shark rubbing nose on glass

[barefootKATE]

I have an irridescent shark in my 55 gal. He is 5" long. He rubs his nose up and down the sides of the tank constantly. This has caused him to rub the skin off of his nost it is a pink and white open sore. I have quarantined him in a 10 gal to hopefully heal him. I am using aquarium salt, and treating him with melafix, folling the directions on the bottle. I also have a heater in his tank so that the temp is a constant 80 F. He is still rubbing his nose, making it hard to heal. Do any of you have any suggestions for this fish? Is there a way to keep him from rubbing his nose on the glass? If any one has any insight PLEASE share, I'd like to get this fish healthy!

Note: I realize the fish is too big for my tank. I didn't buy him, he came with the tank I have called the pet stores, but they won't take in unhealthy fish so in order to get him adopted I need to heal him.


I hope this isn't a repete post, I looked through the fourm and didn't see this one...

Thanks,
Kate

 

[talloulou]

.....hmmm you could maybe try a broad spectrum antibiotic to help heal the skin on the nose. I'm not sure putting him in the 10 gallon QT is a good idea though cause from what I understand these catfish are extremely skittish and prone to hurting themselves by crashing against things in small tanks. And the 55 gallon is a small tank for this fish, IMO, so the 10 gallon is the equivelant of putting the poor guy in hell! The nose problem is probably a result of the fish rebelling against it's lack of room to swim so I would assume the 10 gallon will only make the problem worse.

If he were mine I would put him back in the 55 gallon. Who lives in there with him? I would use an antibiotic and I wouldl try to feed him a wide variety of foods to get him healthy again, as well as doing lots of partial water changes. All the while I would be working on finding him a better home. Hope that helps.

Also if the pet stores locally won't take him ....put an add in the paper. I would advertise him as free to a good home but you should be sure that anyone who comes to look at him has a much larger tank.

 

[barefootKATE]

Thank you talloulou, I appreciate the info. The fact that the 10 gal. tank is also too small didn't go unnoticed. He dosn't seem to be any more agitated in it than he was in the 55. I'd rather not treat my whole tank, which is why I quarantined him. He shared the tank w/ another shark, two plecos, a couple schools of tetras, rainbow shark, gourami, and mollies. Also I read that isolating him will help him to calm down, which I'd hoped would allow him to heal. I keep the tank ligh off to cut down on his ability to see his reflection...seems to help, as compared to the w/ light on anyway. I'm using the Melafix, and it says to only change after the 7 day treatment. Do you think covering the tank w/ a sheet would keep him from being frightened and thrashing?

 

[talloulou]

I think keeping the lights out is a great idea. I don't know about covering the tank with a sheet as I've never heard of that being done before. Is the tank in a high traffic area. Is he now the only inhabitant of the 10 gallon??? I never actually owned one of these catfish myself before but from what I have read they really need to be in schools when they are young and the presence of other fast moving fish helps them feel more secure. I also know that the nose rubbing thing is a very common problem with this species in home aquaria. I have also read that they benefit from fast moving water so anything you can do to make the current strong in the tank would be good. And, when young, they eat a very meaty diet....so a few times a week I would feed frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, and maybe even some beefheart.

Be sure not to keep him in the 10 gallon too long because it really is way too small. And until he finds a proper home his nose problem may be a chronic ongoing thing as it seems to be with so many of these poor catfish.

Hopefully someone with some actual experience with this species will be able to guide you further.

 

[barefootKATE]

good Idea, I've been feeding blood worms as well as the fish flakes. frozen brine shrimp will be next. I was thinking sheet so eliminate his ability to see his reflection, they are skidish fish, i was also only planning on keeping him quarantined for the 7 day period, if there is not significant improvement by the end of that, i'll return him to the 55 gal and treat the tank, or at least that was my origonal plan

 

[Toirtis]

Tall plants that reach the surface all around the tank perimeters may help, but aside from a really large tank, not much is going to stop that rubbing, and until the rubbing is stopped, the nose will not heal, no matter what you do.

 

[barefootKATE]

OK, I put the fish back in the 55 gal, and just left the light off. That did the trick. My fishy is nearly healed. Thanks for all your suggestions guys!