Barbels

[JustKia]

Am I right in thinking that these will grow back if they have been "worn down"?
Yesterday's new addition has very little in the way of barbels. He had been on a gravel substrate. I have sand (all of my corys have really long barbels).
I'm hoping that he has a chance of re-growing his barbels.

 

[helterskelter]

I dont think they do, i hade mine on sand and from what i remember they never grow back

 

[pippoodle]

i adopted a cory with tiny barbels and they haven't grown back in the 6 months i've had her
she does fine on the sand though and always finds food

I always thought that gravel didnt actually wear down the barbels i thought barbels eroding was mostly caused by bacteria infections in the barbels caused by corys being on gravel and the gravel holding rotting food causing the bacterial infections

 

[Inchworm]

Rough surfaced gravel and sharp edged sand could erode their barbels. As pippoodle mentioned, bacterial infections are also a major cause.

JustKia, if your new cory has some barbels left, there is a chance they will grow back somewhat, but probably not reach normal length. If he can find his food, he will be OK.

Just be sure that whatever caused the problem is in the past, and that he is not sick now. It would be a good idea to quarantine him, and any others from the same batch, just to be on the safe side.

 

[JustKia]

He's been in the same tank at the LFS for several months - they don't run a mass filtration unit, all individual set up tanks. I posted here sometime ago about them having the albino sterbai and this little dude has been there since then. And (touch wood) everything I've bought there has been clean and healthy and lived (unlike almost everything bought from the other LFS which seems to die). He's been all alone for a couple of weeks (poor little sausage). He's not showing any signs of infection, and I've recently dosed an antibac med for a danio so I'm pretty confident he's OK going straight in.
Ah well, if he ends up with short ones for ever I guess he'll be OK, he's snuffling through the sand quite happily today.

 

[Inchworm]

As long as he can eat, he'll be fine. Since you can tell him apart from the others, he'll become your special pet.

 

[JustKia]

LOL yep, he's even got a name - Al (to his friends) or Mr. Sterbai

 

[mixmaster jay]

LOL yep, he's even got a name - Al (to his friends) or Mr. Sterbai

yes, they'll grow back. How long it will take depends on the condition of the fish and the water quality, amongst other things.

Barbel erosion is caused by infection to the barbels, and most likely in turn caused by the bare-bottom not being cleaned often enough. For bottom-dwelling fish, there's essentially two options: Either you clean the bottom very frequently, or you use a substrate. Bare bottom is fine for mid-water fish, as they don't sit in the bacterial growth that forms on the bottom of the tank... I suggest that you add a thin layer of sand that will prevent this from happening in the future.

I have found that when Corys loos their barbels to the extent that there aren't even any stubs showing they never regenerate again. Very often there will be a secondary infection and if the fish survives this the outer mouth parts are hardened off and usually deformed to a varying degree, which prevents re growth. If there are any signs that the barbel root is still intact i.e small bumps then there is a possibility that there may be some regeneration.

I've also had problems in th pastso i switched to a very fine gravel and thier barbels are all nice and long Aesthetically a fine gravel or sand is much more natural and your corys will enjoy digging in it. It doesn't need to be deep, mine is probably around 2cm deep. When cleaning, hover your siphon above it and suck up the poop and aftewards run your fingers around the substrate to mix it around and release trapped gases (if any).

 

[JustKia]

LOL thanks Jay but it's not my tank that's an issue. I've got sand (I don't vac or stir it - way too many plants to do that, but they do keep it nice and clean) and my corys have got really long barbels.
It's the new cory I just bought who has tiny short barbels. He was on a thin gravel substrate (not bare bottom) in the LFS.
He does have some barbels - just really tiny ones (about 1.5-2mm), which probably look even shorter in comparison to the corys I already have (6-7mm).

Seems some people have had some luck with them growing back, while others haven't had any re-growth at all, so we'll wait and see what happens to Al.

 

[loraxchick]

never fear, they'll grow back in a nice healthy environment, which it seems you have there and most likely at an alarmingly fast rate
good luck to Al!

 

[JustKia]

Shockingly, I think they are actually growing in the space of 4 days
Oh, and Al got himself a girlfriend. He's following one of my albino (bronze) corys like a little lamb - wherever she goes Al goes too

 

[loraxchick]

i dont find that shocking at all. unless injured to the point of being completely gone, they grow back QUICK! see what nice clean water can do
cheers