New Albinos - Short Barbels :(

[SouthernCross]

Hey everyone

I got two new albino cories today to go with my two bronzes in my community. Things were going great until I noticed their barbels are super short - only stick out a mm or two from their noses. My bronze's have beautiful long barbels, and I know they're the same fish just colour morphs so I really noticed the difference. I bought the new ones from the same place I bought the bronzes (good store, hence my stupidity at not looking closer! Argh! ).

There's no redness around their noses/mouths and the ends of the barbels are not raw or anything. Don't know whether the damage happened awhile ago and they are already well into healing?They are doing great, scampering all over the tank and foraging for food, had no trouble finding the wafer I put in. I take these as good signs.

Just wanted to check that there isn't anything extra I should do to help the barbels grow back (please tell me they do?!?!?!) other than make sure the water quality stays great. I think the only med I have on hand that might be remotely useful in this situation is Waterlife Myxazin.

 

[celaeno]

i've read that they'll only grow back if your cories are very young. if not, the chances of them growing back are slim.

 

[SouthernCross]

Oh. Well they're a bit smaller than my bronzes so hopefully that's a good sign...

 

[SouthernCross]

Just an update, I've been doing some reading. Some say that bacterial infections can cause the erosion and to treat it - since these guys are brand new they either had it in the past or at the LFS. I'm hoping my water will be better for them. I have decided not to treat, since they are typically crazily active cories, still foraging for food and latching onto any catfish wafers I put in there for them - obviously they can still find things okay. The end of the barbels aren't red or anything, have a tiny bit of length (not worn right back to the stumps). I thought treating might end up stressing them more, and since they're acting okay I'll instead just keep a close eye on things, hopefully they'll start to grow back.

Unless someone has some more advice for me I'll just continue with what I'm doing.

 

[geo7x]

i've read that they'll only grow back if your cories are very young. if not, the chances of them growing back are slim.

i dont think this is true, cories barbels will be able to grow back at any age.

SouthernCross, for now, just make sure the water is clean and keep your eye on things, the chances are with clean water and clean substrate they should grow back.
If you notice any signs of infection then i would dose some melafix, but you can worry about that if the time comes.

What is your substrate like? If its too coarse then the chances are the barbels wont grow back

 

[SouthernCross]

My substrate is small gravel - I know sand is usually better, but it's all I have, and I have a UGF. At the moment they're having no trouble foraging and digging around in it - the bronze's who I've had for awhile have great barbels.

I don't know if it's my imagination - but I think I've been able to detect a SMALL amount of growth - but then again it might just be my wishful thinking. They're otherwise acting happy and normal, and feeding well - I'll just keep going how I'm going. I've heard they'll only grow back as juveniles from another source too, but that even if they don't, in an aquarium setting they can still survive well and be happy and normal. They're still quite a bit smaller than my bronzes, so hopefully that will work in their favour.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[SouthernCross]

Just updating - I'm not hallucinating, there has DEFINITELY been some growth. With the smallest cory showing the most improvement. I guess there is merit in the 'juvenile cories may grow them back' statements. If they grow heaps more (i.e. nearly back to normal) I'll post again. But even if it doesn't I'm stoked for them for growing back even this little bit

 

[SouthernCross]

Ok, it's been a month, just letting any interested people know what happened.

They've recovered! And still growing, I think. They're long enough now that you wouldn't think anything was out of the ordinary to look at them, but my bronzes are still longer, so there's probably still room for improvement.

An interesting point to note is that the smaller of the two showed the fastest, best improvement. So again, you might argue that there's some truth in the theory that they recover best if they're younger.

If anyone wants photographic evidence I'll provide it,

 

[geo7x]

Ok, it's been a month, just letting any interested people know what happened.

They've recovered! And still growing, I think. They're long enough now that you wouldn't think anything was out of the ordinary to look at them, but my bronzes are still longer, so there's probably still room for improvement.

An interesting point to note is that the smaller of the two showed the fastest, best improvement. So again, you might argue that there's some truth in the theory that they recover best if they're younger.

If anyone wants photographic evidence I'll provide it,

thats good news!

however AFAIK there is nothing to suggest that adults have a slimmer chance of growing back barbels, my adults have in the past (when they were still adults). There doesnt appear to be any evidence backing up the statement anyway.

 

[SouthernCross]

Hey geo7x!

You were wondering about evidence and where I got the idea they wouldn't grow back - this isn't published-in-a-scientific-journal-evidence but someone with experience passing along advice to me nonetheless...

