Corry Lost His "whiskers"

[watertown28]

I currently have an albino corry in my 72 gallon tank. He seems to have lost his 2 "whiskers"

I tend to be worried because he seem to be less active as his other buddies in the tank ( I have 2 more albino's along with 6 emmies and 2 jullies ) Is this nothing to worry about? He goes and looks for food at feeding time....

I also have a stronger current in the tank. It is planted so I need to have a power head in there...the other cats do not seem to mind it, and it is actually entertaining watching them swim up a bit off the bottom into the current. I do not know if they do that on purpose because they could just swim to the back side of the tank and take the current back to that side.

I donno just worried about the fish. I hate to take it out by himself right now and put him in a gentler tank without current....would if I had to but then he would be by himself.

 

[snazy]

The flow has nothing to do with it. I have albinos and they love the flow,lay eggs right on the hydor koralia power head.
Do you have sand in the tank or gravel. I've kept mine on gravel and it doesn't make a difference, but if you don't siphon it regularly they can develop bacterial infection.

Also, they have 4 whiskers Have a look at one of mine:

 

[Tuxyu3]

Yes, the most important question is what your substrate is and how often do you clean it. These can both influence the state of a corydoras barbels.

 

[iownupkr66]

small sharp gravel will wear down cory barbels

 

[watertown28]

Yeah its gravel. I tried to layer with finer non sharp gravel.

@ sanz... mine lost all of em. All he has are one little stub on each side.

I just did a really good clean of the gravel yesterday and will repeat it again in a day or 2. I have been battling algae in the tank the last month. I am almost thinking having them in a tank that is planted might not have been the best idea BUT.... like I said, I have many others in there and this one is the only one that seems to be struggling... maybe I am just looking to much into it.

If sand was not a pain like what I hear I would have sand in there... and with a power head in there I am sure it would make it more of a mess.

 

[Baccus]

Sand with corys is not a pain, they keep any sedimant, stuff on the floor of the tank moving, helping the filter to pick it up.

Here is are some pictures of my 4ft cory tank, the plants are planted in a raised section that has a mix of sand and gravel but other wise its mainly a sand tank.

And my other 4ft that has a breeding pair of BN's and more corys

 

[Harlequins]

Water quality & poor diet can also affect the barbels on corys...

 

[iownupkr66]

oo really?

 

[Tuxyu3]

Water quality & poor diet can also affect the barbels on corys...

Barbels specifically? Never knew that But yes, bad water quality can do things such as cause infections in wounds.