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Well I have had my panda shoal for 3 months now. They are all happy, eating, breeding, and playing..and doing all the other wacky things cories do. Lately I have noticed a slight probelm. Some barbels are missing in my smaller ones and the larger ones barbels are eroding.... I am guessing the smaller ones are going faster since theirs are most likely weaker casue they are younger. But anyway tankmates are 3 gouramis, 2 bolivians, 2 blue rams, a platy group, 4 kuhlis, and a rubbernose pleco ( and the cories...11 pandas and 5 false jullis). It is a densely planted 55 gallon tank with regular "natural" pea gravel (not rough or pointy) with two pieces of driftwood, and some larger rocks. I do weekly gravel vacs so my nitrates are not high,and the temp is around 76-77. I have never seen any of the other fish bother the cories at all. There is no red or puffy white stuff around their mouth...like I said they eat fine.I am worried aboout soon adding my baby cory that I have raised becasue I dont want him to loose his barbels. I have heard of them growing back also? What am I doing wrong? How can I save their barbels?

Well.....Im just saying, but maybe the gravel vacs once a week might have a large impact on the biological bacteria colonies, and you might be having rot due to some condition i dont know. Do you think you could post a pic? I also think it is a little borderline, depending on how densley it is planted. Also how large is the platy group? 4 fish? Maybe you should add a stress coat, or add melafix. I think that they grow them back, but you should purchase a moonlight to view what is truly happening at night. Or, you could observe and see if the other fish are bothering it. Good luck!


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Barbel erosion on cories is usually a localised low level saprolegnia infetion, rainbowfish get it on their lips too, it doesnt have to go all full blown and fluffy. Try pimafix or a little antifungus and finrot. The trouble with densely planted aquaria is that sometimes detritus builds up around the roots, even more than the plants can contain. Might be time to shake things up, rip up a few plants, gravel clean around roots, rinse roots off under the tap and do a little replanting.

Whenever I do my weekly gravel vacs I take out the plants and vaccum everywhere because I know that stuff could get built up around the plants. But my gravel is very clean. Thank you both foer the replies. I was hoping not to have to medicate them.

If you are not wanting to medicate, you could always test them to see if it is in fact an infection. Place them in another tank with a bare bottom, or sandy bottom, for awhile. Like several weeks may be needed. If they continue to erode away, it is most likely an infection. However, if they stop eroding, or even start growing back, then it is most likely the substrate in the other tank. I have found IME, that most of the time when this happens, it is due to the substrate. Even though we find it not to be sharp, in a smaller instance that we may not feel or see, it could still be damaging their barbels. The colored gravel is usually OK, because the surface is smooth from the paint on the gravels and such. However, in the natural gravels, many times it is rough on a smaller demension than humans can see or feel on a normal basis. And this smaller demension is what damage the small and fragile barbels of many corys.



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There is always a bigger fish...

Hi,

In view of the comment that your gravel has rounded
edges and not the normal sharp irregular edges,
LGH's comments are good.

Your response "Whenever I do my weekly gravel vacs I
take out the plants and vacuum everywhere..." is
bothersome in that you seem to be overdoing a good
thing.

Are your plants in pots and you lift the pot
containing the plant out of the tank, pot and all?
Or are your plants, anchored in the gravel and you
are uprooting them each week?

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Just to add...

An example of what I was explaining above;
Take two pieces of sand paper. One is 40 grit, and one is 2000 grit (emory paper). The 40 will feel very rough to your touch, and can even take some surface skin off of your hand if you rub it too hard and fast. While the emory too feels gritty to the touch, it is still way smoother than the 40. But over time of rubbing it, it too can take off your skin. The 40 is like a grinder and will take the paint on your car down to metal in just seconds. However, the 2000 grit emory, though it may take 10-20 minutes, will also take it down to metal.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I think I am pretty sure I have pin-pointed my problem. I have recently been searching for a canister filter to replace the HOB filter I have right now. But meanwhile no matter what I do unfiltered water still runs over the front of the filter into the tank. So I am guessing that is letting stuff into the tank that I dont want thus, hurting the pandas barbels. I have found a canister filter and will most likely order it in the next few days.
Another problem may be my substrate. It is not rough or sharp looking but like ACIDRAIN said I may not be able to see the roughness. So I was always planning to switch to ECO- COMPLETE but now this gives me a reason to. Do you think the eco will be better on their barbels?

Let me know what you all think. I hope I have found the problems.

Isnt Eco-complete rough or pourous? Wont that hurt the barbels even more? Ive always thought and read theat barbel erosin is caused by gravel and rocks, and no sand. Just something i picked up in a book i read.

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