I GOT 6 EMERALD CORYS from Petco and all had missing Barbels and shredded dorsal fins. After a month in my tank and steady feeding of live blackworms to supplement the algae wafers all barbels and fins have grown back!!! Not to worry guys!!
Nothing says good water parameters like healing fish! I got a large double black angelfish and unfortunately he had a small fin tear during the netting. A few days later it was half closed. Those corys are lucky to have you!
Great info!! I would add that in aquatic environments "the bottom" isn't the bad area , or the leftovers like the English expression "bottom dweller" implies Benthic environments are the richest aquatic environments , while we generally feed top down , nature is the reverse. Surface dwelling pelagic fish like minnows are more like scavengers eating anything that falls in the water, their digestive systems are used to harder food like leaves fruits or nuts also lower quality food per pound , while Cory's and other cats would in nature be getting the richest foods in the river , the most worms , copepods amphipods seed shrimp etc. Normally since we feed top down , aquarists tend to starve out benthic fish, and bloat out pelagic fish , it's like a Alison wonderland mirror thang
I agree, I had kept them in pebble substrate for a long time before using finer substrate and they did well. Though, the activities you get when using fine substrate such as sand should be considered if one wants to keep on watching them do their things. The moment my corydoras finally had a fine substrate, they just went in and kept on sifting. On my before setup which was the pebble substrate, they would just hide all the time under the plants but the sand substrate, which is only a potion of the tank, is a great way to lure them out and they can be observed more.
I've adding sanded areas over the pebbles to create viewing areas in the front and the one visible side of my 100 gallon. Seems like I can just add more pebbles around anything they are trying to uproot in my coarse sanded 125.
I love your channel. Thank you for your research to help us learn more about the hobby, historically, scientifically, and practically. Your dedication and hard work improve not only UA-cam, but the hobby as well. Thanks again for all you do.
I love your deep dives. I never knew they could or would regenerate barbels. I never had any cories that lost them. And yes, folks are still arguing and insisting that it's sharp substrate or sharp decorations and they just know they are correct about their opinion, so there's no point arguing with them. I'm always so happy when you show scientific proof of what you're saying, and site sources. 👍❤👍
Lol it was a pet peeve of mine... I mean I've had corys living in tanks with sharp crystals, fluorite, splinters, you name it...never have I had it happen in my tank either... I've nursed a few back that I adopted with fungus/bacterial infections, but never have I seen it in people who have been in the hobby for years and keep a balanced and or clean tank. But I wanted to "settle the issue" ...chicken or the egg... do sharp things cause infections or does poor water conditions and an imbalanced tank/diet cause sick fish that just get fungal and bacterial infections, in the body part that they use the most? I feel like it's settled now, and so do about 4 different studies 1927, 1961 1977, and 2003 lol
DAMN. that was a really cool video. I watch fish and plant videos aaalll day on youtube just cause. This video wasnt my a "my top 7 cory tips" type, it was a legit deep dive exploration of a topic. Not only a topic but a very specific narrow topic. To top it off, its specific but super common. The approach, the video with narration behind it, and (most important) really explaining slowly and concisely while still making it easy to understand was the icing on the cake. Ive seen a couple of your videos, and theyve been good, but this one made me subscribe. I hate getting alerts, so im picky with what i subscribe to so kudos man. Great job!!
Glad to hear this. I have thought so for a long time. Collected Corydoras paleatus on sharp gravel in Uruguay a long time ago. They all had perfect barbels. They dig deep in to sand spraying the sand out the gills. They can't be too sensitive to abrasion!
Exxxxxactly! It's all about their health and wellness, when the hobby seems to parrot either the "fact" that they can't live on: xyz or the "fact" that it's due to food being too small in gravel or rocks" . Science meanwhile saved this almost 100 years ago
@@Fishtory As I've said before, I love this types of info from you. More Cory stuff Please!!! I bought a group of CW115 that are in rough shape with eroded and bloody barbels. BBS and grindal, salt after each water change. Hope I can save them. Will try medication in a few days if nothing happens.
@@Fishtory I've never understood the sharp gravel side of this discussion. Corydoras and fish in general will breed anywhere the water is good enough and the food is plentiful enough; flooded malls come to mind, lol!! And who thinks corys are stupid enough to, as a species, jam their tender barbels on rocks until their face erodes? Let's give 60 million (?) years of evolution some credit.
I love this Alex! I've heard so many different things about the barbels and damage!! What a wonderful deep dive on my favorite fish! In my experience I've never had any issues, but I've heard so many different rumors this really helps me out a lot!! I truly enjoyed the footage of your aquarium during your discussion! So interesting how those little barbells pick up everything within the water. And I never really knew about the way the barbels grow and continue to get more cells! Great video Alex!! I really really enjoyed it!! I hope you're having a wonderful day my friend 🙏🥰🌿🐟🌿💝❤️
Ammonia: 0.00 PPM Nitrite:0.00 PPM Nitrate: 7.7 PPM pH: 7.4 Alkalinity: 172 PPM GH: 170 PPM TDS: 168 PPM My cory catfish doesn't have any Barbels at all, and hasn't had them for as long as I remember. I originally had 6, now just one, I quarantined the rest and dosed PolyGuard when one of them died off but still lost all but the last of six to some unknown problem during quarantine, I kept them in the quarantine after finishing with the medicine to ensure they could heal but they all died, I added the last one back to the main tank and they've behaved completely normally, they swim around my Bolivian Ram not afraid of them and rarely QUICKLY swim to the surface for air, they feel comfortable enough to swim slowly instead of super quickly like how I observed when first adding the 6 to the tank a year or so ago, they just.... don't have any barbels, just like all of the others I purchased. Instead their mouth is a white hole just like the thumbnail, in-fact my cory catfish is the same species. I have a deep playsand substrate with some gravel topping it off in the front-end of the tank. I feed the catfish via shrimp wafers. I really do enjoy this species a lot but I don't think I'll get more, I don't want any more of them to unnecessarily suffer losing their barbels to whatever is causing this problem for my current cory. I'm well aware that catfish need a group of 6 or more, but I don't want to cause an endless loop of the same thing happening.
