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Hello, my pictus catfish is dying, but I can't figure out what the problem/disease is. The catfish:
-is gasping in large breaths with mouth wide open
-has clamped fins, and is swimming almost continuously in small, frequent (nearly continuous) twitches of body and tail
-is only moving forward, slightly upwards, and to the left (causing it to veer about wildly and get stuck in corners of the tank, as it is unable to back up)
-has a small amount of blood hemorrhaging at the base of barbels, fins and a tiny bit of blood streaking in tail fin.
-responds when gently handled (by buzzing and splaying out otherwise clamped fins) but still can move only forward.
-is not eating

I noticed these symptoms last night, and immediately performed a 60% water change and cleaned the filter. I also did water parameter tests: pH = 7.0-7.5, Ammonia = 0.0-0.6, Temperature = 78 degrees C.
The aquarium is twenty gallons, and the only other fish are two other pictus catfish (showing no ill symptoms), two small angelfish (2 inches long), and a khuli loach (as well as about six small snails). The tank is cleaned by a Tetra Whisper 60 power filter. Ever since they were purchased and quarantined, they haven't had any diseases (5 months).
There is one odd thing with the catfish, though. After coming back from summer vacation (I hired someone to look after the fish), I noticed that one catfish had full barbels (the one currently dying), one had its two main barbels bitten off to both about 1", and the other one's barbels were all (even the ones on the lower lip) only a quarter of an inch long.

Please, I really need help solving this mystery so I can save my fish.

Thank you for your help!

Dragonchild

first of all your tank is grossly over stocked. This is why you have high ammonia. Because of this I think that the cat might have ammonia poisoning. otherwise I would say septicima(I think that is how it is spelled.)

-Vincent

Hi there,
I concur about the gross overstocking.
You currently have 35 inches of fish in a 20g tank.
The ammonia is a concern.
This is likely due to ammonia poisoning, which could have caused hemmorhagic septicemia.
Suggestions for treatment:
Complete the cycle on your tank.
Remove both the angelfish - at 8 inches a peice,
and requiring a tank 20 inches tall or more, they are
not suitable for a standard 20g tank. Angels can grow to 8 inches long and 14-18 inches tall.
Perhaps consider replacing them with a dwarf gourami or something.
Pictus grow to about 4-5 inches, and 3 pictus is almost fully stocking your 20g tank.
Keep the water super super clean.
Add some prime to convert the ammonia to a less toxic form.
Add an air stone, and if possible some peat to the filter, this will lower the PH and make the ammonia less toxic as well.
Good luck.


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Pictus catfish are not that easy to keep I have managed to keep them for many years. All the water conditions must be perfect for them, also a excellent filtration and airation is required.
As pointed out your tank is way over that safety limit. They can be a very nervy fish yet some are not shy at all. They are best kept in groups of 3-4 as they love each others company. They also must have plenty of cover caves and/or heavy planting.

They can and do grow fast and large also they love their food.

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Keith

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I'm afraid you misunderstood the tank stocking. All the fish are currently juveniles (with exception to the loach). The Angels are each 2" long and the Cats are each 3". The Khuli Loach is about 2". This makes about 15" of fish in total.
The reason why these five fish, which will grow to be far too large for a twenty gallon and yet are in a twenty gallon, is because it is a quarantine tank that has become permanent for the time being. The fish are all destined for a fifty five gallon tank, which is set up and running, but it is unfortunately dominated by a six year old cranky Green Severum and a seven year old Pleco. After quarantining the fish I moved them into the 55, but the severum attacked them, so I returned them to the quarantine tank.
But as my tank is not currently grossly overstocked, or overstocked in any way, could anyone please suggest a reason for the pictus' behaviour?
Also, the ammonia has been reduced to zero, the pH remains the same, and the temperature is the same as well.

Thanks!

If water chemistry is not the issue, then it really has to be a disease or stress, and the two of course are related.

Being long of whisker , so to speak, pictus cats need a lot of room to avoid constant contact with their sensory organs, without clear space they can simply stress themselves to death from sensory overload. They also appreciate cover, relatively low level lighting and some caves and plant cover,territorial distance (pictus cats can stress each other out over territory) and they basically need bigger than a 20 gallon if there is more than one catfish present, one pictus cat per 20 gallon of water is about right, be they babies or not.Pictus cats rarely grow to wild sizes in small tanks, but this does not mean that they are not hormonally or psychologically mature. In the night , while unobserved they will probably be fighting , even if they buddy up during the day, and this will affect their health.

Assuming then, that stress is lowering their immune system, the usual almost omnipresent aquarium diseases , like protozoa and whitespot can take hold. Whitespot will be difficult to spot on a pictus in the early stages because of their colour and patternation , and also their fairly thick skin and head armour will mean the parasites are not always immediately visible.

Id probably assume therefore, that anti-ich treatment might be a good move, possible antiprotozoan treatments too, and seperating them until such time as they can be in a larger body of water might also be a good idea.Its also too early to rule out ammonia poisoning, because even a short spike, can leave the animals debilitated for weeks, and there may not be any hint of ammonia in your water readings from a brief ammonia spike. Raised veins and bloody streaks are usually signs of either septacaemia (meaning there may be a bacterial or protozoan infection)or as others have mentioned, ruptured blood vessels from ammonia poisoning.

Hope this helps.

These two of my pictus may look like buddies but they fight like hell sometimes. These guys are in a 120 gal, and even they still get territorial with each other once in a while. They may shoal as babies and neonates, but as they age they go for individual territory.Denied the room they currently have , they would probably died of stress related diseases long ago. In the 120 though, they have just topped over 6 inches in length each, proving that like many catfish, they dont do well in small spaces, and while not subject to traditional dwarfing like goldfish are, they still not grow normally or mature to full adult sexuality without the space. This is a sure sign of ill health related to tanksize. I am fully expecting my pictus to mature normally , and even attempt breeding.Something im sure I could not have done in a tank less than 100 gals.Im pretty sure they need a 55 gallon just to maintain longevity.

Thankyou everyone for your help!

But PLEASE, if anyone else has any ideas, I could really use your input. The first pictus cat died today, and another has started to show the same symptoms. I would quarantine them if I could, but as I said before, they are already "quarantined."

If you have any suggestions at all, I would appreciate your help.

Often illness are related to the level of nitrate. Can you get us a nitrAte reading? If you dont have this test kit then take a sample of your water to a lfs and ask them to test it for you. Get the number results from them. Dont accept them say they are "okay" because their okay and what is actually okay is sometimes arguable.

---

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I think that your pimelodus pictus are dying from ich. The fish are extraordinarily sensitive to the disease. As a scaleless fish, the typical white ich spots will not be noticeable as the parasites burrow deep into their tissue. Symptoms will be bloody barbels and gill damage.

You may recognize the disease by the behavior of the fish. They will generally congregate near the surface as they attempt to find air, typical behavior for any fish with damaged gills.

Treat in a hospital tank with a malachite green based product.

See Aquarium Fish Magazine, September 2006, "Freshwater Q & A", for an article on this problem



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I concur with Bob, whitespot was one of my first suspicions too. Do as he says and track down a suitable treatment asap. A lot of the old keepers tricks like turning off the lights to help and waiting for the parasites to run themselves out will not help here, you must avoid any chance of the whitespot organisms reproducing.You will need meds.