LDZ Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Hey all, I searched this forum and shockingly didn't find anything on barbel erosion in Cory catfish. So here it goes....... I have had terrible luck with panda corys over the last year. Long story short.... I have one Panda left and she is now showing signs of barbel erosion. None of the other pandas I lost showed symptoms of this problem. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 15 nitrates. Weekly 25 percent water changes. Over filtered using a hang on back with a uv light and two sponge filters. I think it's because I cut back on feeding after I lost the others and she had to work too hard in the sand searching for food and nicked her barbels. I have started feeding her more and using wafers. She is active and eating well. Is this contagious to other Cory's or other fish?? (I'm reluctantly considering getting more pandas so she is not alone.) Is it possible for this to go away without medication??? If I have to medicate, should I treat the tank or quarantine her to treat just her? What medication do you recommend? She lives with a giant Betta female and two reticulated hillstream loach. In a heavily planted 15 gallon tank. You have been so helpful in the past and I appreciate any advice I get from this post.💜🦐🐟 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Barbel erosion can be caused by rooting in sharp substrate or a bacterial infection what I would do is quarantine and do a course of maracyn update if you see no improvement after a week or it gets worse before then 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavdad45 Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 On 3/30/2023 at 2:52 PM, Colu said: Barbel erosion can be caused by rooting in sharp substrate or a bacterial infection what I would do is quarantine and do a course of maracyn update if you see no improvement after a week or it gets worse before then I agree whole-heartedly. The top cause is rough or sharp gravel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDZ Posted April 28, 2023 Author Share Posted April 28, 2023 @Coluhi again. Since you gave me advice on treating my Panda Cory with the maracyn for barbel erosion I have been fighting a bigger problem. I ran a course of maracyn with ickx as per box directions. She didn't look any better. Then the same tank broke out with columaris. As per your instructions I used carbon to remove residual maracyn and started your jungle fizz and kanaplex treatment. I am into that now three days. There is only one rasbora that has any outward symptoms but he is pretty well covered with grey patches. He is eating and swimming around. When I complete this treatment should I see all of the symptoms on that one fish be gone?? If he still has patches should I treat him longer in a quarantine tank. I was going to pull the Cory too, how should I treat her after all this. Her barbels are sty pretty bad. Thank you for all your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 On 4/28/2023 at 1:03 AM, LDZ said: @Coluhi again. Since you gave me advice on treating my Panda Cory with the maracyn for barbel erosion I have been fighting a bigger problem. I ran a course of maracyn with ickx as per box directions. She didn't look any better. Then the same tank broke out with columaris. As per your instructions I used carbon to remove residual maracyn and started your jungle fizz and kanaplex treatment. I am into that now three days. There is only one rasbora that has any outward symptoms but he is pretty well covered with grey patches. He is eating and swimming around. When I complete this treatment should I see all of the symptoms on that one fish be gone?? If he still has patches should I treat him longer in a quarantine tank. I was going to pull the Cory too, how should I treat her after all this. Her barbels are sty pretty bad. Thank you for all your help. If your still seeing symptoms after the frist full course of treatment do a 50% water change and run carbon to remove the remaining medication do another full course treatment with Kanaplex and jungal fungus clear fizz tabs sometimes it can take two full courses of treatment back to back to treat columnaris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDZ Posted April 28, 2023 Author Share Posted April 28, 2023 Should I treat the whole tank a second time or just the symptomatic fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 I would treat all the fish better to air on the side of caution @LDZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 What is the substrate in the tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDZ Posted April 28, 2023 Author Share Posted April 28, 2023 @nabokovfan87 the substrate is Petco brand black sand. There is barely a 1/4 inch layer left in the tank. Most of it has been siphoned out during the water changes. A lot of the bottom is covered with smooth, flat river rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 On 4/27/2023 at 11:23 PM, LDZ said: There is barely a 1/4 inch layer left in the tank. Shouldn't cause any issues. It's smooth. It also is generally inert. Beware that bare bottom tanks can cause erosion. Hopefully things start to turn around. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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