Thanks! I'm thinking of doing a corydoras aneaus color variant episode: green & orange lasers, orange Venezuelans, black, albino, long fin, sail fin, bronze, green/emerald and more, all are 1 species out of the 800+ amazingly
Yo bitch this is one of the best fish vids I have EVER seen. The community works well enough by trial and error but you found scientific papers that talked in detail about the issue and just started spitting facts. A+
In my experience, corys only lose their barbels when the water quality is bad. Quite a few years ago I had some leopard corys in a small 20L tank. If i forgot to change the water after 2 weeks some of them lost their barbels. Another issue with corys in poor water conditions is that they develop a weird disease. One by one the corys will start to swim uncontrollably, over a few days/weeks. They seem to feed but gradually lose weight and die eventually. Dosed with metronidazole and anti parasite meds but to no avail. I had one gold lazer develop this issue in a temporary tank. But once I moved them to a tank more than 10× the size the issue resolves on its on. So moral of the story is keep your water clean and give your corys more space if you want them to thrive!
I've noticed similar things as well. The air bladder control loss and nervous system twitching seems to happen from high nitrates or ammonia in my experience too
@@Fishtory I certainly hope you continue! I haven't figured out how to join (I know it's the join button, but am confused after that), but I do want to support what you are doing!
Well they say that a good diet affects skin integrity, malnourished corydoras are prone to external factors that wouldn’t normally bother them if they had a good diet. This is a really informative video.
I've bought corys with no barbels, both at my LFS and online. The good news is that in a healthy setup they grow them back, in my experience. I have never medicated for the situation, just given them a healthy diet and good living conditions.
I actually have some cories in my tank right now in a gravel tank. I read this and the rule of thumb was 1/4" mine are much longer...emerald cories. The reason has been established and its keeping the top layer of substrate clean...
Yes, keeping the substrate clean...or letting it become dirty with mulm slowly/ having a balanced micro-ecosysyem is the key. Keeping nitrates down and ph where they like it, were the 2 biggest factors according to the studies done
Thank you!!!! Just noticed one of my albino Corys is missing barbels. Poor baby. I have a 20GL and will treat the whole tank, I think. (8 Cory’s, 13 green tetra, 3 mollies)
Your videos are always so informative I love it. Now I know even more in detail about the cool little creatures I own :) Edit; I can now brag even more to my friends about these amazing corys ahah
Haha thanks for leaving a comment, it really helps videos travel, and this is so common, I really hope more folks will learn how to treat or prevent the issue of erosion. Thanks for watching and dropping a comment!. Have a great week! -Alex
@@Fishtory thanks Alex I hope you have an awesome week too! I was wondering if you had done videos in the past on The African leaf fish(just because you explain other things that usually you don’t find in a care page, interesting stuff.. I like it when you go off on a bundle of past history info) and Synodontis nigriventris? I just got these buddies recently and they never come out even tho it’s fully covered with green! Currently I have 5 of them, initially we left the store with 2 and half way in the car we turned back and got 3 more. ( the fish keeper was awkward when I asked if they should be in groups like …. Ah they do well just one of them but they would like to be in bigger schools… but you could get away just with one .. one one.) me and my husband in the car expressed out frustration because yeah they were a bit pricey but if they do better in groups just say.. don’t beat around the bush just because you will be happy with that one sell. We are considering getting more of them. As they stay hiding in the wood.what do you think? Is this just normal behaviour? :) Sorry for the long message I’m not English and I struggle to make my messages shorter when I’m trying to explain what I might mean! Thanks again for your time ☺️
@@Fishtory Me too. I had 1 out of 5 lose it’s barbels, quarantined for 2 months with alternating salt and General Cure sessions. 2 years later still no growth but fitting in fine with it’s buddies. Black sandblasting sand in most tanks with 0 barbel issues are including 2 grumpy platys. Also my seemingly blind African Dwarf frogs will take a mouthful of sand with their food, spit out the sand as they chew and swallow with no issues…other than having terrible eyesight lol.
I had entire Cory groups come in the mail with no barbels and the wound had scarred over perfectly. After years of soft sand, black worms, RO water changes with tannins still no barbels. Is there anything else that I could do to help them grow back? Do the meds still work even if the initial wound has scarred since many years?
Sadly, after 6 months without them, they are gone. But in an aquarium you can give them a full life still...whereas in the wild they would be dead quickly from starvation
Loved the content as I do have one of my corydoras missing barbels but dude, you have to fix or stabilize your camera/phone. Half an hour of shaky video is tough to go through.
I know I'm late, but THANK YOU for this video, and for the scientific links! I LOVE knowing the science behind things, and I've got 1 cory with this problem, while the other 5 are just fine... Full Fu Man Chu stache's.. >.< - My little dude also got fin rot after some fin nipping or a cut, or maybe he was bad off when I got him - I only had 3 at first and they're from petco. I know, I'm sorry, I buy from good places now - and there was more stress, because I still had much to learn >.
Hey, thank you so very much, my friend! o sometimes Apple devices have issues with it working (lol.... sometimes certain Android devices or computers do also). UA-cam basically has some issues to work out. But there should be a blue or red button that says"join", on my channel's home page. Or on some phones it's under the video player if you x out of the chat screen and description screen. It's in the lower right corner If in moble, and you click on my main profile...if that doesn't work... then it just isn't meant to be for now lol. But I truly appreciate the effort!
