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Surfer

Surfer

Don't take life so serious
Apr 26, 2006
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OH MY GOD ok So I moved both pictus to my 29g tank well one got caught in my net and I couldn't get him so I cut around his fin and now he's got a small tid bit left on his fin and he's swimming around oh man what do I do will he be ok. They were both breathing really heavily in the other tank that's why I moved them. Help please is there any hope for the little guy?
 
1st calm down. The more you aggravate the water the more your fish will get stressed. It will probably be ok but its best not to keep it on there. I would suggest that you get it out of the tank using a bowl or some other solid plastic container. Just coax him in, then gently pull the net off.

Next time do not use a net. Nets are a bad idea for anything with a barb or spikes.
 
oh and in response to breathing heavily... check all your water parameters and make sure you have sufficient movement on the top of the water for oxygenation.
 
So can you have the water over filled? movement on top of the water hu?
 
ok I can't get it off He's swimming around....kinda...but not too well. I got him in a bowl, very gently like, and he seemed to get worse. Both are chillin I'll see what happens with him. I just did a 50% water change in that tank so everything should be straight by now. I'm gonna do another 20% tomorrow.
 
No... sorry parameters means the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels.

If any of them are too high it could damage you fishes gills and stop them from being able to breathe. If the parameters are left too high for too long it could seriously shorten your fishes life or even kill it.

Yes fish need oxygen in the water. An airstone only actually does oxygenation by the bubbles moving the water surface. A filter exit pipe doing a little splashing will also get some oxygenation going.

Anything that splishes the top of your water a little will help your fish breathe.
 
The levels were low in the small tank but I didn't know why they were flipping out. I'll just chill and see how they do, I've never been able to hold onto one so it wouldn't surprise me now even with me doing routine water change.
 
a note: generally a pictus can breathe atmospheric oxygen but best not let them have to deal with this. They also like a lot of water changes.

dont leave the bowl in the cold without a heater. Over time ammonia will build up in there too. Gently holding your catfish to keep it still pull the net off. Dont worry about the buzzing you may hear. It is natural for a pictus to do this when it thinks it is in danger
 
They're both calming down. The one with the net on his fin is chillin. I just got to let them both settle. I've been doing water changes everyday to try and get my nitrates down. Yesterday they were 30. The day before it was really high. I've done like 4 water changes in 3 days. I'm gonna do another tomorrow. I don't have a kit so I have to take the water down to the LFS and get it tested there. I need to get my own kit but they're like 40 bucks.
 
you can get kits for less than that. look around. Glad to hear they are calming down.
 
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