my "pitus" catfish developed white chunks that are attached ...

my "pitus" catfish developed white chunks that are attached to his barbels. he also isnt swimming around any longer. which is not normal for him. he sits in the corner on the gravel swaying back and forth...should i be worried?

(the pic isnt too well- hard to get from where hes at in the tank. but the white stuff is towards the ends of both whiskers)

Does it look kind of cottony?

yeah kinda. at first i thought maybe something bit him, it kinda looks like tissue, but then i thought about it. probably not because its on both sides. one side is worse. hes acting better today as far as moving. but hes still not swimming around like normal

Maybe he was moving quite a bit at first because he was uncomfortable. A fish can go through quite a bit of trauma traveling from a wholesaler to a retailer then to your aquarium, and the trauma can leave them vulnerable to diseases and parasites. The drip acclimation technique described in one of the blogs will mitigate some of the stress.

It rely can be a combo of things. I've read some whare that fish are so sensitive if they are seperated from their friends they are highly prone to diseases and might even die of sadness. He could be home sick now that he's in a completely new enviroment. add some salt to (about 1-5 tsp) the tank it should clear up that puffy stuff the rest should just take care of itself in time.

ok i will try that.. now there is salt in there already, add more?
also i added another pic of him- you can see it better now. the chunk has fallen off it looks like, but now it looks like the whiskers are withering away almost.
and if i put in like quick cure would that help?
there are 3 new fish in this tank though. theyve been in there for 5 days now.

how long have you had the salt in there? if its been a couple days you may want to add just a little more. quick cure is deffinently a good idea too, try just a teaspoon of that and a half teaspoon of salt per gallon. I'm also glad you got some new friends for him. But just imagine what it's like to move to a new home knowing you'll never see your old friends again, thats the same thing going through your cat fishes mind. just worry about treating his physical problems, the rest will work it self out. I know it's a little hippy dippy but if you talk to him he might feel a little better alot sooner.

I know this is old advice, but check for ammonia and nitrite. Also, after the treatment period, you should get the salt content back to near zero. Weekly, partial water changes will eventually take care of that.

i do not have a nitrate test kit, i always test ammonia and ph though. ph is fine and ammonia has been .50 since i added the new fish. every morning i do a 30-50% water change to try to get it down. it stays at .50 i put ammonia neutralizer in twice so far (in the past 4 days) and still reading the same results. checked the filter system and everything seems to be working fine. put a new filter with carbon in and still no change. is that too high? i know its suppossed to stay at 0 but i dont know what else to do.

i figured the salt was mostly gone but ive heard alot that even with water changes be carful not to add more salt because salt does not dilute. so ive always been cautious cause i dont want to add to much.

you can take some water to a pet store and ask them to test it for you.

ok i will have to do that tomorrow

ok so update and got an ok picture of him. the white fluffy stuff was tissue because its gone now- along with his barbels. one side is alot shorter the other side has yet to fall off. i wish i knew what caused this. he seems fine tonight. swimming around as usually. really bizare

The ammonia and nitrite should both be at zero. If they're not, the aquarium could still be cycling. If that's the case, avoid disturbing the substrate during partial water changes. Those water changes will dilute the ammonia and nitrite, but they will not speed up the nitrogen cycle. Gravel or live plants from an established aquarium will.

Please don't let the aquarium shop sell you a bunch of nitrite and ammonia treatments; they will just mask the problem. Sometimes you can buy colonies of live beneficial bacteria to help the cycling process, but be sure that's what you are actually getting.

at this time you shouldn't need to do anything. if he's healed that rapidly you've done a good job. keep an eye on him for a couple days. and get the water checked just to be sure. but like john said don't let them get you to buy all this excess crap. when you get the water checked let us know the results.