Thanks! I'll keep spending silly amounts of time on these then haha. I enjoy them also (it could be 3 hours long after I finish the reading for these, it's really hard for me to control myself and to shut up/stay on point with my outline
I noticed my group of Habrosus Corys in my planted 40b all lost their barbels. Theres no lesions or any injuries visible, they're just gone. If I treat them with an anti-fungal, should I pull them into a quarantine tank or dose my whole tank? Because if its something thats present in the tank they're in I guess I should treat the whole tank but if I dont have to, I'd rather only dose 10gal than 40 lol
Um their immune system should heal so I'd treat them in a small tank...but keep them there until the barbels come back somewhat... then just don't feed them food that will cause them to dig into the substrate if you can find wafers or algae snacks for them/frozen blood worms, I'd feed them that. Also a catapa leaf or two in the 10gallon will help heal their slime coat and skin. Basically, yes, they will likely grow back their barbels...or worst case...if theyve been gone over a year, theyll just live without them (in the wild they die without them, but in tanks they can live just fine since they dont have to forage for food so much. So in the big tank that bacteria will probably still exist...but ecoli and MRSA etx exist on our skin...but if we are healthy we can fight it off daily and be fine...as can they :) Best of luck and I Hope that helps a little? Cheers
I’ve bought some hardscape from a LFS that’s labeled as “Burma petrified (Burma stone)”, which I believe is a prettified wood, from Lifeguard Aquatics. Would it be unsafe to put in with corydoras and is there anyway to make it safer. I could use a power head while I cycle but I don’t know if that would really erode the stone. New to the hobby, thanks for all your thoughtful videos, btw!
You'll be fine with that stone. It's actually layered silt/mud stone that just looks similar to wood (usually). Some sellers just make stuff up annoyingly.
im glad to hear the affirmation that when coyrdoras frequently slap the top it's a good thing. Since I switched from a filtered tank to a filterless tank I wondered if my fish were getting enough oxygen, but they have babies almost every time I change the water though so I should've known they were fine . lol You're the best aquarium knowledge source out there. Thank you Also, it'd be nice to know your thoughts on Thai Micro Crabs. Have you done a video on them?
Thank you, that truly means a great deal to me to read your message. I try and dig through the acedemic papers the best I can, and apply my experience woven into the narrative of their findings (sometimes they don't see things as a pet owner would haha). As for micro crabs, I find that they are really expensive, and very tiny...to which I'd rather have a shrimp by preference...but I get the attraction for sure. I have not done a video on them specifically, but have researched them and seen them in the store I worked at. They are sort of delicate, and don't pair well with any fish but the very smallest like chili rasboras. Also they are hard to breed in captivity (Thai micros, and pom pom crabs...so I sort of try and keep fish I can try and spawn as a broad rule...gobies being the main exception.) But I'll definitely see if I can get a few to film and do a video on them sometime soon. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hey Alex 😊 I have one juli cory that has a white puffy nose. I have moved him into a quarantine tank. Do you suggest I treat him with the co-op trio meds all at once, or do you have a better suggestion? Thank you so much my friend. ❤🇨🇦
Haha thanks, and yes- they're nice local bred "Koi Tiger Pearl Scale" Angels. And the black phantoms won't let you down! (The deep Dive I did on them, rekindled my love)
I can see you have shrimp in your community tank. How does that work? I thought the shrmip would have been eaten sure… I've got a separate shrimp tank with a Siamese fighter but I would love to incorporate shrimp into my big tank.
So, the cherry shrimp and bright colored shrimp... they never grow in numbers (I grab the berried females and move them to a 2.5 to hatch, then move them back down, and move their babies down at 1/2 inch or so in size). However, natural patterns on neocaridina or malawa caridina / golden nebula caridina ...they seem to flourish as long as there is dense vegetation to grow up in. Best of luck!
@Mark Ulis All the fish you eat are benthic or bottom feeders , the only fish you would find that are pelagic would be marlins, blue fin tuna ..... The English expression bottom feeder has nothing to do with animals or their hygiene , it is an expression for people with low morals or class. Sole , salmon , trout , shrimp , perch, grouper , white fish are all bentho pelagic , they swim in the middle and eat off the bottom
Treated one of my tanks with the 1-2 punch to kill algea. I've done the process many many times with no ill effect to the fish. Well this time all 5 of my false julii had a bad reaction to the excel and within 30 minutes of the 1-2 punch treatment, I noticed all 5 stressed. Looked closer and all of them had no more barbels. The 7 peppered corys were just fine. This has been about 7 months and the false julii still haven't regrown their barbels but they seem just fine without them. They find food easily and school around without any issues.
I have 2 corydoras that have 1 spot white on the posterior base of the top fin. Appears to be attached and not into the layers of skin. Appears to little bit bigger then a grain of salt, but both fish have in the same location. Not sure if it is ich but am trating at this time for that. Thanks Alex.
@@Fishtory It was fat adipose fat deposit. Same spot both fish. Amazing. Alex is there anyway i can get on a list to buy a pair or 2 of scarlet badis when you breed them.
Yeah I'd isolate him and treat him with erythromycin if possible... lots of water changes and some space (his air bladder may also be inflamed or damaged)
I have a few corydoras granti in my sand bottom community tank that are showing some barbel erosion 😫 so finding this video was a huge help, thank you!! I'm currently setting up a 10 gallon bare bottom tank for them and plan to add a catappa leaf when I add the cats, since right now they live with neocaradina in a hard water set up with a high pH and I don't want to stress them more. I'm thinking I'll give them a couple weeks to adjust to that before treating with maracyn, would you agree, or do you think I should just medicate right away?
Thanks! I was thinking about this old debate in the hobby and thought "c'mon! They must know the answers to these questions!"...then did a quick search on Google scholar and BAM... tons of info on it
@@FishtoryI've never kept Cory cats, but have always heard that if you keep them on gravel it will damage their barbels, same with Khuli loaches. I'm guessing the same info from this video would apply to khulis too? (Also a fish I've never kept, but really like). Google scholar is great if you know how to navigate it, I've tried a few times, but it made my head spin a little trying to find what I was looking for, lol! Thankfully we have you, Alex, to weed through there for us! 🙂👍
Yes, some will eat them, and apparently they don't taste that good (so I'm guessing by watching a lot of fish spit them out after eating them lol)...but if hungry, they'll eat most ant little critters
I've bought some with damage, but if they stay gone over like 6 months to a year...they won't grow back sometimes...but they'll survive in aquaria...just in the wild they can find enough food
Very weird I have a big tank with good filtration. Water is good. My cory look very active and happy. But all the panda cory I add they lose there whiskers in a couple days?
I noticed this about a year ago and LFS never saw it before. Recommended Melafix and Pimafix. Did absolutely nothing. Now all my sterbais have it and I could never find any info on the internet. My corys are on eco complete gravel.
