HELP WITH MY RTC!!!

[DenaliXTC]

Ok i bought my RTC on 11/16/07. I introduced him into the tank properly and he was doing fine. Hes been swimming by the top of the water for the past couple of days (hell swim to the top ,stop, sink down and before he hits the bottom do the same thing) , it seems as if he has small burns on his head and his tentacles are bloodshot. Today i got home from work and hes got this fuzz growing on him where those "burns" were. see the picture below, i tried to capture it as best i could. The rest of the fish in the tank are fine. What is wrong with my cat and how do i fix it?! Thanks in advance!

other info:

He is in the tank with a pictus cat, silver arowana, and a blood parrot. I do 5-10 gallon water changes weekly. The tank is 75 gallons. I feed him shrimp pellets and freeze dried krill. PH is 6.8 to 7

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g103/denalixtc/FISH/IMG_0335_1.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g103/denalixtc/FISH/IMG_0331_1.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g103/denalixtc/FISH/IMG_0330_1.jpg

[khombre]

Hello there.... what are you water parameters? Levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? :)

BTW, no offense but I think your tank is too small for your fish. A silver arowana or a red tail cat "alone" will need a much larger tank than 75 gal.

The fuzzy stuff could be fungus. Not sure where he couldve gotten those "burns". Good luck :)

[Lupin]

:welcome: to AC!

To add to Khombre's post, at any rate, you should be doing almost daily water change. Consider that all your fish excrete heavy amounts of wastes. That is indeed a case of fungus. Jungle Fungus Clear or Methylene Blue (if isolated in another tank) can clear it up. Please let us know what test kit you are using.

[gatotsu77]

As khombre mentioned above... those fish will most certainly need larger homes as they grow. The silver arowana will need 150+ gallon tank, prefferably 200+. The RTC should really have a massive pond... we're talking 2000+ gallons, and that's only if its long, wide, and not overly deep. I really don't want to sound like I'm tryin to bash on ya, I'm just lettin you know what I know. Now, rather than focusing on tank size being an issue, lets focus on getting that RTC healthy, shall we? I believe it has been mentioned, but we need to know the full water parameters for the tank. Nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, pH, temperature, gH, etc. I would definitely second the increased water changes... with those fish being in the tank, especially since they're mostly carnivorous... I'd be doing either 20 gallon changes daily or 40-45 gallon changes 3 times a week. I've not a whole lot of experience with fungus medications... but I would go with what lupin suggested. :-)

[Malefic23]

Oh yah, for the burns, it might be your heater? If it's an exposed glass tube, those often heat up enough to burn fish that brush by them. They make some very good heaters these days with a plastic covering to prevent this. Once he's gotten burned, this opens up wounds for the fungus to take hold... So treat away. Pimafix, jungle labs fungus tabs, little melafix to help him heal. He should do ok.

[KingOfTheDeep]

when is the last time that fish ate? he looks really emaciated.

like the others said, wat are your water parameters? temp of the water? how often do you perform water changes? tankmates? and what is the size of this cat?

if these are "burns" you might want to think about getting a heater guard. for the fungus, use pimafix..it works wonders..just remove the carbon from the filters if you have any. you also need to be aware that RTC's grow over 4 feet long, and need a VERY large tank..upwards of 350-400 gallons, same for the arowana.


he should be a fairly large size by now, as it has been over a year..he looks like he has not eaten in a while..shrimp pellets and krill really are not enough for this type of fish.. here's a few suggestions.

RAW market shrimp
Rosy red minnows(or fatheads)
beefheart as an occasional treat
sinking hikari pellets
tilapia fillet

all work well in aiding the growth and nourishment the fish needs.

[DenaliXTC]

I didnt realize i should be changing that much water. I figured i'd be taking too much bacteria out of the tank. Im going to get a new test kit today so i will post the results when i do that. He eats fine, but the last time i saw him eat was on the 11th, and he ate a lot - his belly got huge. Since then it seems like food doesn't interest him, even if i put it in his face.

[reverse]

fish looks mighty thin, try wome nice 30% water changes, try not to stress him anymore

[Barbie]

There are almost no bacteria in the water to remove. You just remove the food for the bacteria, which won't be a bad thing if your water quality has deteriorated. Testing ammonia and nitrite would give you a better idea what was causing his problems, but water changes aren't going to hurt anything at this point, and might keep him from dying.

