Cories with short barbel, Nitrate sensitivity

[terror]

Hi,

i noticed my old cories seem to have short barbels, Their tank is a 4x1.5x1.5 ft tank , its barebuttom with a piece of driftwood and lots of anubias.
the tank contains about 20 cories and 8 angels.

have not tested the nitrate level for a hwile, but when i tested before it was at 40ppm, is this high? i do weekly 50% water change.

btw here's a picture of my cory tank

thanks.

 

[Lupin]

It just meant you need to do more water changes. 40 ppm while an acceptable level for most species, is still too high for most fish.

 

[pinkertd]

:iagree:

 

[terror]

Thanks , I'll have to do wc 2x a week then

 

[cellodaisy]

Have you tested your tap water? Do you have high nitrate levels in your other tanks?

 

[terror]

Thanks my tanks usually have about 40ppm before wc , my cory tank
Is at 10ppm right now after , not really sure but if I remember correctly our tapwater has no nitrates I found my nitrate tester but not sure if it's still accurate

 

[jpappy789]

More plants will help. Anubias aren't going to suck up a lot of nutrients compared to other plants such as hygrophila that are faster growers.

 

[terror]

I just observed my old cories again, and really looked closely into their barbels, some of them almost have no barbels at all not really sure what the cause is,
i have a barebuttom tank, their tank has been setup for a few months. but never have i wiped the buttom of the tank before I only wioped it yesterday since i've read that that is 1 of the cause of barbel erosion? after water change my nitrate was 10 ppm, but i was not able to test before wc, I'll try to do 2 weekly water changes.

Also planning to get some really smooth and round gravel.

but i did notice that their barbels seem to be irritated? They would suddenly scratch thei face against the floor? what could be causing their barbel to be irritated?

tank is 75 gallon with 4 ft overhead filter and sponge filter.
tank ph is at 7.5

really hope i can find the cause of their barbel problem and fix it .

btw i've added melafix just in case its barbel infection?

here are some pictures of my cories with small or no barbel.

thanks.

 

[pinkertd]

It's probably from the bacteria buildup on the biofilm that resides on your glass. If you don't put some substrate in there, you need to wipe the glass regularly. Pleco spawns are also very sensitive to the bacteria in barebottom tanks and you can loose the whole lot because of it.

 

[terror]

thanks I'm planning to add some subtrate, maybe small round and smooth gravel if i can find some. will the barbels on my fish grow back? currently some of them seem to be irritated.