cory
 

my albino corydora lost its bristles about 5 months ago :-( has anyone ever seen this before?:-?
i jst got 2 more corys yesterday and fed them baby brine shrimp there goin crazy over it and so r the other fishl. :-)

I have heard of this and it's usually a result of too sharp of substrate since cories spend their days rooting around and into the substrate looking for food. What type of substrate do you have in your tank??

rocks but it was in a different tank before it was rocks also

"Rocks" to me suggest sharp edges so that is probably the cause in your case. Smooth rocks have no impact, be it sand, gravel or pebbles, provided they are smooth; it is the rough edges that cause the trouble, not the gravel.

A second cause is biological. Some authors cite high nitrate levels, since these usually indicate deteriorating water conditions. I suspect it is the state of the water, which involves mainly the "health" of the water (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and non-fluctuation conditions) plus to some extent the parameters (pH and hardness).

Lastly I have had some corys lose their barbels while all the others in the same tank for years do not. This suggests it may also be a "fish" thing, by which I do not necessarily mean a particular species per say but some species may have a more susceptible reaction to something than others. I have maintained numerous species of Corydoras for 20 years and I find C. sterbai particularly susceptible.

And, they can live for years (normal life spans) without barbels, and no, they do not grow back.

Byron.

they r kinda smooth but they came out of the some sort of rocks when i bought them.

Barbels
 

Hi. The most common cause of barbel loss is bacteriological infection. They will generally only regenerate if the Cory is very young. - Frank