Albino Catfish with issues

[Kwenbee]

We had two albino catfish in our 10 gallon tank. They seemed to be doing fine, when suddenly, one day about two weeks ago, one of them just died. No sign of illness or anything. Poor little guy...didn't even realize it til I sucked his stiff little body up with the gravel vac.

Anyway, the other catfish now seems to be having a love affair with the surface bubbles. He seems to always be swimming at the top of the tank, almost like he's getting air. None of the other fish are showing ANY signs of problems....just him.

I've checked all the water parameters. 0 Ammonia, 0 nitrites, pH of 7.2. Can't remember the hardness, and I can't test for nitrates, so can't give you those numbers.

Any idea what might be wrong with Dino? My daughter thinks he's lonely and is looking for his friend who died, so she thinks we need to replace Rhino (the dead catfish). We don't have any driftwood in the tank because I haven't been able to find any.

Any thoughts about this sudden top swimmer?

 

[Allivymar]

What sorta albino cats? Corys? Bristlenose? If its corys, then yeah your daughter is right LOL corys are schooling fish and a minimum of 3 is recommended, although more is better. If its a bristlenose then one is fine. My common plec also likes to zip up to the top for a gulp of air, although not frequently.

You may want to look into a little more surface agitation to provide more oxygen in the water if he's doing it often.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

I sure hope that isn't an albino channel cat, those would have easily outgrown the tank within a year. Either way, a species would help us help you more easily.

 

[William]

They'll outgrow a 10gal in a few months if their channels, I know someone who had a channel in their tank, the thing got so fricken huge that it ATE A FULLY GROWN ANGELFISH!!! 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O


EDIT

Oops, their tank was a 55 tho, still to small for a channel

 

[Kwenbee]

Oh jeez...I don't know...the pet store said it was an "Albino Catfish". It's a little tiny thing...about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. Kind of tan with little whiskers...I guess the whiskers are kind bristly, so it may be bristlenose. Very red eyes. Not the prettiest fish I've ever seen, but hubby figured they'd keep the bottom cleaner (he bought them while I was still struggling with ammonia and nitrites--they survived all through the daily water changes and the one died when the water was normal...

I know these will outgrow the tank soon (in fact the algae eater has doubled in size since we got him three months ago, so that 55 gallon is going to be necessary sooner than we thought!) Dino has grown some, but not quite that much.

Of course, he was purchased to clean the BOTTOM of the tank...he ain't doing much bottom cleaning if he swims at the top!

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Red eyes just mean that he is a true albino. A picture would really help us out if you could get one.

Does it look like
Albino Cory http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/callicht/corydora/51_f.php
Albino Bristlenose http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loricari/ancistru/5_f.php
Albino Pleco http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loricari/liposarc/609_f.php
or
Albino Channel Cat http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/ictaluri/ictaluru/6_f.php

 

[Kwenbee]

Well, now it doesn't matter anyway. We went away for the weekend and returned to find out that a power surge in our area kicked the breaker on our furnace, so we had no heat in our house from Friday around midnight until Sunday around 5 when we returned. We have never put a heater on the fishtank because our house stays so warm, I have trouble keeping the temp down in the tanks.

When we got home, the first thing we saw was Bill the Beta lying on his side. He definitely appeared to be dead. Then we saw Al the Algae Eater lying on his side, and Scooby, one of the blackfinned tetras also lying on his side. The temperature in the tank was down to about 40 degrees.

We got the heat fixed and I immediately ran to Walmart to get a heater for the tank. In the meantime, my husband moved Bill's tank next to the fireplace and added a cup of warm water. He came around immediately. We dipped water out of the 10 gallon and added warm water to it, slowly. We put in the heater and just watched the guys.

The algae eater, the black finned tetras and the gold tetra all seemed to come around quickly. However, Swimmy the guppy, Tack, Juju, Lilo and Stich, the neon tetras and Dino the catfish were all gone. I scooped them out of the water into a cup of warm water hoping to bring them around, but it was too late. We learned a VALUABLE lesson!

Oh, and Dino was an Albino Corydoras...saw him at the fish store when we replaced the guys we lost yesterday. We didn't buy any catfish though. We bought five neons, two guppies and three rasboras...all are VERY small right now, but will be moving to a bigger home in the next few months!

I did check water parameters Sunday and Monday...all levels were fine.

 

[tkos]

I wouldn't be adding any more fish to your tank, even cory catfish. You have a pretty big bioload in there right now, even as babies, but when they grow you will be needing to do muh larger water changes. Neons tend to like very high quality water and they like it warm, upper 70's to low 80's F.

What type of fish is Al the Algae eater? There are many fish that go by that name (not Al but algae eater) and many of them get far to big for a 10 gallon tank. Keep your eye on him.

As for the late catfish, my albino has the tendancy to run to the surface for a quick grab of air every so often. Cories can swallow air bubbles and then digest them. That is quite normal.

 

[Kwenbee]

Al is a Chinese Algae Eater. And, yes, I know the bioload is a bit heavy and I'll be doing lots of maintenance on this tank. However, since my cycle has completed, I almost miss my alone time with the fishies each morning. We had some wonderful conversations every day when I suctioned the gravel and cleaned their tank, so daily monitoring is NOT a problem for me.

As I've said, they won't be in the 10 gallon too much longer. We are seriously looking into a 55 gallon in the very near future. My sticking point right now is that I'd like to have a custom stand made that would house the 10 gallon and have a spot for Bill the Betta's little tank as well, so that might take a bit longer.

The tank will be in our house by March, though...I've made up my mind!

 

[tkos]

Watch that Algae eater though. You probably already know that he gets to be 8-10 inches long (so very big). But he also get very aggressive when older and stops eating algae. He will eventually start attacking your other fish and sucking off their slime coating. The Siamese Algae Eater or SAE is your best choice if you can possibly find a true one.

 

[Kwenbee]

Yeah, he's already a bit aggressive. He used to chase the other guppy away from his algae chips and he truly hated the two catfish invading his territory.

I've heard horror stories, but Al has become my husband's favorite because he has lots of personality. That and he's survived LOTS of newbie mistakes with what appears to be no damage to him. My daughter likes to watch him swim circles through the bubble stone and hide inside the little plastic ship with bubbles blowing through it.

We're hoping if we move him to the bigger tank, he won't get so hateful, but since we'll have more than one tank, we have options for putting him all by himself if I have to. So far, he just chases the fish away if they come too close to his "space".

If he outgrows the tank or gets too aggressive, we'll see what kind of deal we can get with our new LFS.