I have one leucomelas cory with missing barbells and fungus infection, i am using salt in near limit safe doses for them, but since a salt balth and rinse gentlely the infected areas, it seems to getting better, its color came back and now its eating as used to
Yes, its being debated back and forth, but yes... the orange lasers, green lasers, bronze, black many albinos and venezuelanus are all just aneus morphs ... or perhaps they'll decide due to the 2,500 mile range of the species, its infact now unique species
Nice info and video Alex but you confused me. Barb issues caused by a pathogen I understand. But in a few parts of the video you reference that sharp objects can cause a damage to the barbs allowing a pathogen to take hold an infect. But then you also mention sharp objects not being a culprit. I can understand a scratch in a barb not getting infected and rotting away if the pathogen is not in the aquarium. Usually most aquariums have different bacteria present which does not effect healthy fish. But with a scratch in a barb the bacteria can get a foot hold. Am I to understand by what you are stating that the bacteria can in fact take hold of a healthy barb? I think the information regarding sharp objects in the aquarium causing this problem is really just to remove the possibility of causing a scrape that would allow an infection to take hold. Hopefully it's not taken as using sandpaper rubbing off the barb. LOL
You are correct. In theory any object that breaks skin could cause it. However it was so rare in studies, that a healthy fish had this issue, they decided to amputate the barbels to study them instead of finding fish to treat
Go to Google and search "Google scholar " then search new species ...you basically just have to organize the search by "most recent" and then see what there is evert Friday and or mondays when they publish most journals.
Yeah plecos go wild at night...especially if a betta just drifts into their lower area to check out food or their cave....they'll tussle but usually won't damage one a other too badly
@Mark Ulis was using a quote from the video to say that perhaps others may have a different cadence in the pressing of comment at the beginning of the video and the like at the end of the video, while simultaneously indicating that I was at the point in the video where the quotation was pulled from, at the time of commenting. Although it is very likely that I will like the video, I tend to wait until I have seen enough to make that judgement, in case youtube keeps track of at what point in the video the like button is hit, and weights likes that appear to be genuine reactions to the video, possibly filtering out instant reactions to videos. I don't know how any of this really works.
My friend has Cory red blotch desease it's nasty u need to keep ur substrates clean people if u ever see this red botchs on fish u need to act right away I treated with salt but u can use tetracycline
I GOT 6 EMERALD CORYS from Petco and all had missing Barbels and shredded dorsal fins. After a month in my tank and steady feeding of live blackworms to supplement the algae wafers all barbels and fins have grown back!!! Not to worry guys!!
Right on! It's awesome that you nursed them back to health!
Nothing says good water parameters like healing fish! I got a large double black angelfish and unfortunately he had a small fin tear during the netting. A few days later it was half closed. Those corys are lucky to have you!
That's where I got mine, only 1 ended up with Barbel issues, which may have started shortly before I got him.
Great info!! I would add that in aquatic environments "the bottom" isn't the bad area , or the leftovers like the English expression "bottom dweller" implies
Benthic environments are the richest aquatic environments , while we generally feed top down , nature is the reverse. Surface dwelling pelagic fish like minnows are more like scavengers eating anything that falls in the water, their digestive systems are used to harder food like leaves fruits or nuts also lower quality food per pound , while Cory's and other cats would in nature be getting the richest foods in the river , the most worms , copepods amphipods seed shrimp etc. Normally since we feed top down , aquarists tend to starve out benthic fish, and bloat out pelagic fish , it's like a Alison wonderland mirror thang
Awesome points! Thanks
Probably the nicest guy just talking about fish and stuff available right now in YT. always thumbs up.
Aww thank you so very kindly. Im humbled to read this. Have a great week!
I agree, I had kept them in pebble substrate for a long time before using finer substrate and they did well. Though, the activities you get when using fine substrate such as sand should be considered if one wants to keep on watching them do their things. The moment my corydoras finally had a fine substrate, they just went in and kept on sifting. On my before setup which was the pebble substrate, they would just hide all the time under the plants but the sand substrate, which is only a potion of the tank, is a great way to lure them out and they can be observed more.
Totally. Depending on the species they really do loge playing on sand, digging or hiding in it/on it
I've adding sanded areas over the pebbles to create viewing areas in the front and the one visible side of my 100 gallon. Seems like I can just add more pebbles around anything they are trying to uproot in my coarse sanded 125.
I love your channel. Thank you for your research to help us learn more about the hobby, historically, scientifically, and practically. Your dedication and hard work improve not only UA-cam, but the hobby as well. Thanks again for all you do.
That is incredibly generous of you to say. I am humbled. Thank you
I love your deep dives. I never knew they could or would regenerate barbels. I never had any cories that lost them. And yes, folks are still arguing and insisting that it's sharp substrate or sharp decorations and they just know they are correct about their opinion, so there's no point arguing with them. I'm always so happy when you show scientific proof of what you're saying, and site sources.
👍❤👍
Lol it was a pet peeve of mine... I mean I've had corys living in tanks with sharp crystals, fluorite, splinters, you name it...never have I had it happen in my tank either... I've nursed a few back that I adopted with fungus/bacterial infections, but never have I seen it in people who have been in the hobby for years and keep a balanced and or clean tank.
But I wanted to "settle the issue" ...chicken or the egg... do sharp things cause infections or does poor water conditions and an imbalanced tank/diet cause sick fish that just get fungal and bacterial infections, in the body part that they use the most?
I feel like it's settled now, and so do about 4 different studies 1927, 1961 1977, and 2003 lol
DAMN. that was a really cool video. I watch fish and plant videos aaalll day on youtube just cause. This video wasnt my a "my top 7 cory tips" type, it was a legit deep dive exploration of a topic. Not only a topic but a very specific narrow topic. To top it off, its specific but super common. The approach, the video with narration behind it, and (most important) really explaining slowly and concisely while still making it easy to understand was the icing on the cake. Ive seen a couple of your videos, and theyve been good, but this one made me subscribe. I hate getting alerts, so im picky with what i subscribe to so kudos man. Great job!!
Welcome!
Glad to hear this. I have thought so for a long time. Collected Corydoras paleatus on sharp gravel in Uruguay a long time ago. They all had perfect barbels.
