weather loach has lost his whiskers

[eve]

Hi all
I have a weather loach called slim. He's the don of the tank, the only fish me and my sons named in the tank! He's got bags of personality and we love him to bits. Nick name him dawgfish with his sniffing around like a lil dog! We must have had him now for 6years or so which amazes me, no other fish has been with us for that long. He was one of the first fish we bought.
I've just noticed his whiskers look damaged. They seem to have curled up and look stumpy...i'm mortified. Can anybody give me some advice about this. I've searched and searched for some info on the web about this but can't find anything... (
Thanks for reading.
Eve

[Emma Turner]

Hi Eve,

Welcome to Loaches Online.

Sorry to hear about your Weather Loach. Has the barbel erosion happened gradually over a period of some years, or is it more sudden?

Sharp gravel substrates can cause unneccessary wear on the delicate sensory barbels of many bottom-dwelling fish, which is one reason I prefer to use aquatic sand in all of my loach tanks. If you have gravel, does it feel rough to the touch? How often do you vacuum the substrate? Build up of decaying matter in the gravel can also cause problems, and is another good reason to use sand (detritus cannot build up between the sand grains as it does with gravel).

How often do you carry out water changes on this tank, and what percentage do you normally change in one go (approx)? Do you know what level your nitrAtes are currently on?

Emma