12 Habrosus Corydoras barbels

[F3-RapalaAngler]

I have 12 Habrosus Corydoras I got this past weekend. A few of them have very short barbels. I'm wondering if given a good diet and good water quality if they will grow back?

There is nothing sharp in the tank, they are kept on smooth pea gravel, which I know isn't the best choice but also not the worst choice for them.

They share the tank with 5 nerite snails, a assassin snail, a cherry shrimp and a sparkling gourami.

Water has a ph of about 7.2
Zero ammonia
.5pm nitrites but being doesed with prime to fix that and water changes
Nitrates I don't know. Haven't checked but can't imagine that high with the water changes I've been doing and the plants

Also dowsing Seed in this tank.

It's full of water sprite and anubias Nana on driftwood. Also 3 Moss balls

Penguin 100B bio wheel filter

Temp 77F

I should mention it's a 10 gallon

[MarlonnekeW]

I've recently bought some habrosus with the same problem. They are mostly wild caught and are apparently not treated very well during transport etc., since the loss of barbels is mostly caused by an infection due to poor water quality.
There's some debate on if the barbels grow back. Some people say they will grow back, but it takes a very long time and others say that they won't.

But there are two other things that worry me about your tank.
First the substrate. If you have cory's, in my opinion, you should have sand. Cory's put sand through their gills to look for food. I see my habrosus doing that a lot. With your substrate this is not possible, so you sort of rob them from displaying their natural behavior.
The other is the nitrites. Habrosus are a pretty sensitive species, especially right after purchase. I'm not sure how well they will cope with the higher nitrites. Do you know what causes this en was it already .5pm before you got them? Because more/new fish will put an extra load on the filter and the biological balance of your aquarium and if this was already a problem, adding more fish could lead to an even higher nitrites level. I think you should monitor this really closely over the next couple of days/weeks.

[F3-RapalaAngler]

The nitrites I believe we're from adding the 12 at once, did a little mini cycle.

I only feed them hikari disks so they don't have to dig for food to help with that.

Sand just isn't an option for me right now, I'd like to add some on top later in the year though.

They seem happy and like I said when I dose the prime the nitrites disappear so I do that daily on top of a water change. They're eating and being active and seem fine otherwise. Just a few of them have this issue. It worries me for sure and I want to fix it. I want my fish healthy and happy

[panaque]

With clean water and generally healthy living conditions the barbels should grow back. From what you write, I'd say your most immediate concern is a filter that is not yet mature so you will have to keep a very close eye on water quality and restrict feeding to a minimum. Secondly, as you are aware, even smooth gravel is not ideal for corys' barbels and a thin layer of sand would be better. The trouble with gravel is that food falls between the gaps and the fish have to dig to get at it, causing wear of the barbels and the food they can't get at causes further water quality problems.

[F3-RapalaAngler]

Yep dosing Seed to help with the filter. Doing a double dose everyday

[F3-RapalaAngler]

Nitrites lower today but still there. Changed 2 gallons and dosed with prime and double dosed Seed for good bacteria.

They don't seemed stressed but each one has different lengths of barbels. Only 2 that I've seen are they super short to gone on.

Not sure if it helps but I dosed stress coat plus as well

[F3-RapalaAngler]

Still nitrites which I feel is odd given the fact I'm dosing good bacteria