They dig deep in to sand spraying the sand out the gills. They can't be too sensitive to abrasion!
Exxxxxactly! It's all about their health and wellness, when the hobby seems to parrot either the "fact" that they can't live on: xyz or the "fact" that it's due to food being too small in gravel or rocks" .
Science meanwhile saved this almost 100 years ago
@@Fishtory As I've said before, I love this types of info from you. More Cory stuff Please!!! I bought a group of CW115 that are in rough shape with eroded and bloody barbels. BBS and grindal, salt after each water change. Hope I can save them. Will try medication in a few days if nothing happens.
@@kristianadolfsson sure thing! Also, best of luck, keep me posted
@@Fishtory I've never understood the sharp gravel side of this discussion. Corydoras and fish in general will breed anywhere the water is good enough and the food is plentiful enough; flooded malls come to mind, lol!! And who thinks corys are stupid enough to, as a species, jam their tender barbels on rocks until their face erodes? Let's give 60 million (?) years of evolution some credit.
I love this Alex! I've heard so many different things about the barbels and damage!! What a wonderful deep dive on my favorite fish! In my experience I've never had any issues, but I've heard so many different rumors this really helps me out a lot!!
I truly enjoyed the footage of your aquarium during your discussion!
So interesting how those little barbells pick up everything within the water. And I never really knew about the way the barbels grow and continue to get more cells!
Great video Alex!! I really really enjoyed it!! I hope you're having a wonderful day my friend 🙏🥰🌿🐟🌿💝❤️
Thanks Mary! I thought you nay like this one hehe
You said what I was going to say so I'll just leave it at that thanks ✌️👍
Could watch your videos all day long. Thanks for another awesome and informative video.
I'll alow you to watch them all day haha. Thanks though! I appreciate it greatly
Ammonia: 0.00 PPM
Nitrite:0.00 PPM
Nitrate: 7.7 PPM
pH: 7.4
Alkalinity: 172 PPM
GH: 170 PPM
TDS: 168 PPM
My cory catfish doesn't have any Barbels at all, and hasn't had them for as long as I remember.
I originally had 6, now just one, I quarantined the rest and dosed PolyGuard when one of them died off but still lost all but the last of six to some unknown problem during quarantine, I kept them in the quarantine after finishing with the medicine to ensure they could heal but they all died, I added the last one back to the main tank and they've behaved completely normally, they swim around my Bolivian Ram not afraid of them and rarely QUICKLY swim to the surface for air, they feel comfortable enough to swim slowly instead of super quickly like how I observed when first adding the 6 to the tank a year or so ago, they just.... don't have any barbels, just like all of the others I purchased. Instead their mouth is a white hole just like the thumbnail, in-fact my cory catfish is the same species.
I have a deep playsand substrate with some gravel topping it off in the front-end of the tank. I feed the catfish via shrimp wafers.
I really do enjoy this species a lot but I don't think I'll get more, I don't want any more of them to unnecessarily suffer losing their barbels to whatever is causing this problem for my current cory. I'm well aware that catfish need a group of 6 or more, but I don't want to cause an endless loop of the same thing happening.
The fact you care about any of it, means its got a great home now.
It could be bacteria they had when you bought them sadly
Enjoying the topic ... anything Corydora is good in my books! Commenting for the algorithm...
Thanks! I'm thinking of doing a corydoras aneaus color variant episode: green & orange lasers, orange Venezuelans, black, albino, long fin, sail fin, bronze, green/emerald and more, all are 1 species out of the 800+ amazingly
@@Fishtory That would be so cool! Will keep an eye open for it...
Full geek mode. I’m here and loving it!
Thanks for dropping a line! I'm always in full geek mode haha I'm happy to have some company now
Yo bitch this is one of the best fish vids I have EVER seen. The community works well enough by trial and error but you found scientific papers that talked in detail about the issue and just started spitting facts. A+
I think you will enjoy my channel then. Welcome to the community my friend!
This is so informative!!! Fantastic reporting!🌻🌼🐝
Boosting for the algorithm 🙌 Love your work, keep it up! 🌻🐝
In my experience, corys only lose their barbels when the water quality is bad. Quite a few years ago I had some leopard corys in a small 20L tank. If i forgot to change the water after 2 weeks some of them lost their barbels. Another issue with corys in poor water conditions is that they develop a weird disease. One by one the corys will start to swim uncontrollably, over a few days/weeks. They seem to feed but gradually lose weight and die eventually. Dosed with metronidazole and anti parasite meds but to no avail. I had one gold lazer develop this issue in a temporary tank. But once I moved them to a tank more than 10× the size the issue resolves on its on. So moral of the story is keep your water clean and give your corys more space if you want them to thrive!
I've noticed similar things as well. The air bladder control loss and nervous system twitching seems to happen from high nitrates or ammonia in my experience too
Yes I experience the same I loose my two cory one is juli and sterbai 😭
I recommend your channel to anybody that has a aquarium 👍
Iam flattered 😀 thank you kindly
It is these deep dive/geeking on topics that have gotten my attention!!! Thank-you!!!
Glad you like them! (Most don't "do well" but they're the stuff I enjoy most
@@Fishtory I certainly hope you continue! I haven't figured out how to join (I know it's the join button, but am confused after that), but I do want to support what you are doing!
Well they say that a good diet affects skin integrity, malnourished corydoras are prone to external factors that wouldn’t normally bother them if they had a good diet.
This is a really informative video.
Bingo. And thank you kindly
Great video! Thanks so much for this information! I love my corys and I want to he as knowledgeable as possible about their care.
Thank you. I'm so glad to hear you found this if use. I too adore Cory Cats!
I've bought corys with no barbels, both at my LFS and online. The good news is that in a healthy setup they grow them back, in my experience. I have never medicated for the situation, just given them a healthy diet and good living conditions.
Fantastic video as always! I love corys more than anything, so this video was an extra interesting watch
Right on! Thanks 😊 they're one of my favorites as well. I'll definitely be doing an episode on aneaus corydoras and all their color morphs soon
@@Fishtory Oh man, I can't wait!!!
Thanks for sharing Alex. I always enjoy your deep dives.
