Barbels

[Obsidian]

I just discovered that one of my Julie cats no longer has its barbels What can I do, if anything? Will it be okay without them? He seems to be acting just fine.

[TheOldSalt]

As long as it doesn't lead to infection he should be okay. The big question now is what caused it?

[Obsidian]

I agree that is the question to answer, and I do not know. I have a total of 3 and 1 has no barbels now, one has them but they are stunted, and the other's appears to be fairly normal.

The only thing I can think of is that there is something in there that they might be rubbing them on, but I have no idea what it would be. The substrate is mixed black sand with black gravel. I don't think either of those are being hard on the barbel's, but they might be. I am going to check my nitrate, as I read that high nitrate can cause this in cories.

[kcrunch]

I know you probably check your water all the time so this might sound a bit off but not meant to be an insult but I know ammonia levels high can cause fin rot and well as loss of barbs. What is your ammonia level have you checked it lately?

[Obsidian]

Safe to say it's not nitrate- that's at about 8. It's just a little darker than 5 so I am guessing around 7-8.

A couple of months ago this tank crashed and I wonder if it happened then. I had elevated numbers for almost 3 weeks before I was able to get it back under control.

I don't currently have a QT up, but I could put one up if I really needed to... would his barbels grow back if he was put in a QT do you think? I would put him in a bare bottom tank with probably just a plant to help with nitrate. I don't think he is sick so I would have some time to get that going.

[kcrunch]

Does not seem like a sick issue more like a water issue, especially now I would keep an eye on the others and maybe even do a 15-20% water change to neutralize the levels. Just to be on the safe side, it's always better safe than sorry.

[Obsidian]

KKKKKcrunchy - I don't check my numbers really all that often unless I have a reason to. I did check ammonia just in case and it is at 0.

[kcrunch]

ok just thinking out loud at the moment... nitrate and or ammonia but if they are good you got me....

[Obsidian]

Well when it was out of hand the nitrates were up to about 40 and the Ph had dropped to 6. I had old tank syndrome. emc and loha had some great advice for that, but 3 weeks of those elevated numbers is hard on any fish. The nitrate at 40 wasn't horrible, but the ammonia and nitrite was not good at all. SO I am just wondering if it happened then and not growing back for some reason, or if it is something else entirely.

[Obsidian]

Does anyone know if the barbels would grow back if put into a QT tank?

I am wondering if it might be the snail shells from all of my dumb MTS, but it doesn't seem like there are really enough to rub the barbels off.

[lohachata]

it could very well be from when the tank went crazy..and it is also possible that the mts shells contributed as the cories will root around through the shells looking for food...
but to be honest i really don't know if they will grow back...but that still doesn't stop them from eating...

[emc7]

other fins can take a couple months to regrow. Don't know about barbels. I think it was the water, both low pH and high ammonia will erode fins. But it could also be wear or aggression/nipping. If its only one fish, you could try isolating and medicating with a fin-rot med or general anti-septic. some infection could be preventing regrow.