webmoose said:
The only thing I could figure was that they were not enjoying my spunky pleco that kept jumping on them and water changes. I was to the point that I was adding my new water with a tube so that it would be added slowly.
Are they sensitive to water changes? I have 3 right now in my 5G Platy fry tank, which gets daily water changes, with the water just dumped in. They seem to be doing ok after 4 months.
I originally started out with 3 in my main tank, and they all lost their barbels, I'm guessing because of dirty substrate. One of them was ganged up on and terrorized by my Tiger Barbs, so I moved all of them to the nursery tank, but the one that was being terrorized, I lost soon after. His replacement went straight to the fry tank. The barbels on the previous surviving 2 are growing back now, and they seem to be doing ok.
Since they live in the fry tank, they get fed often (3-5 times a day), and the varied foods that the fry get (frozen baby Brine Shrimp, TetraMin Baby flakes, crushed Spirulina flakes, crushed TetraMin Pro, and algae pellets).
Corys in general don't seem to do very well in my main tank. I've had Peppered, Albino, and Panda, and they all lose their barbels soon after introduction to the main tank. So, for the time being, they are all being kept in my fry tanks until their barbels grow back. The main tank is a bit overstocked, but all water parameters are normal, and the water gets changed twice a week. I just got a larger tank today, so let's see if that solves the problem.