Hope the back is healing x❤👍
Thanks Kay! I'm doing much better, and hence all the videos with deep dives lately haha. Cheers
I actually have some cories in my tank right now in a gravel tank. I read this and the rule of thumb was 1/4" mine are much longer...emerald cories. The reason has been established and its keeping the top layer of substrate clean...
Yes, keeping the substrate clean...or letting it become dirty with mulm slowly/ having a balanced micro-ecosysyem is the key. Keeping nitrates down and ph where they like it, were the 2 biggest factors according to the studies done
Thank you so much! I just noticed two of my corydoras have slightly eroded barbels. I was wondering if this is contagious to other fish?
Not unless a secondary infection like staph or MRSA etc. Were growing on the wounds.
@@Fishtory today I noticed one of my other corydoras is behaving normal but slightly pale. Is this a symptom? Maybe I'm just paranoid
Thank you!!!! Just noticed one of my albino Corys is missing barbels. Poor baby. I have a 20GL and will treat the whole tank, I think. (8 Cory’s, 13 green tetra, 3 mollies)
You are amazing! Thank you for all good information.
Thank you so much for your support
Your videos are always so informative I love it. Now I know even more in detail about the cool little creatures I own :)
Edit; I can now brag even more to my friends about these amazing corys ahah
Haha thanks for leaving a comment, it really helps videos travel, and this is so common, I really hope more folks will learn how to treat or prevent the issue of erosion.
Thanks for watching and dropping a comment!.
Have a great week!
-Alex
@@Fishtory thanks Alex I hope you have an awesome week too!
I was wondering if you had done videos in the past on The African leaf fish(just because you explain other things that usually you don’t find in a care page, interesting stuff.. I like it when you go off on a bundle of past history info) and Synodontis nigriventris? I just got these buddies recently and they never come out even tho it’s fully covered with green! Currently I have 5 of them, initially we left the store with 2 and half way in the car we turned back and got 3 more. ( the fish keeper was awkward when I asked if they should be in groups like …. Ah they do well just one of them but they would like to be in bigger schools… but you could get away just with one .. one one.) me and my husband in the car expressed out frustration because yeah they were a bit pricey but if they do better in groups just say.. don’t beat around the bush just because you will be happy with that one sell.
We are considering getting more of them. As they stay hiding in the wood.what do you think? Is this just normal behaviour? :)
Sorry for the long message I’m not English and I struggle to make my messages shorter when I’m trying to explain what I might mean! Thanks again for your time ☺️
Love my Cory's. Two of my albinos have lost their barbels but seem to be quite happy
Oh interesting. They haven't grown back at all?
@@Fishtory Me too. I had 1 out of 5 lose it’s barbels, quarantined for 2 months with alternating salt and General Cure sessions. 2 years later still no growth but fitting in fine with it’s buddies. Black sandblasting sand in most tanks with 0 barbel issues are including 2 grumpy platys.
Also my seemingly blind African Dwarf frogs will take a mouthful of sand with their food, spit out the sand as they chew and swallow with no issues…other than having terrible eyesight lol.
@@ruidadgmailcanada8508 Yep my sterbais all have the white nose and no barbels. All are healthy and eat, swim all over. This has been about a year.
been keeping corys for 60 years, never seen any barbel problems.
Thanks man this was really helpful and cool!
You got it
Another great video 🤙 Alex don't play!
Thanks for the support and enthusiasm my friend! Have a great week.
I had entire Cory groups come in the mail with no barbels and the wound had scarred over perfectly. After years of soft sand, black worms, RO water changes with tannins still no barbels. Is there anything else that I could do to help them grow back? Do the meds still work even if the initial wound has scarred since many years?
Sadly, after 6 months without them, they are gone. But in an aquarium you can give them a full life still...whereas in the wild they would be dead quickly from starvation
Have a comment for the algorithm.
I'm gonna go drop some catappa leaves in my Cory tank
Right on! Thanks man
Loved the content as I do have one of my corydoras missing barbels but dude, you have to fix or stabilize your camera/phone. Half an hour of shaky video is tough to go through.
Yeah the stable lens setting was not working and I made 3 versions to edit, and sadly this was the best of 3. But I apologize for that
Thanks again for good info. Corys are such fun
No problem, thanks for stopping by and dropping a line!
I know I'm late, but THANK YOU for this video, and for the scientific links! I LOVE knowing the science behind things, and I've got 1 cory with this problem, while the other 5 are just fine... Full Fu Man Chu stache's.. >.< - My little dude also got fin rot after some fin nipping or a cut, or maybe he was bad off when I got him - I only had 3 at first and they're from petco. I know, I'm sorry, I buy from good places now - and there was more stress, because I still had much to learn >.
How do I join your channel? I may have already joined and that’s why the link isn’t working but I can’t find the join button. Let me know please
Hey, thank you so very much, my friend! o sometimes Apple devices have issues with it working (lol.... sometimes certain Android devices or computers do also). UA-cam basically has some issues to work out.
But there should be a blue or red button that says"join", on my channel's home page. Or on some phones it's under the video player if you x out of the chat screen and description screen. It's in the lower right corner If in moble, and you click on my main profile...if that doesn't work... then it just isn't meant to be for now lol. But I truly appreciate the effort!
Great video Alex :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
Always like the deep dive
Thanks! I'll keep spending silly amounts of time on these then haha. I enjoy them also (it could be 3 hours long after I finish the reading for these, it's really hard for me to control myself and to shut up/stay on point with my outline
I noticed my group of Habrosus Corys in my planted 40b all lost their barbels. Theres no lesions or any injuries visible, they're just gone. If I treat them with an anti-fungal, should I pull them into a quarantine tank or dose my whole tank? Because if its something thats present in the tank they're in I guess I should treat the whole tank but if I dont have to, I'd rather only dose 10gal than 40 lol
Um their immune system should heal so I'd treat them in a small tank...but keep them there until the barbels come back somewhat... then just don't feed them food that will cause them to dig into the substrate if you can find wafers or algae snacks for them/frozen blood worms, I'd feed them that. Also a catapa leaf or two in the 10gallon will help heal their slime coat and skin.