If you use Prime water conditioner while cycling, and after, it will bind the ammonia and nitrites making them non-toxic to your fish. You will get false readings though, saying you still have ammonia and nitrites, but they aren't "really" there.
Is it possible that maybe his barbel got stuck under something or another fish bit it?
If he develops any cottoney stuff again, I would treat the tank with Pimafix or Melafix. Sometimes when fish are stressed, they develop diseases, especialy where they have been wounded. Open wounds can get fungus or whatever.
And remember, scaleless fish don't tolerate salt well.
Good luck!

he could of gotten bit i dont see how he could have gotten stuck, everythings pretty open in there. i have not seen a nitrite test kit at the store where i got the other 2. ihavent looked in a few years though, but i have never checked that. i always have just worried about the other 2.
and i hope he tolerates salt ok since earlier when i read the above posts, i went rt ahead and added all that salt! ive always put salt in all my tanks, but not that much.
on the ticket at the store it said for him he requires salt though. i dont know. i will have to look up more on that topic i guess.

also to reply to john- i try not to disturb the gravel, it should be cycled already, but how do i clean the left over food laying there? i always try to feed in one area so i just clean that up.
i have bad rocks in there i think. there larger and i think the food goes down in there and cant be found. then i freak out cause that might be the reasoning behind the high reading levels. but then again i fastest them for 2 days and it still read the same.

i thought about live plants- but they worry me.
i cant take gravel out of my other 2 tanks because one is being treated with fin rot- which thanks john for helping me with tht one also i think.
and the other is my original hospital tank, and it has my molly that i finally figured out has dropsy. so im not switching those!

i have been feeling just stuck these past few days...haha i feel all i do is have a bucket and syphon thingy in my hand! with all these water changes in all 3 tanks everyday...then back to test water, then back again with the boiled peas,
ahhh! alot to do with 6 kids at your house all day long!

ok i feel better -thanks for anyone who listened...i needed to vent. ok im ok now and i will go take the water to be tested tomorrow!

HAHAHA you sound just like me some days. try having 23 plus 17 of their kids around the house. hahaha

When you have high nitrates, you can vacuum the gravel a lot because you should have enough in the filter media to keep from going thru another or mini cycle.
Since you have those pebbles in there, it might be possible that he got one of his barbels pinched between the pebbles and some decor. Just a suggestion.
I know with bettas, adding salt for more than 10 days will lead to kidney failure. Not too sure about other fish though.

I found some info for you.

Scientific Name:
Pimelodus pictus
Other Names: Spotted Pimelodus
Family: Pimelodidae
Origin: Colombia, South America
Adult Size: 4 inches (11cm)
Social: Peaceful, suitable for Community tank
Lifespan: 8 years
Tank Level: Bottom dweller
Minimum Tank Size: 20 gallon
Diet: Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding: Egglayer
Care: Intermediate
pH: 5.8 - 6.8
Hardness: 4-8 dGH
Temperature: 72 - 75 F (22-24C)

I could not find anywhere where it said they needed salt, so if it were me, I wouldn't put anymore in there.
Good luck!

the pet store i bought mine from said they could grow up to a foot long, they also had 6 inch ones for sale for like 25 bucks, but i decided to get three smaller 2 inch ones for 5 bucks a pop. All three of mine developed that white stuff on thier whiskers too, but by the time i noticed it it was too late, they all died along with my albino channel catfish.... All of my other fish were fine though, i dont know what caused it or what it was, but its a good thing you caught yours early....

Maybe I should make one more point about the ammonia and nitrite. Before you put in a chemical to neutralize the stuff, remember that the beneficial bacteria need it to live. Putting fish into an aquarium that has not cycled makes for a lose-lose situation: the bacteria need the toxins, but the toxins will make the fish sick. From what was said, the aquarium in question appears to have not been cycled; that's why I suggested leaving the substrate dirty. Once the aquarium is cycled, it's fine to vacuum all the gunk off the substrate surface and to deep clean one half of the substrate every week. The fact that the substrate keeps getting dirty is indicative of over feeding or over crowding. In addition, salt in a freshwater aquarium can upset other water parameters if there is too much of the stuff.

One possible course of action is to do nothing and let nature take over. The fish can go for a couple of days without food. Going for several days without a partial water change may increase ammonia and nitrite and could harm the fish, but it may provide an opportunity for the beneficial bacteria colonies to get established. You need to decide if that's a good option.

As for plants, they can be as complicated as water chemistry and biology. However, a big gob of hornwort will just float around and help clean the water without disturbing the substrate unless it drops all of its needle like leaves.

I sure hope some of this helps. Once you get the aquarium balanced, nature will take care of most other chores. Please kee us posted.

