# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Catfishes >  Corydoras Barbel Erosion

## furyprix

Hey guys, I would like to inquire if anyone has had any experience treating barbel erosion in corydoras?

I keep 9 corydoras, 5 of them developed barbel erosion while the other 4 are growing strong. No idea why this is happening.

More importantly, any possible treatments? I lost 1 today  :Crying: 

In addition, i found that the dead 1 had reddish marks on its belly. Dont know if it was because it died for quite a few hours unnoticed.

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## Berny

I suspect that there are some sharp objects in your tank that cut them somehow

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## furyprix

but its weird because I've kept them for 3 months. and they only start to show these symptoms lately during the last month. and i realised that the ones affected are less active than before. While the healthy ones are still consistently breeding and laying eggs around the aquarium..

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## furyprix

i use a mixture of gravel and sand in my setup. and i am concerned over the buildup of toxins within the gravel layer itself. Not sure if i have to do a re-scape just to give the gravel a good clean..

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## seudzar

If you have check from the Internet, most possible cause for barbel erosion is bacterial infection and high nitrates. Try siphon your tank more often and keep the water clean

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## furyprix

Are corys not suitable for planted aquariums? I can't possible siphon e gravel where my plants grow...
but i do siphon the areas where I kept it sandy

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## Mystikboy

Perhaps examine the last month and the changes that you've made? And any differences in the way that you may have treated the healthy compared to the sick

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## stormhawk

Barbel erosion is usually caused by a bacteria of some sort, that lives in and on the substrate, not so much to do with the gravel, but as always, fine sand is best. You must keep the gravel bed healthy by ensuring you have good water flow through the gravel, so that pockets of detritus do not collect in some areas. Once this "erosion" happens, you cannot reverse it and the poor fish will be left with just the nubs of the barbels.

If you want to siphon the gunk out but do not wish to disturb the plants, just use a bamboo skewer and poke the substrate close to the surface to dislodge any detritus. Keep your siphon close by to suck out the crap as it gets thrown up into the water column. Also, please check your fish food that you have been giving to the Corydoras. Spoiled food can cause all sorts of problems.

Since you mentioned a reddish mark on the dead fish's belly, this is a sign of bacterial infection. You can attempt to reverse the problem by feeding them with Sera's BaktoTabs for the time being.

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## furyprix

the siphoning sounds tough  :Shocked:  perhaps i should consider rescaping it into a sand-based tank..
i got seachem paraguard, hope it does the trick to cure the remaining ones. as of now, it looks like I will lose another 3 or 4..  :Crying:

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## stormhawk

As with all methods of medication, there are risks of overdosing and such. I wish you luck in eradicating the problem, but if you do rescape, like I did, there may be losses from stress and such.

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## furyprix

what kind of 'theme' did u rescaped to?
if i changed it to DWs (some plants on them) + sand setup, will i largely decrease the chances for the bacteria to breed in my substrate? since the sand layer is gonna be super thin and considering corydoras love to dig through the sand and hence aerate them?

so far the medication is keeping them alive, though they seem really weak and are not eating. so i guess its only a matter of time when they :Knockout:

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## stormhawk

I keep my fish in a river-style setup, with good water flow and a sand bed with rocks and driftwood, plus some Java Fern and Anubias. I did not upload a photo of my setup but there is thread in the Aquascaping section when I first started it. Now it's overgrown with algae and full of hiding places for my fish.

If sick fish get through the medication successfully, usually they are weak and it is best to monitor their progress. Sometimes even with our best efforts, they do not survive.

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## furyprix

> I keep my fish in a river-style setup, with good water flow and a sand bed with rocks and driftwood, plus some Java Fern and Anubias. I did not upload a photo of my setup but there is thread in the Aquascaping section when I first started it. Now it's overgrown with algae and full of hiding places for my fish.
> 
> If sick fish get through the medication successfully, usually they are weak and it is best to monitor their progress. Sometimes even with our best efforts, they do not survive.


alright, i saw it. i guess i'll do with big driftwoods to block out the lightning by abit.

and yes, that's the sad part.. and we as keepers can't 100% prevent diseases..

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## johannes

Cories also prefer fine sand or rounded gravel in order to not hurt their barbels.

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