sick catfish with curled barbels - help! - Fish for the Planted Aquarium

tranr · 10-04-2009, 02:02 PM

My M. leucophasis (asian upside-down catfish) is sick. I recently noticed that his barbels are discolored (grayish instead of black) and are becoming curled and limp at the tips. His appetite has not been as good either. I have been having trouble finding information online on treatment options, so if anyone has suggestions or advice, that would be great. Thanks.

Karebear · 10-05-2009, 07:27 AM

Hi tranr, I am sorry about your catfish. I would start on water changes, up to 50% daily, and check your water parameters. After this I would start some sort of meds. Me, I am an antibiotic gal, but I have heard good things on melafix and pimafix. If you do not want to treat your whole tank put your catfish in a hospital tank to do this.

Good luck

tranr · 10-05-2009, 10:58 AM

Thanks for the tip, Karebear. dI don't have melafix or pimafix at hand, but I do have the following medications:

-erythromycin
-furan 2
-tetracycline
-API's fungus cure medication

...and a few others that I usually keep around for emergency situations. I noticed some fraying of its fins along with the graying/curling barbels, so I have taken the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal approach toward potential fin rot with some tetracycline and the fungus cure medication. I will pick up the pimafix and melafix today from the store though, if this is the best way to go.

Anyone else have some advice or want to chime in? I changed the water last Friday and was out of town this weekend, so I will perform another 50% water change today before adding more medication.

Six · 10-05-2009, 01:26 PM

Meds won't help since there is no disease on the fish. If the fish has just curled barbels it's a water quality issue. What does a water test say? (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH?) Your water could be too acidic or have too much ammonia. Behavior changes are the first sign to a possible disease issue, you did good to catch it. just make sure you fix the problem before trying to medicate for the result of the problem.

without a water test i'd say to daily 50% water changes until the behavior and appetite of the fish is normal.

GL

JanS · 10-06-2009, 06:20 AM

I agree, skip the meds and up the water changes.

Karebear · 10-06-2009, 07:41 AM

Six and Jan S are right about the water changes and checking the water parameters, if you start adding meds without checking the water and you have high ammoniom and or nitrites you make it much worse for the fish and things start snowballing very quickly. Also do not mix the meds, you can make the water toxic to the fish without knowing it. Signs to use antibiotics would be red streaks around the base of fins, cotton looking puffs hanging on the fish, and or dead decaying flesh.

I hope this helps

tranr · 10-06-2009, 08:57 AM

Thanks for the responses, everyone. The other fish in the tank (a red tail black shark, a clown pleco, a bushynose pleco, and three cories) look fine from what I can tell. No signs of cloudy eyes, ragged fins, or any irregular behavior.

The upside-down catfish, however, still looks very bad. Since my original post, it now has cloudy eyes, some film on its body, ragged fins, and the curled tips of the barbels look like they came off. I have been changing 50% water daily as recommended by everyone, and added aeration to the tank.

Here are the water parameters as measured by my Hagen and API kits:

T: 76'F
pH: 7.0
KH: 20 mg/L
GH: 80 mg/L
NH3: 0.01 ppm
NO2: 0 ppm
NO3-: 5-10 ppm

Karebear · 10-07-2009, 04:53 AM

Sounds like it is time for a hospital tank and antibiotics. Keep up the water changes and use your erythromycine, that is one of my favorites the other good one is kanamycine (sorry about spelling but I have never been able to sepll

In a hospital tank you can add rock salt (1 tbl/10 gal) to make the fish a little more comfortable but in a non planted tank only and make sure no iodine is added.

Good luck with your fish

Six · 10-07-2009, 05:33 AM

Catfish dont usually respond to meds or salt very well. Salt is a general use tonic and can be good for some fish, catfish I wouldn't use it on though. As for meds, remember that they are stressful for a fish. A fish that is already stressed and getting sick won't respond well. If you decide to medicate, definitely don't do it in the main tank. (ie: don't medicate the whole family in the tank if only one fish is sick. Antibiotics can create really touh strains of bacteria and should be use minimally).
If it were me, I'd separate the sick fish into a QT tank and just do water changes regularly. Being without competition can really make a difference when treating ailments in fish.

GL

tranr · 10-07-2009, 08:26 AM

Is there anything that I can do to encourage the catfish to eat? It likes bloodworms, but it hasn't been touching them ever since it began looking stressed.