Ok maybe thats what is happening then. I just figured that the tank was cycled. I have not had any problems with this one in a very long time. its been up and running for about 4 years. nothing has changed except for the piece of driftwood i put in there about a week ago.
i dont think its crowded. i go by inch per gallon. its 40 gallon tank with total of 9 fish in it. 6 tiger barbs, 2 rainbowfish, and the pitus catfish.

the floor isnt filthy, i can just see extra food in it. the water is still crystal clear. i bought some different bottomfeeded food for the catfish when i got him. i guess he doesnt like it, cause its always there in the am. so i will just stop putting those in there. he wont eat the bloodworms either. hes always swimming around like a mad man though searching on the ground. so maybe he just likes the flakes that fall?

anyways this am i did not touch the gravel when i did the daily water change. ammonia still reading .50 i cannot go to the pet store and have them test the water as i planned because my son is home from school sick.
i will not feed them today but i will have to feed them friday. we are going out of town friday night till sat evening. they can fast then- i do not want the dog walker to feed my tanks right now with the condition they are in! i only hope they all are fine when i return home ...im kinda worried.

how is hes puff clearing up so far?

Sometimes an established aquarium gets old tank syndrome. I think that's what they call it. Anyhow when that happens something kills or overwhelms the beneficial bacteria colonies and raises the ammonia and/or nitrite levels. That something can be anything from a medication to lack of maintenance or the introduction of a foreign substance. For your aquarium, you can eliminate things like over crowding and lack of maintenance. Although you may be taking a calculated risk by leaving the aquarium alone until Monday, you will certainly not be starving the fish. Just make sure the house watcher doesn't try to feed them. If you wind up getting plants, it's probably OK to leave the light on while you're gone. I forget to turn out aquarium lights several times a week, and it doesn't seem to bother anything.

Good luck and happy vacation.

mystic- he seems to be doing great. back to his normal self. his whiskers look great now, other than one is alot shorter than the other!

john- maybe it was the driftwood? i boiled it for 2 hours like it said and then soaked it overnight in water before i placed it in there... i did take a fake log out of my other tank and put it in there maybe 2 weeks ago. i washed it first- maybe i shouldnt have. i know im worried about leaving because i do water changes in all 3 of my tanks everyday right now. my other tank im actually more worried about than this one because there are 4 sick fish (fin rot and 1 with possible dropsy)
and if it wasnt that i had to go i def. would not go right not. alot is at risk to me leaving. my brother in law is graduating from a military accademy, thats why we r going out of town. i wish it was a vacation! i will be worried about my fishys the whole time im gone.
i am going to hide all the fish food. we went on vacation this summer and were gone for 3 weeks. drove down to gatlinberg, then south carolina..which was awesome! even being stuck in a car with 2 kids for 18 hours straight.
anyways, we swam with dolphins, and at the ripleys aquarium omg i could of spent a whole week in there. got some great pics- loved swimming with the stingrays! ok sorry i drifted off topic.
when we went the dog walker fed the fish SO much the tank was so nasty when i got home i could barely see to the back. never again will i let anyone else feed my fish...i wont even let my husband do it! he thinks im crazy with these things. i am alittle i guess. he gets to feed the hermit crabs, frogs, and rabbit tho lol

lol I think all of us here are a little anal retentive with our babies. but it's good though. now that he's doing better you may want to do one more water change before you go, just to get rid of some of that salt. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

ok how many water changes do you think i should do? i do a 40% usually everyday. is it ok to do more in 1 day? cause we are leaving tomorrow afternoon

When I was cycling my tank, I did 50-75% pwcs every single day, sometimes twice a day. Took my tank 4 weeks to cycle with one fish.

The last time I set up a couple of new aquariums, I put in plants and gravel and all that stuff and just left them alone, without fish, for over a month. Each aquarium had a cup or two of experienced gravel.

I did kind of the same thing john said. I basicly just did 25% water changes once a week until it started going into the amonia cycle, then I just let it get dirty for like a month. one day I walked in to feed my fish and it was like it magicly cleared up over night. I suppose it's entierly up to you how you do it. but changing the water every day I think will stress your fish even more.