Weird Pictus Cat Behaviour Change

[Mulla]

Hi all,

Recently one of my two adult sized pictus cat started to act a bit out of the ordinary. Normally both of them (been in this tank for 6mts plus) would sit under a clump of plant during the day rarely moving at all but would come out at night and swim around the tank.

Lately one of them have started to swim out during the day all over the tank. Up and down, left to right. Sometimes quite erractically and bumping onto the glass etc. This has happened for 2 days, while the other seems alright, still sitting under plants during the day.

Didn't notice anything growing out of him i.e. ich etc.... Tho it's a bit hard to see. His lips seemed a bit brusied from bumping into the glass, that's about it.

I have a 120G fully planted tank with only 1 drift wood as deco.

Ammonia and Nitrite are both at 0.0 while Nitriate hovers around 10-20ppm. I change around 10% of the water weekly and haven't really changed that pattern at all.

Anyone have any experience like this before? Or can I safely ignore him?


Thanks in advance.

 

[daveedka]

Don't ignore him on this one. The behavior you describe is an indication of stress for these guys. Everytime I have seen a pictus behave like you describe, I either found a problem, or the fish died within a couple of weeks. I would not alter anything until I tracked down a cause, but I'd look at everything very closely. and maybe increase water changes a bit.

It may be stress over a lack of hiding places. When I've owned pairs they tend to estabilish a pecking order as they get older, and often a hiding place that was previously shared starts being off limits to the subordinate fish. You may try adding something new for him to hide in that may be all you need.

Ich is always a possibility and nearly impossible to spot on a pictus. however unless you recently added a new fish or have had a problem with ich, it seems unlikely. if ICH was in your tank, my experience is that pictus will get it right away , they seem to be highly succeptable even when happy and healthy.

Other things I have found with pictus: They don't like salt at all. they will tolerate it long enough to treat ich but don't like it long term.
They don't like any kind of chemical additives or medications, they tend to seem happier with the temps in the high 70's (78*) as opposed to the lower end of the tropical scale (74*). one wouldn't think that 3-4 degrees would matter, but I do notice some behavioral changes when the temps get lower.
All IME and IMO.
Dave

 

[Mulla]

Thanks for the advice & experience sharing Dave.

He seemed to have calmed down a bit today, not swimming erractically anymore but still crusing above the plants during the day.

I might re-put in the clay pot that I've removed a few weeks back to make way for more plants