How do you know they have internal parasites for sure? Did you microscopically examine the fecal matter of the fish to look for evidence of parasitic infections?

Just a short update and thanks again for everyone's help:

The animal put on about one cm of growth, still very vigorous and now that he is in the tank alone, activity level of the fish has increased dramatically.

I put in 4 white mountain clouded minows from my friend's breeding cull, he took out ...

I am gradually returning the pH to neutral.

current state of the catfish.



And here is a video of feeding:

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/ecat.MPG

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The animal completely recovered, after I increased the pH and maintained good water quality.

Fin clamping disappeared and no reddness remains, now he really eats like a machine.

And its very active and show obvious response to my presence around the tank.

Thanks for all the help, I will update ...

Current state: pH 8.1, FIN Clamping as actually decreased, the caudal fin begins to expand out and reddness did decrease.

However, the upper left barbel begins to loss integrity and begins to curl like before. Reverting to the original state.

Animal's appetite is as healthy as ever.

Thanks for everyone's consideration and time:

The tank is and always has been covered.

Cycling a ten gallon (just bought) right now with a magnum 250 HOT hang on canister filter.

I feed tiny meals(earth worms, krill, pellets) sparingly, and I target feed specifically to the catfish with a ...

The pH as been converted to 8.2 over 4 hours, and animal seems stable, except for the obvious fin clamping.

We will see what happens

You have a good point. But melafix's active ingredient is designated as tea tree oil... I just thought a broad spectrum antibiotic might be in need due the signs of inflammation on the animal. Such as redness on the caudal fin etc. I should stop, just still concerned about the what if.

Power ...

11/01/05:

All barbels regains turgidity, even though they seem "softer" and a bit more "irregular" on the surface then previous but that could be just me. When I did my water change in the morning he actively swam out in search of food. Energy level seems pretty high.

Fin clamping is just as bad ...

great point, how could I have over looked that...!

Hi Everyone:

I am a new member at Planet catfish and I am seeking some
advice.

I currently have a sick electric cat. its been in the
tank for 8 days now. Eats like a machine even now.

The animal is currently 2 inches, a baby. Housed in a 5 gallon tank (already have a 250 gallon for distant future ...