[kevin007]

oh my god....this is going to be alolt of work......*moans*

"!@#$" no!...i knew it...it is kinda large compared to my other tank's gravel, so now i have to transfere the 2 tanks gravel, i have to take everything out...and put them back in ..i knew i shoulda went with sand

but my cories will still eat right? i dont have much time in these few weeks

 

[canarsie11]

They may eat, but they use the barbels for eating, not having them may stress them out

 

[kevin007]

They may eat, but they use the barbels for eating, not having them may stress them out

i'll throw in some warfer, maybe that'll help since they dont have to find, they can just eat that

 

[bunjiweb]

I would suggest making the effort and switching to sand or very fine substrate.

The best thing to do would be to leave a small layer of the large substrate in and put the finer substrate over the top. This way you still have a good colony of bacteria in the tank and havent disturbed it too much.

If you switch to finer substrate quickly the cory will have more chance of getting back to its normal eating patterns and hopefully grow some of its barbels back.

Ben

 

[cometcattle]

I heard the loss of barbels on corys was due to poor water quality.

I know it is not this......

Sorry, I should have worded it better.

The loss of barbels could be due to stress, which could be from poor water conditions, bullying or disease.
Here it is on Planet Catfish, which is pretty reliable IMO.

http/www.planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm

EDIT: I can't paste the exact page, but

1. click on Shanes World,
2. then on Catfishology
3. then corydoras faqs

 

[kevin007]

Link to pics of my tank

well go there and take a look at the tank which the sterbai cories are in...

my cories dont seem stressed before, i think they are stil a bit scared of the new sterbai cories...and not used to stuff

the only sand i can get is tahitian moon sand which i dont like...

i think that if the cories care able to move the gravel with their barbels it is good enough?

Edit: as you can see from the pics all the cories have good "whiskers" only one has the problem