Corys Barbels Missing

[botia]

I have 4 small 1cm(ish) panda corys on a fine substrate with little or no barbels is there a way to help these little fellas

 

[Cazgar]

Good water conditions & time, & they should grow back.
They do do best on sand though

 

[Mowbz]

Panda's are VERY fussy about their water, slightest change and they just die. I've had them a while now.

If the barbles are gone, mouth fungus is likely coming, thats how it always seems to start with Panda's, and i lost 3 to this last year. I would start doing 50% water changes each week if you're not already, and get a bottle of Melafix. Not the normal recommended treatment for mouth fungus (although it does cover fungus, just not specifically, bit of an all rounder med) but has worked fine with my corys and not upset the rest of the tank. Dose daily for a week, and do regular water changes.

Their substrate really needs to be sand, fine gravel although recommended for most Corys, i think is a bit too large and coarse for Panda's, being on the smaller scale of the Cory species. Same for Pygmaeus and Hasbrosus. It also needs to be kept VERY clean, i clean the sand surface every other day, takes two minutes with a syphon tube. They'll thank you for it.