Someone who didn't want to get involved in an argument with other posters (obv there must have been some debate about this before) sent me a PM when I first posted this topic and said the following:

"Unless your Corys are under 60 days of age (less than an inch - withOUT tail) there is no way that the barbels will grow back. Once they reach juvenile age, that ship has sailed.

I have raised thousands of Corys and am speaking from good experience. I am not trying to convince you, but educate you. The barbels are not required in an aquarium environment for your fish to enjoy a normal, happy existence. I have Corys without barbels that are over 7 years old and they've never had a bad day."

Which was good to know, so I didn't get my hopes up, plus I knew my fish would still be okay. I mean, there's no point arguing about it (and its not what the owner of that PM wanted to do) but I guess all we can say is (since you've said your adults have grown back) that people have different experiences with different fish - and leave it at that! And we should be happy that in my case it worked out for the best

Cheers

 

[Coryologist]

however AFAIK there is nothing to suggest that adults have a slimmer chance of growing back barbels, my adults have in the past (when they were still adults). There doesnt appear to be any evidence backing up the statement anyway.

Hi. Having raised and kept literally thousands of Corys, I have never seen barbells grow back on an adult fish. Ever. To say that there does not appear to be any evidence to back that up, is in a word, and I'm sorry - ridiculous. All of the anecdotal eveidence suggests that it is possible, but NOT guaranteed that fry can regenerate their barbells, and that adults cannot.

Can you name the specie of Cory that was able to regenerate new barbells as full adults? I would like to research this further. Perhaps you have stumbled upon something that the scientific community is not aware of. TYVM.

Not trying to be argumentative, but in my world - seeing is believing and I ain't seen it, yet. - Frank

 

[geo7x]

however AFAIK there is nothing to suggest that adults have a slimmer chance of growing back barbels, my adults have in the past (when they were still adults). There doesnt appear to be any evidence backing up the statement anyway.

Hi. Having raised and kept literally thousands of Corys, I have never seen barbells grow back on an adult fish. Ever. To say that there does not appear to be any evidence to back that up, is in a word, and I'm sorry - ridiculous. All of the anecdotal eveidence suggests that it is possible, but NOT guaranteed that fry can regenerate their barbells, and that adults cannot.

Can you name the specie of Cory that was able to regenerate new barbells as full adults? I would like to research this further. Perhaps you have stumbled upon something that the scientific community is not aware of. TYVM.

Not trying to be argumentative, but in my world - seeing is believing and I ain't seen it, yet. - Frank

right....ok,

well, firstly, I said there appears to be no evidence backing up the statement, this statement being:

i've read that they'll only grow back if your cories are very young. if not, the chances of them growing back are slim.

as far as i can see, this statment doesnt really have any evidence with it. The fact that you said i was being ridiculous i find a little bit offensive but i understand what i said could have been taken the wrong way.
Furthermore, I haved browsed this corydoras sub forum for a year now, and in that year i have seen countless numbers of threads about re-growing barbels, i have never seen anyone say what the above statement is suggesting, every one i have seen has said, just keep water in tip top condition, what is your substrate like, and maybe add a bit of melafix if there is no progress.
Because of the above 2 reasons, i firstly said "im not sure if this is true" and secondly said "AFAIK (as far as i know) there is nothing to suggest that adults have a slimmer chance of growing back barbels" no where in there did i come to the conclusion that he was wrong, i was just suggesting that from what ive seen, i have never seen any other people say that, and have seen no evidence either, i certainly never said that what he was saying was ridiculous.

Can you name the specie of Cory that was able to regenerate new barbells as full adults? I would like to research this further. Perhaps you have stumbled upon something that the scientific community is not aware of. TYVM.

I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not, but since it is just written words and tone of voice cannot be judged, i will presume otherwise for now. The species was Corydoras Trilineatus. Now, Im not sure whether you mean fully grown or sexually mature by "adults" but i will tell you at the time there were 2 fish with the problem, both the same size, and i know for sure that one of them (female) had bred prior to this problem (so if youre going by sexually mature then they are "adults"), and they were both at least 1.5 inches, so perhaps they were only juveniles going by size, but from what the person in SouthernCross's reply said, they should not have grown back but they were over 1" i am sure of that.

But the main thing is i have never seen anyone suggest that it is near impossible to get adults barbels to grow back, and can i ask why (genuine question- no sarcasm) young corydoras would grow their barbels back easier than full grown?

I am willing to be proven wrong but i hope the tone of your previous reply is not as it first came across to me

Edited to add: are you the same person as the "anonymous user" who contacted SouthernCross? you seem to be using the same descriptions and vocabulary