My catfish keeps scratching himself

[chainsaw]

I'm not too sure what kind of a catfish it is... Looks like a common channel cat. But whenever he's out of his cave he's always scratching his left side on the gravel or on one of the plastic plants. My LFS reccomended PimaFix from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, but upon closer inspection of the bottle it says it treats bacterial infections so I'm worried that it will kill the good bacteria in the tank.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'd like to get a QT but it's out of my budget until friday.

 

[chainsaw]

Oh, and theres nothing that looks like a fungus or parasite on his body.

 

[wynn]

I've used Pimafix and Melafix before, and didn't have any problems with either. It smells good too.

It doesn't sound like a bacterial infection though. Maybe you are in the beginning stages of ich? I would keep an eye on him to see if anything starts to show up on his skin. Instead of medicating the tank at this point, since you're not really sure what it is yet, you may look at trying aquarium salt to see if it helps anything. I've used it for ich before instead of meds and it works.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Check your water conditions. If your pH is out of whack it can cause skin irritation.

 

[rubysoho]

If it does start looking like ICK, you can just treat the 20 gallon your fish is in now (at least, that is what I am assuming he is in from your profile) with raising the temp and adding salt. There are some articles on how to do this correctly somewhere on this site, I'd pull them up for you but I gotta get to class . Good luck!

BTW-I had a danio that seemed to scratch its side randomly for about 4 days and then it stopped. Nothing developed.

 

[Menagerie]

The article is in the Articles section and is an excellent way to treat ich. In the meantime, what are the exact water parameters? How long has this behavior been occurring.

 

[gozetec02]

Lots of people forget but a great way to keep bacterial growth and fungal growth at bay is to add some squarium salt.

 

[Menagerie]

Lots of people forget but a great way to keep bacterial growth and fungal growth at bay is to add some squarium salt.

Not to rain on your parade, but SW aquariums also have problems.

Clean water, with weekly PWC is the best answer.

 

[AKelly]

I read something on internet where it says to treat sick saltwater fish is to give it a freshwater bath. exactly the opposite. Not sure how true this is though...

 

[Menagerie]

I read something on internet where it says to treat sick saltwater fish is to give it a freshwater bath. exactly the opposite. Not sure how true this is though...

I have heard this, we could ask the salties of the site. I have also heard of dipping FW fish in salt water to cure them of whatever. So, what does one do for a brackish water fish?

Anyway, chainsaw, how is your fish doing today?

 

[chainsaw]

I've been treating the tank with that PimaFix stuff since it said that it wouldn't harm the biological filter. I haven't seen him scratching since but I've been at work all week. I'll check it out tonight.

 

[Menagerie]

Watch him closely for a bit over the weekend and let us know.

 

[chainsaw]

Looks like he's all better. I added some salt too as a safe precaution.

Thanks everyone!