Callichthys callichthys

[MatsP]

I'm holding everything crossed here...

--
Mats

[L number Banana]

Sorry to hear about the living hell you're going through, Sidguppy. Fingers crossed for you here too. I just read up on this because it sounds like what whipped through my entire SA tank in about 3 days so. I thought it was common ich and lost everything in the whole tank including Frank and the new synos. The only thing I found that was new wrt treatment was that the organisms don't like total darkness. Worth a try!

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/h ... tist.shtml

Good luck

[Carp37]

I'm holding everything crossed here...

--
Mats

Me too, this has really got me puzzled, it's hell to hear such a horror story, especially as the fish are so rewarding to keep- I'd not be anything like as upset if they were pigeon blood discus or mickey mouse platies.

[sidguppy]

the news has taken an upturn; the last 2 Callichthys were in such a badly shapem we'd almost euthanized them
but we didn't and it's like the devil's been playin' the cards; thyey're making a remarkable recovery!

the ich is disappearing and their behaviour is getting better every day; they also have their appetite back!

unfortunately the ich made the crossover to my own Madagascar showtank and I've been fighting a big fight there, unleashing every nasty chemical I could lay my hands on, including protazol.

so far, no kills (!), despite some fishes getting the very rough treatment.

within 48 hours completely healthy fish looked like they'd been rolled in flour for a cooking show.

Madagascar fishes are very sensitive to protozoa infections. they're like Botia's in this

luckily Madagascar fishes can handle insane amounts of salt! I have ramped the salinity up to 2g/L water; something that would have killed any South American riverine catfish, save Hexanematichthys or Platystacus and the like.

on top of that I dosed the protazol. because a treatment with Malachite green didn't do naught.

most fishes have recovered; the ones that are still in bad shape are the Paretroplus damii and the Synodontis njassae; the latter mostly because of the medications; those catfishes can handle diseases a lot better than they can handle the cure.

[Richard B]

bloody hell Sid - i hope things turn out ok

[Marc van Arc]

the last 2 Callichthys are making a remarkable recovery!
the ich is disappearing and their behaviour is getting better every day; they also have their appetite back!

Which is good to hear. I truly hope they'll make it, so you can enjoy them like I enjoy mine:

PS: also hope you won't loose any Madagascar fish or Syno. Let's hope for a diseaseless 2010.

[Carp37]

Fingers still crossed here for Alex's fish; Marc's fish look fine...

[sidguppy]

I finally managed to kill off the diseases in the Madagascar tank.

the losses were small, 1 fish, unfortuntely it was the second largest Paretroplus damii, and ofcourse it was 1 half of a newformed pair. but at one time I'd thought i'd loose all 8.
the other 7 are slowly getting better.

I added 5.5 kilograms of seasalt, upped the temperature to 30'C and added an antibiotic. that combination did the trick

it also made both Paretroplus and the Nosy Be go right into spawning mode; it's weird to see sick fishes with grey skin and disappearing spots in the same tank as beautifully colored fishes spawning 2 inches from the front window!

With the Callichthys in my housemate's tank it's an ongoing story of misery.
we managed to get them both feeding and all, and I finally got the impression that we managed to defeat the germs

boy, was I wrong. the last 4 days the female has turned thin, with -and this is hard to explain- "rough plating", the plates look "thickened" and pinkish.
the whole fish is greyed out and the edges of the plates look a bit 'too sharp'.

also she has whiskers turning up and white and detoriating, swims with sqeezed fins and constantly buries her head in the sand. the male looks fine....

whatever it is, I used about 7 kinds of meds and I can't seem to win this battle
to say it's highly frustrating is an understatement; we've been messing around with this stinking shite for a solid 3 weeks!

also; the other fish that are supposed to go in this tank are still in a too small tank upstairs.
because the big new showtank downstairs is now still declared unsafe.
I'll bet thatif we add other fish it'll become a mass grave.......

[wrasse]

This reads quite devastating. It seems you have tried everything, so its hard to know what to suggest. I wonder if oodinium is becoming more resistant to treatments or has even mutated, like flu. It was always a stubborn disease to treat. is it worth contacting a vet? - to get a professional opinion if nothing else.
I was amazed when you said 5.5kg of salt went into the other tank - and it worked.

[DJ-don]

even though its not really about oodinium or any of this but i heard there is a new strain of ich where the cysts are considerably larger but thats what i heard on our aquarists society forum

[sidguppy]

we managed to kill all the ciliates in the new South america tank (wich only holds 2 Callichthys); haven't seen any oodinium or ichthyoptirius symptomes for over a week.

it didn't help with the Callichthys at all though; especially the female is a sorry sight; the entire skin looks greyed and 'dry'; it's pretty obvious the mucus layer is gone.

large parts of the fish are pinkish and the caudal fin has started to disappear. the male has looked better too.
today I went to my local friendly chemical toxins wizard wich is an LFS keeper wich brews his own anti-germ coctails

his concoctions are quite a bit stronger than the wee wimpy meds wich are for sale.
this is my last try.


I also told Patrick (he owns the tank and the Callichthys). if this does not work and the fish stay alive but disease riddled;
we HAVE TO kill both of them, otherwise that tank will never hold any other fish......and we have a very dangerous batch of germs on our hands; resistant to all.

these diseases MUST be destroyed. with the catfishes if I must

it's a bloody shame to get this rare catfish after almost 20 years and it ends up like this.
a very very sour experience and not something I want to repeat ever.

for myself I'm closing the book on Callichthys. i will never ever try to get an import myself or breed them. it's been too hard, too nasty and most of all; a lot too much of a disappopintment

I'll stick to Riftlake/hard water and/or brackish catfishes from now on.

it's also keeping the brakes on my hobby as well.
his other fish, most of whom are supposed to go into the big tank (large doradids and some pleco's) are keeping up space in his 250L tank.
the fish that should be kept in that 250L (loaches and barbs) are holding up my Madagascar breeding tank.....

I don't let up on him, so for now no breeding efforts. but it's been months since we moved house and I want to try some succesful breeding with Paretroplus or Ptychochromis. both are spawning in the showtank, but ofcourse they loose their spawns in there. too many other fish.

unfortunately the Madagascar cichlids were in the pub hitting the piss when the brains and cojones were doled out. they just watch with a very dumb expression when their eggs are eaten right from under their butts or the males forget to germinate em.

[sidguppy]

thanks to the home made Agent Orange the guys in the LFS brwed up, the male Callichthys made a very good recovery
he's looking just fine

unfortunately, and since Murphy's been on our asses like a coat of paint from Day One pretty obviously, the female didn't

we just spotted her emaciated corpse when we got home from work

wich leaves us with a single Callichthys after this -and there's no other word- ordeal from Hell.




not something i ever want to repeat, but since the wholesalers have made a habit of using insane amounts of medications on perfectly healthy fish "as a precaution" I'm afraid we'll see a lot more resistant strains of diseases in the near future

[hoplo]

I'm sat here reading your last few post and my heart has sank and i have tears in my eyes... this is so upsetting...

So sorry sidguppy... you must be so upset... we are only read about the horror you are having... you are having to live it and see it and watch as the poor fish have suffered...

I wish i could get some of mine to you... i would just give you them...

My heart goes out to you and the poor fish.

[Marc van Arc]

I had to get one pair out of the small auchenipterid tank. They were growing and growing, but the Centromuchlus et al were getting thinner and thinner.... It's been far too busy lately and I simply didn't check properly. Not good.
The pair is now in the large tank.

@ Alex: how's your male doing? If all goes well, the offer for one female still stands.