What is up with my cory's barbels?

[Zonotrichia]

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 29 gallon
How long has the tank been running? Since March 2020
Does it have a filter? Yes, AquaClear 70 and sponge filter
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 78˚F
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) 6 Corydoras sterbai, 9 harlequin rasbora, 1 mystery snail, 1 guppy

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? every week, though it's been 1.5 weeks this time around
How much of the water do you change? 30%
What do you use to treat your water? Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Do a light vacuum above the substrate (fine sand)

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? API Master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20-40
pH: 7.4

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? 6/7 days a week
How much do you feed your fish? 1 pinch of food (vibra bites or guppy pellets, alternating), 3 crumbled up Hikari sinking wafers, occasional algae wafer
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Hikari
Do you feed frozen? No
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? No

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? Since November 2021 (4 months)
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? Today
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Cory seems to have fuzzy growths at the end of its barbels, other barbels seem forked
Have you started any treatment for the illness? No
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Behavior has not changed. It is still active and feeding normally

Explain your emergency situation in detail.
While feeding my fish this evening, I noticed that one of my sterbai cories seems to have fluffy growths at the end of both of its white barbels. Could this be a fungus? The barbels also seem much longer than the other corydoras. Its darker barbels seem longer and almost forked. At first I thought that it had plant matter or food stuck in its mouth, or that maybe roots had gotten caught up around the barbels, but it seems firmly attached. The substrate is a fine sand, so I don't think that is the issue here.

I've uploaded a video here. I can try to take better pictures later, but they are camera shy. Has anyone ever seen something like this? If this isn't normal growth, what do you recommend?

 

[Zonotrichia]

Here are some better slightly better photos, showing the barbel situation. It almost looks like they are splitting and forking off? Could the barbels be peeling off or fraying somehow? We are going to put him into a quarantine tank, do water changes, and continue to monitor. I can't tell if the white is a fungus, or if there's an infection, or what. If anyone has dealt with something similar, I would love advice. As far as I can tell, this just started yesterday (but they are also shy cories, so sometimes I don't see all of them).

 

[Zonotrichia]

We've moved him to the quarantine tank, where pictures are a lot easier. In the better light, his gills are looking very red, and there are noticeable white/cloudy patches behind them on each side. In the second picture, you can see that the frayed/fluffy end of his lighter whisker looks pink or bloody.

I'm hoping that someone sees these and can advise! I don't want to medicate unless we have a better idea of what's happening, and all of my research is coming up short. Thanks in advance again.

 

[JuiceKong]

Oh wow that is weird. I have sterbais, never seen anything like this. I genuinely do not know what to tell you, I hope someone comes along that might have an idea.

 

[Zonotrichia]

Our cory is still hanging in there, and his barbels are weirder than ever. We're keeping him in the QT tank for now...but truly no idea what is going on with this buddy.

 

[SparkyJones]

Thinking it's a genetic defect, never seen or heard of barbell overgrowth, but that's what it looks like is going on.

 

[Blacksheep1]

Oh wow!!! That’s crazy ! Could this be a parasite of some sort maybe ? I’ve not seen anything like that before . Good job on quarantining though until you get to the bottom of it !

 

[Zonotrichia]

Thinking it's a genetic defect, never seen or heard of barbell overgrowth, but that's what it looks like is going on.

That's really what it looks like could be happening, especially now. We got him and his friends in November, and only noticed this at the beginning of March. I've come across a couple of forum posts about corydoras with forked barbels (like this post: forked barbel) but what I have here seems....excessive...

 

[Blacksheep1]

Is that 3 weeks growth difference ? Just going off your previous post to now is 3 weeks . That’s insane if it is !

 

[Zonotrichia]

Is that 3 weeks growth difference ? Just going off your previous post to now is 3 weeks . That’s insane if it is !

Yep, that seems to be the case, though at most angles it doesn't look quite as dramatic.

 

[JuiceKong]

He is in a bare bottom tank at the moment correct? I think what may have caused the very sudden growth could have been him not having any sand or gravel to sift his barbels through, and what is most likely a defect, just took off!

 

[Blacksheep1]

Zonotrichia How is this Cory doing now ?

 

[Zonotrichia]

Zonotrichia How is this Cory doing now ?

Thanks for checking in! We ended up moving him back into our main tank last week, since he seemed fine except for the long/forked barbels. I posted in a corydoras Facebook group, and no one had seen anything like it. Crossing fingers, but it seems like this might just be a weird genetic mutation.

 

[Blacksheep1]

He certainly is a strange little cutie! I’m glad he’s good though. I guess it’s just more barbel to snuffle with !