Cory lost their barbs!

[Kaighon]

Hi Everyone! I have a 25 gallon planted tank including 1 Dwarf gourami, 1 German Blue Ram, 6 cardinal tetra, 2 oto, 1 nerite Snail and 4 july Cory.

My substrate is flourite Gravel. Temps is 80, and nitrate is below 5.

I've added 4 july Cory about 2 month ago and theyve always been pretty active and they ate plenty.

They slowly became inactive and i noticed they they lost their barbs. I believe its because the Gravel is too Sharp.

What to Do !!?? Any advice? THX in advance

 

[Delapool]

Might be too large for them. I’ve used flourite substrate but with yoyo loaches (all fine, used to bury themselves up to eyes when after snails). Mine looked sharp but was ok rubbing along palm as a test.

Another to check would be nitrates just in case. High nitrates or organic matter has been linked in posts to erosion of barbs. I guess as they are down in the muck a bit.