Glass Catfish - Potential white spots on mouth.

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Just_Salty

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 15, 2025
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Location
USA
The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind, and nothing has gone according to plan. 😣

I purchased 6 Glass Catfish in the end of February. They looked neat but to be honest, I didn't really know all the ins and outs with these fish (e.g feeding, nocturnal hiding behavior etc.) I initially drip acclimated them slowly to reduce any kind of stress. However, 2 out of the 6 died the next day in my quarantine tank.

I went back to the fish store to replace the two lost and another customer was purchasing the rest up. She happened to miss one so I was able to get the last one left. I noticed the employee handling the fish bag kind of rough... but at the time I thought it was ok... However, it turned white and died in the bag before I even got home...

The store was getting a new shipment in. so, I had plans to purchase them before they were transferred them into the stores tanks… in hopes to reduce as much stress and shock as possible, at least that was the plan.

This is where it kinda gets crazy… and I do apologize for the lengthy back story… Skip to the bottom to see my questions and my current problem…

The shipment that the LFS (local fish store) received looked super healthy. Unfortunately, half a dozen got concussed when the employee decided to have them perform a fishy cannonball into an empty container. One develop a spinal injury, and some got broken barbels. Talk about rough handling! 😱 The fish started turning white and appeared to be dying faster than you could say ā€œfish sticks.ā€ 😫 It was pretty traumatic for them, even for me… 🄺 The remaining fish were unceremoniously dumped into the LFS tanks. Feeling guilty, the employee gave me the entire shipment of 12 because they were looking in bad shape.

Once home, I set up a fishy hospital, added some stress guard, put a filter with cycled filter media in it and hoped for the best but had zero expectations for a good outcome. It’s been about a week and a half and out of the 12, 3 have died so far.

At the moment, I have two quarantine tanks going. One 10 gallon with the original four and the 9 in a 20 gallon.

The 9 in the 20 gallon seem less skittish than the four and the 10 gallon. It’s hard to monitor them as they do hide a lot and really only come out during feeding time which is early morning or late at night.

Current problem:

I started noticing white spots on their bodies when I got them, but I didn’t know if it was from damage from rough handling or some kind of ich. Not all have spots. The spots on the body seem to have faded away and I only see one in each tank that has some kind of white spot on their mouth… I purchase them all about a couple weeks ago.

Being that their scaleless and super sensitive I was hesitant medicated them. But now I am wondering if I should be treating them with medication in case it is ich or some kind of disease… The only additive that I’m giving them is stress guard from Seachem and closely monitoring water parameters. Also, the only food that I have been able to make them eat has been frozen brine shrimp… Which they all seem to be eating. I have plans on hatching brine shrimp later on, but the frozen was the only food that I had on hand that they were willing to eat.

Any advice on feeding or treating would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 

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Last edited:
The white on the lips may just be excess mucus to cover an irritation possibly from the netting. Unless it becomes fuzzy like cotton or bloody, I would not be concerned as the added protection of the slime will help heal the area.
As for feeding, the best foods I've found for them are Brine shrimp, Daphnia, Tubifex worms or Bloodworms. I've also found that they do better on live or frozen opposed to dried foods like freeze dried versions of these foods.
From your story, it sounds like the person dealing with the fish doesn't really know what they are doing when it comes to these fish. These fish are not your more common fish that can take mishandling. The old story comes to play here: If they don't know what they are doing for this fish, how do they know what to do with the other fish? šŸ¤”
 
The white on the lips may just be excess mucus to cover an irritation possibly from the netting. Unless it becomes fuzzy like cotton or bloody, I would not be concerned as the added protection of the slime will help heal the area.
As for feeding, the best foods I've found for them are Brine shrimp, Daphnia, Tubifex worms or Bloodworms. I've also found that they do better on live or frozen opposed to dried foods like freeze dried versions of these foods.
From your story, it sounds like the person dealing with the fish doesn't really know what they are doing when it comes to these fish. These fish are not your more common fish that can take mishandling. The old story comes to play here: If they don't know what they are doing for this fish, how do they know what to do with the other fish? šŸ¤”
It was a horrific experience. The simple fact that the general manager/stores aquatic expert was the one handling them… and then saw his mistake and then decides to give me their whole shipped of 12 for ā€œfreeā€ because they were dying before our eyes sure does say something. 😢

The first batch I got I think were starved. No one informed me that they had to be transitioned or fed live/frozen food. I was even having problems finding info online… šŸ˜ž

So far minus the couple with white lips all 13 seem to be doing alright.
 
It was a horrific experience. The simple fact that the general manager/stores aquatic expert was the one handling them… and then saw his mistake and then decides to give me their whole shipped of 12 for ā€œfreeā€ because they were dying before our eyes sure does say something. 😢

The first batch I got I think were starved. No one informed me that they had to be transitioned or fed live/frozen food. I was even having problems finding info online… šŸ˜ž

So far minus the couple with white lips all 13 seem to be doing alright.
Whenever I see the word " Expert", it reminds me of the old saying : " To your friends you are expert. To your Mother your an expert. But to an expert are you an expert?? " ;) I don't consider myself an expert, just someone with over 60 years of fish keeping and breeding experience and over 45 years of being in every aspect of the fish business, so I know a few things. ;) (y)
 
Whenever I see the word " Expert", it reminds me of the old saying : " To your friends you are expert. To your Mother your an expert. But to an expert are you an expert?? " ;) I don't consider myself an expert, just someone with over 60 years of fish keeping and breeding experience and over 45 years of being in every aspect of the fish business, so I know a few things. ;) (y)
That’s a good point! šŸ˜‚
 
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