Hi, I've had a striped Raphael catfish in my tank for a super long time now. I've never had any issues. Well a few weeks ago I had got some new fish to put in my tank and did everything I normally do when adding new fish. Well pretty much all the new fish I had got died within the first week, then one of my older fish died. No noticable spots or signs they were sick. During this time I think my angel fish were trying to breed so they were more aggressive than normal so I'm not sure if that caused some of the fish to die. I also had a golden loach who was fine until I got the new fish and he got ich really bad along with some kind of fungal infection. I started doing treatments on my tank about 4 days ago and the golden loached died yesterday. I noticed that my catfish looked really sick at this point too when just 2 days ago he was fine. His skin now looked messed up and irritated almost like he was being eaten by something and his "whiskers" are just about gone now. I have a placo in my tank. Is it possible that the placo has been attacking him for a few days to make him look this way? Or does anyone know if the tea tree in the metafix irritate catfishes? I'm at such a loss. The catfish was fine until I started doing the treatments and he went downhill fast! Here's some pictures.
Help!! My Striped Raphael catfish is sick!
- Thread starter ashleybug
- Start date
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libertybelle
Aquarium Advice Addict
Hey; sorry about your fish.
If you could answer the questions here : https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/before-posting-about-unhealthy-fish-read-this-32451.html
It would help us to help you.
If you could answer the questions here : https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/before-posting-about-unhealthy-fish-read-this-32451.html
It would help us to help you.
I've had the catfish for almost a year now. The nitrates and amonia were high about a month ago. I did a 50% water change along with some aquarium salt that Petco had given me. It's a 38 gal tank. The new fish were purchased from Petco. Right now I don't have a carterage inside the filter because I'm doing treatment. The fish specialist said to take it out so it doesn't catch any of the medicine. I have 2 angels, 3 gromi, placo, the catfish, a snail, and a viel tailed cherry barb ( I had 3 but 2 of them died along with the other fish I had gotten)
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
What are the current water parameters? You said things were off a while ago but have the levels returned to normal?
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
Also you said aquarium salt? Don't add that. Catfish are sensitive to both salt and ich treatments. Plecos and snails are too for that matter.
You need to get the catfish and snails out of there or get that out of the water with changes. That's also probably why your loach died. They too are sensitive to salt and ich treatments as they don't have scales.
You need to get the catfish and snails out of there or get that out of the water with changes. That's also probably why your loach died. They too are sensitive to salt and ich treatments as they don't have scales.
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libertybelle
Aquarium Advice Addict
Medicine will be removed by carbon; salt you just need to water change out though
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
Well if you had a separate tank I'd say move the salt sensitive ones to a separate tank that doesn't have any. Elsewise you need to do water changes. That'll also keep the water quality higher which will help heal the damage and fight the ich with the fishes natural immune system.
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
I'm sorry about that. It can be real tough losing a fish you've had for a while. Is the ich still going in the tank btw?
All the fish that I thought had ich passed away. There was only 2 that had small white spots on their fins. One passed away with the catfish yesterday and the other one was my golden loach. I don't know if the tank still has it. All the other fish look fine.
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
Ich is one of those things that is brought on by stress. So getting the fish healthy and water quality good again should be enough to keep it from coming back. The remaining fish should be healthy enough to fend it off on their own. I heard (though not sure how true this is) that ich is kind of like the common cold. It's always floating around but only unheathly fish come down with it.
libertybelle
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have some experience that seems to support that opinion, in that I’ve purchased fish multiple times from sources with obvious ich in their tanks. (My only lfs was a big box store for many years.) I always quarantined just in case but ich never actually developed in any of my tanks with no meds; just clean water. I thought I had it once recently with some new acquisitions but in a couple days it was gone never to be seen again. Again no meds, just clean water.
Based on that experience I very strongly suspect that unstressed fish with a healthy immune system are very unlikely to develop ich. As such, if you have that kind of thing crop up I would reach for the test kit/ water change hose before reaching for meds.
Based on that experience I very strongly suspect that unstressed fish with a healthy immune system are very unlikely to develop ich. As such, if you have that kind of thing crop up I would reach for the test kit/ water change hose before reaching for meds.
Thank you guys so much for the information and advice!!! I wish the specialist at the store told me all this before selling me product I didn't need. I will definitely keep this in mind if there ever is a next time and I'ma keep my eye on my tank.
Ashleybug, I am sorry to hear about the loss of the fish, having a fish for a long time we kinda get attached.
Please know that the water quality is number one and one of the best ways to have good water is knowing how it needs to be.
Some one has to let you know about that because the fish store employee might not understand it, might not care that much, or is simply using information which might be incorrect or incomplete, but thinks they are helping.
Most of those big box stores will take the item back in a return and usually give you store credit or if it hasn't been very long since the purchase, get your money back the way you paid for it.
This is the best basics article which can help you in knowing what to do and how to do it.
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium/
The removal of the filter pad will generally mean you left it out to dry or already threw it out. Not left it in aerated treated water.
If the filter pad is all the way dried out it will not be of use to you in regards to having a cycled tank.
You start over with the tank in a number of ways. Usually it would be a complete clean out and sanitize everything including nets, containers for moving water, pitchers and cups, etc.
Quarantining the new fish before adding to your established tank is the better safer option. Sometimes even after keeping fish in QT you could experience an illness in the tank.
You can sanitize the tank and start again. Follow weekly water change maintenance to help keep the tank in good condition, while testing to make sure your water parameters are safe.
You can do fish in or fishless cycle. You can make a new thread and post it here for a link and start anew.
Please know that the water quality is number one and one of the best ways to have good water is knowing how it needs to be.
Some one has to let you know about that because the fish store employee might not understand it, might not care that much, or is simply using information which might be incorrect or incomplete, but thinks they are helping.
Most of those big box stores will take the item back in a return and usually give you store credit or if it hasn't been very long since the purchase, get your money back the way you paid for it.
This is the best basics article which can help you in knowing what to do and how to do it.
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium/
The removal of the filter pad will generally mean you left it out to dry or already threw it out. Not left it in aerated treated water.
If the filter pad is all the way dried out it will not be of use to you in regards to having a cycled tank.
You start over with the tank in a number of ways. Usually it would be a complete clean out and sanitize everything including nets, containers for moving water, pitchers and cups, etc.
Quarantining the new fish before adding to your established tank is the better safer option. Sometimes even after keeping fish in QT you could experience an illness in the tank.
You can sanitize the tank and start again. Follow weekly water change maintenance to help keep the tank in good condition, while testing to make sure your water parameters are safe.
You can do fish in or fishless cycle. You can make a new thread and post it here for a link and start anew.
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