Barbells gone on julii cory

[JudiJetson]

Hello all,

If anyone can take a look, it seems one of my julii cory cats is missing the barbells. She is hiding out in a corner, hasn't come out to eat with the others and isn't bothered by my attempts at taking a photo. She was definitely fine last night swimming with the others and and eating wafers (I feed the cories in a shallow dish to make sure they're never hungry). My gravel is rounded so I didn't think there would be an issue and all of my other tank inhabitants are peaceful.

Is there anything I can do? The photos were the best I could do...

[Aeonflame]

Eroded barbels have also been linked to water quality issues. What are your parameters? do you vacuum the gravel?

[JudiJetson]

Aeonflame, my parameters are 0 ammonia / 0 nitrites / 10 nitrates (have never tested above 10) & I vacuum 1/2 the gravel weekly and skim the top of the other 1/2 with my 50% pwc.

[Aeonflame]

Is this a new fish? Did you notice if it was always like that?

[JudiJetson]

I've had her since 12/05/12, she spent 4+ weeks in qt then moved her to main tank. I'm positive that she had the barbels before. I'd put money on her having them as of yesterday. I always do a daily head count and make sure everyone is out and about and I didn't notice any issues yesterday.

She has at least moved to the other side of the tank near their little feeding dish...can they eat without the barbels?

[Aeonflame]

They are able to find food and eat without their barbels

[JudiJetson]

That's good to know. I am very concerned still due to her inactivity and lack of interest in food.

I appreciate the help and will keep a close eye on everything (making sure there's no sharp or dirty gravel). Just hate when things like this happen.

[Limming]

Would it be possible that another one of your fish nibbled on it? I don't see anyone that might but another possibility to look for.

[JudiJetson]

Limming, I've never seen any others bother her previously but she is the smallest of my cories. I've kept a close eye on her tonight and haven't seen any issues. To me, she just seems traumatized. My fingers are crossed but I just don't have a good feeling about this.

[Limming]

This doesn't seem likely but do you have an area of the tank where she could have got stuck and lost it? If this just happened and nothing else bothered her then its worth checking out.