sick albino catfish?

ghoellri · Post by **ghoellri** » 29 Jun 2006, 13:53

New to the site. Need info on possible sick catfish. Bought house last year with pond with various koi, goldfish and two albino catfish around 12 inches long. All the fish have been fine as we have learned to take care of the pond. This spring one of the catfish started showing dark streaks on its body. Behavior was unchanged. For the last week haven't seen the fish for days at a time. Yesterday the fish was laying in shallow corner of pond, upright, but not moving much. This morning still in the shallow area. other catfish and all other fish acting fine. Any ideas what is going on and what can be done if anything?

Kana3 · Post by **Kana3** » 30 Jun 2006, 13:27

Does it startle when you approach?

Do you have any details from close observation of the fish?

ghoellri · Post by **ghoellri** » 30 Jun 2006, 13:53

Yesterday I was able to get very close and and it just layed there slowly moving it's tail with it's mouth up against the side of the pond, breathing in and out. Didn't seem to care that I was closly observing it or shining a strong light on it last night. this morning it was in in a silghtly different location between two pots on pond ledge with same basic behavior, but it did swim down into the pond when i approached. The other catfish seemed to harass it a bit. Fed the fish, all ate except problem catfish who was somewhere on bottom when I left for work. It has the streaks of reddish/ puplish discoloration which I have now notices a little bit on the tail of the other catfish. The problem catfish shows some raggedness to it's fins. no obvious open wounds.

Kana3 · Post by **Kana3** » 30 Jun 2006, 14:01

The poor finnage on the sluggish fish, may be due to harrasment from the others.

Symptoms on more than one fish is a problem. Do you know what type of Catfish they are?

Have you performed any water testing? It may be worth taking a sample into an Aquarium Outlet, and have them test it for you. Ensure they give you a proper breakdown of the results. True figures.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 30 Jun 2006, 14:04

As to "What are they?" I would guess they are albino channel cats, .

--
Mats

ghoellri · Post by **ghoellri** » 30 Jun 2006, 21:08

My assumption is that they are albino channel catfish. Water was tested 2 weeks ago and everything was fine. Is there something that the catfish would show before the koi, and goldfish would? Could some of what's going on be due to spawning behavior?