Basically, yes, they will likely grow back their barbels...or worst case...if theyve been gone over a year, theyll just live without them (in the wild they die without them, but in tanks they can live just fine since they dont have to forage for food so much. So in the big tank that bacteria will probably still exist...but ecoli and MRSA etx exist on our skin...but if we are healthy we can fight it off daily and be fine...as can they :)
Best of luck and I Hope that helps a little? Cheers
Thanks, definitely helps! I was basically under the assumption of what you said so thanks for solidifying my original thoughts.
I’ve bought some hardscape from a LFS that’s labeled as “Burma petrified (Burma stone)”, which I believe is a prettified wood, from Lifeguard Aquatics. Would it be unsafe to put in with corydoras and is there anyway to make it safer. I could use a power head while I cycle but I don’t know if that would really erode the stone. New to the hobby, thanks for all your thoughtful videos, btw!
You'll be fine with that stone. It's actually layered silt/mud stone that just looks similar to wood (usually). Some sellers just make stuff up annoyingly.
Thanks for the information 👍✌️💯
im glad to hear the affirmation that when coyrdoras frequently slap the top it's a good thing. Since I switched from a filtered tank to a filterless tank I wondered if my fish were getting enough oxygen, but they have babies almost every time I change the water though so I should've known they were fine . lol You're the best aquarium knowledge source out there. Thank you
Also, it'd be nice to know your thoughts on Thai Micro Crabs. Have you done a video on them?
Thank you, that truly means a great deal to me to read your message. I try and dig through the acedemic papers the best I can, and apply my experience woven into the narrative of their findings (sometimes they don't see things as a pet owner would haha).
As for micro crabs, I find that they are really expensive, and very tiny...to which I'd rather have a shrimp by preference...but I get the attraction for sure. I have not done a video on them specifically, but have researched them and seen them in the store I worked at. They are sort of delicate, and don't pair well with any fish but the very smallest like chili rasboras. Also they are hard to breed in captivity (Thai micros, and pom pom crabs...so I sort of try and keep fish I can try and spawn as a broad rule...gobies being the main exception.)
But I'll definitely see if I can get a few to film and do a video on them sometime soon. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@Fishtory thank you for the insights, I'll probably just keep my corydora tank until I setup a new one.
Great info @Alex again mate.👍👍👍
Thanks @wayne
Quality content mate. Well done
Thanks for stopping by and dropping a line, mate. Cheers
Hey Alex 😊 I have one juli cory that has a white puffy nose. I have moved him into a quarantine tank. Do you suggest I treat him with the co-op trio meds all at once, or do you have a better suggestion? Thank you so much my friend. ❤🇨🇦
Yeah that's probably fine. I worry that it's too many meds for some delicate fish like rainbow fish or gobies...but it should be fine for a cory :)
I've had Corydoras aneus without barbels, long term. Apparently no problems other than aesthetics.
In an Aquarium they should be okay. In the wild...not so much unfortunately. Glad you gave them a good home!
Off topic butBeautiful angels Alex and I gotta get me some black phantoms!!!!
Haha thanks, and yes- they're nice local bred "Koi Tiger Pearl Scale" Angels. And the black phantoms won't let you down! (The deep Dive I did on them, rekindled my love)
I can see you have shrimp in your community tank. How does that work? I thought the shrmip would have been eaten sure… I've got a separate shrimp tank with a Siamese fighter but I would love to incorporate shrimp into my big tank.
So, the cherry shrimp and bright colored shrimp... they never grow in numbers (I grab the berried females and move them to a 2.5 to hatch, then move them back down, and move their babies down at 1/2 inch or so in size).
However, natural patterns on neocaridina or malawa caridina / golden nebula caridina ...they seem to flourish as long as there is dense vegetation to grow up in. Best of luck!
I was born in Suriname and we eat the Hoplosternum littorale. They look like the bigger cousins of corys. They can grow up to 24 centimeters
@Mark Ulis Catfish meat is superb if you cook it the right way
@Mark Ulis All the fish you eat are benthic or bottom feeders , the only fish you would find that are pelagic would be marlins, blue fin tuna ..... The English expression bottom feeder has nothing to do with animals or their hygiene , it is an expression for people with low morals or class.
Sole , salmon , trout , shrimp , perch, grouper , white fish are all bentho pelagic , they swim in the middle and eat off the bottom
How do they taste?!
Agreed
Truth
Treated one of my tanks with the 1-2 punch to kill algea. I've done the process many many times with no ill effect to the fish. Well this time all 5 of my false julii had a bad reaction to the excel and within 30 minutes of the 1-2 punch treatment, I noticed all 5 stressed. Looked closer and all of them had no more barbels. The 7 peppered corys were just fine. This has been about 7 months and the false julii still haven't regrown their barbels but they seem just fine without them. They find food easily and school around without any issues.
They'll be okay in a tank... in the wild they would die without the sense of smell and direction, but luckily we take care of them :)
Good looking tanks and info
Thanks man!
I have 2 corydoras that have 1 spot white on the posterior base of the top fin. Appears to be attached and not into the layers of skin. Appears to little bit bigger then a grain of salt, but both fish have in the same location. Not sure if it is ich but am trating at this time for that. Thanks Alex.
Yeah look up fish fin flukes too perhaps. Best of luck to you and your fishy friends
@@Fishtory It was fat adipose fat deposit. Same spot both fish. Amazing. Alex is there anyway i can get on a list to buy a pair or 2 of scarlet badis when you breed them.
Great work, thanks!
Thanks 😊
Wondering if you have ever kept African Dwarf Frogs?? I was hoping you'd have a video about them but didnt find. Would be cool if you did! :)
I have kept them. But haven't done a video oddly enough. I will at some point though! Thanks
What are your red/pink plants?
Also, great video
Most are crypt spiraling red tiger or hygrophila polysperma
My Cory lost his right whiskers and is swimming upside down should I isolate him or what do you think should I do?
Yeah I'd isolate him and treat him with erythromycin if possible... lots of water changes and some space (his air bladder may also be inflamed or damaged)
I have a few corydoras granti in my sand bottom community tank that are showing some barbel erosion 😫 so finding this video was a huge help, thank you!! I'm currently setting up a 10 gallon bare bottom tank for them and plan to add a catappa leaf when I add the cats, since right now they live with neocaradina in a hard water set up with a high pH and I don't want to stress them more. I'm thinking I'll give them a couple weeks to adjust to that before treating with maracyn, would you agree, or do you think I should just medicate right away?