Barbie

[gatotsu77]

I didnt realize i should be changing that much water. I figured i'd be taking too much bacteria out of the tank. Im going to get a new test kit today so i will post the results when i do that. He eats fine, but the last time i saw him eat was on the 11th, and he ate a lot - his belly got huge. Since then it seems like food doesn't interest him, even if i put it in his face.

IME, catfish are opportunistic scavengers. They will gorge themselves if given the chance, and yes, their bellies will look as if they've swallowed a marble. (or in the case of larger fish, a golfball, baseball, etc... whatever is appropriate for the size of the fish. Their stomach will look huge.) My corydoras will pig out every single chance I give them... and they'll look so fat that it surprises me they can still swim. Given a bit of time, they digest all of it and look like normal, and once again are on the prowl for a feast. What have you been feeding the RTC?

Especially with carnivores, frequent large volume water changes are necessary. Their waste pollutes the water very rapidly, and with all of the fish which you have in that tank, especially at only 75 gallons, the waste can accumulate rather quickly. (don't get me wrong... a 75g tank is not small per se... but for the fish you have selected it is like keeping a goldfish in a shotglass) The added water changes will not stress out your fish... it will likely make them seem less stressed. One word of caution... if you have only been doing 5-10g weekly, (6-13% weekly) suddenly jumping to daily 20g (25%) changes can potentially mess with your fish at first, as it may change the water parameters quite drastically, depending on how the tank parameters vary from tap parameters. Perhaps for the first couple days do two or three 5-7g changes to begin removing some of the excess waste and other toxins so as to give your fish time to acclimate to the change, and then jump on the 15-20g daily changes. If you have or purchase a Python aquarium kit, this process is MUCH easier than doing it by bucket.

[DenaliXTC]

ok i had my Local fish store test my water. No ammonia was found, PH was 7 and there were small signs on nitrites, but the guy at the store said not enough to cause a problem. He said to bathe the fish in this stuff called Bifuran+ so i guess ill try that. Any thoughts?

[12 Volt Man]

any readable nitrite is a major problem for fish.

once you increase your water changes and cut back on the feeding, the nitrite problem will likely go away.

what was the nitrate (NO3) reading at? if it was high that can also cause the problems with fungus that you are seeing.

[KingOfTheDeep]

yeah..nitrites should be at 0, the only readings you should get are PH and nitrates.

nitrites can cause many problems for fish, like thge others said, you need to do bigger water changes. but slowly..when you do the next WC, drain 30 gallons, then the next time, 40.

[gatotsu77]

ok i had my Local fish store test my water. No ammonia was found, PH was 7 and there were small signs on nitrites, but the guy at the store said not enough to cause a problem. He said to bathe the fish in this stuff called Bifuran+ so i guess ill try that. Any thoughts?

What method did the store use to test the water? Did they use one of those 5 in 1 dip-strips? If so, completely disregard any indications you got from them... those things are about as accurate as taking a swig of tank water and guessing the parameters yourself. Check out the API liquid test kits... they're inexpensive, perhaps $6 per test kit, and you'll get hundreds of tests from one kit. They're accurate, effective, cheap, and easy to use. No real excuse not to have them. Much as others have said, any nitrite at all is bad for the fish. What did the employee say the nitrates were? At 5-10 gallons changed per week with the given inhabitants... I'd shudder to imagine just what the nitrate reading would have been....

[DenaliXTC]

The employee put the water in individual tubes and put drops of tester in each tube. The fish store has a very good reputation. If you want to check out their site http://www.absolutelyfish.com/

I started the water changes, however my cat looks worse by the day. Hes just floating now and he wont eat. I imagine he wont be alive when i get home from work to give him another bath in that bifuran. This sucks.

[gatotsu77]

The employee put the water in individual tubes and put drops of tester in each tube. The fish store has a very good reputation. If you want to check out their site http://www.absolutelyfish.com/

I started the water changes, however my cat looks worse by the day. Hes just floating now and he wont eat. I imagine he wont be alive when i get home from work to give him another bath in that bifuran. This sucks.

I'm sorry to hear that. :-(

[Lupin]

So what is your nitrate reading? Zero ammonia and then detected nitrites....Not sufficient information yet.