If the sores are bloody, treat immediately, if not- then you can wait
Not at all bloody. No pink anywhere, just worn down. Thanks for taking the time, Alex!
really informative thank you!
So glad to supply it :) have a great week!
Cool content and info
[thank, you for you're video]👍
I’m gathering information about the Corydoras so when I get some for my aquarium I will know how to care for them.
Right on! Thats how to guarantee success and happiness. And hopefully its a little fun too
Yes I’ve been researching all the fish I’m interested in to see how they will get along together and their needs.
Definitely lots of fun.
Signing in hey alex
Great info! 👍
Thanks! I was thinking about this old debate in the hobby and thought "c'mon! They must know the answers to these questions!"...then did a quick search on Google scholar and BAM... tons of info on it
@@FishtoryI've never kept Cory cats, but have always heard that if you keep them on gravel it will damage their barbels, same with Khuli loaches. I'm guessing the same info from this video would apply to khulis too? (Also a fish I've never kept, but really like). Google scholar is great if you know how to navigate it, I've tried a few times, but it made my head spin a little trying to find what I was looking for, lol! Thankfully we have you, Alex, to weed through there for us! 🙂👍
Hey Alexander. A quick question. Does some corys take some planeria?
I'm sure they would eat it. Many catfish eat worms bugs and smaller fish.
Yes, some will eat them, and apparently they don't taste that good (so I'm guessing by watching a lot of fish spit them out after eating them lol)...but if hungry, they'll eat most ant little critters
Very informal good video
Thank you!
Great topic
Thanks! Hope you're doing well!
@@Fishtory I'm doing better! 🤗 new year all new projects and loads of good things in the works
Have you had cory panda who lost them completely and grew them back?
I've bought some with damage, but if they stay gone over like 6 months to a year...they won't grow back sometimes...but they'll survive in aquaria...just in the wild they can find enough food
Very weird I have a big tank with good filtration. Water is good. My cory look very active and happy. But all the panda cory I add they lose there whiskers in a couple days?
I noticed this about a year ago and LFS never saw it before. Recommended Melafix and Pimafix. Did absolutely nothing. Now all my sterbais have it and I could never find any info on the internet. My corys are on eco complete gravel.
Hopefully some api fungus cure and erythromycin will cure them within a month of treatment! Best wishes to you and your cory crew
Seek and you will find
Find and you will seek
Amen!
@@Fishtory :)
Cool share 🤙
Thanks
I have one leucomelas cory with missing barbells and fungus infection, i am using salt in near limit safe doses for them, but since a salt balth and rinse gentlely the infected areas, it seems to getting better, its color came back and now its eating as used to
So glad to hear jt
Hey there
Heyo!
Pretty sure corydoras venezuelanus its not actualy a aeneus species if my readings are correct from planet catfish.
Yes, its being debated back and forth, but yes... the orange lasers, green lasers, bronze, black many albinos and venezuelanus are all just aneus morphs ... or perhaps they'll decide due to the 2,500 mile range of the species, its infact now unique species
Nice info and video Alex but you confused me. Barb issues caused by a pathogen I understand. But in a few parts of the video you reference that sharp objects can cause a damage to the barbs allowing a pathogen to take hold an infect. But then you also mention sharp objects not being a culprit. I can understand a scratch in a barb not getting infected and rotting away if the pathogen is not in the aquarium. Usually most aquariums have different bacteria present which does not effect healthy fish. But with a scratch in a barb the bacteria can get a foot hold. Am I to understand by what you are stating that the bacteria can in fact take hold of a healthy barb?
I think the information regarding sharp objects in the aquarium causing this problem is really just to remove the possibility of causing a scrape that would allow an infection to take hold. Hopefully it's not taken as using sandpaper rubbing off the barb. LOL
You are correct. In theory any object that breaks skin could cause it. However it was so rare in studies, that a healthy fish had this issue, they decided to amputate the barbels to study them instead of finding fish to treat
Where can I find new scientific discoveries an Marine life?
Go to Google and search "Google scholar " then search new species ...you basically just have to organize the search by "most recent" and then see what there is evert Friday and or mondays when they publish most journals.
Interesting
I thought so! Thanks for stopping by...cheers!
I think my betta is attacking my pleco at night my substrate is a mess in the morning.
Plecos will do that. Any other reasons you think that may be the case? If not.. I wouldn't worry too much
Yeah plecos go wild at night...especially if a betta just drifts into their lower area to check out food or their cave....they'll tussle but usually won't damage one a other too badly
My blue phantom is a menace to my sand over night lol.
👍
Thanks buddy
Hooray
@Mark Ulisdifferent species have different configurations.
@Mark Ulis was using a quote from the video to say that perhaps others may have a different cadence in the pressing of comment at the beginning of the video and the like at the end of the video, while simultaneously indicating that I was at the point in the video where the quotation was pulled from, at the time of commenting. Although it is very likely that I will like the video, I tend to wait until I have seen enough to make that judgement, in case youtube keeps track of at what point in the video the like button is hit, and weights likes that appear to be genuine reactions to the video, possibly filtering out instant reactions to videos. I don't know how any of this really works.
@Mark Ulis hard to be bothered when talking about fish. I don't have any cory's but Alex is a joy to watch.
Thanks @Brian Levy
I think it must have been hilarious to take some corydoras into an MRI
Hahaha I didn't really picture that...but yes...I'm sure the tech was face palming the whole time
My friend has Cory red blotch desease it's nasty u need to keep ur substrates clean people if u ever see this red botchs on fish u need to act right away I treated with salt but u can use tetracycline
AquaNox reply update day 2 my friends Cory's red blotch mark of dorsal fins gone fish seems better n don't 20%water change
I have always said it is 2 or 3 reasons. Bacteria growth and a sharp bottom I think are the main reasons
Yes and Fungi is more commonly the cause when they are gone totally.
sansibar white?
Sure?