PlanetCatfish.com

Hi

I have an issue with snowflake, my albino walking catfish. I have raised him for about 2 years now and don't want to lose him.

When I went into the living room this morning, there was snowflake on the floor. He was deffientely dried out a little but still had most of his slime coat. When I touched him he squirmed (very gently) so I returned him to his tank. He went a little spastic when he hit the water, but calmed down after 30 seconds or so. He is laying clamly on the bottom now, moves about from time to time and is starting to look much better.

Does anyone know if there is anything I should do for him to ensure he can pull through this? I really do not know how long he was out of water. If it helps, his barbels were very twisted and curled up, his fins had shrunk and shriveled and his tail (about 2-3 inches at the end of his body) was very red.

Any suggestions advice is greatly appriciated.

Two things to consider:
1. Make sure the water quality is really good in your tank - these fish can live in really filthy water, but to get better from any stressfull situation or illness, good water quality is ALWAYS a good thing.
2. Make sure that whatever hole the fish got out through is thoroughly closed up, so that it doesn't happen again.

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Mats

When I was a lot younger I used to have an albino walking catfish and twice I found him almost completely dried out on the kitchen floor. After the first time I made sure the lid was fitted properly but it didn't matter, it still pushed it off for the second escape.

Their powers of recovery are quite amazing, I would never have though it would survive when I put it back in the tank as it was in a terrible state (much as you describe) but with clean water (as Mats suggested) it really didn't take it too long to be as good as new.

The solution to it escaping again was a couple of house bricks on top of the lid so it couldn't push it off.

Hey

Thanks for the advice. That was what I had planned so i will just keep going with that.

One more question, how long should I wait to feed him now? Is there any risk of doing damage by feeding him too early?

To follow up, he is deffinetely looking better today. His tail and side fins are tattered at the ends and I think he is going to lose one or two of his barbles, but all in all, he is looking much better.

Thanks again.
Newt

As long as the fish is hungry, and there is no left-over food rotting away in the tank, feeding will only help. Of course, if the fish shows no interest in food, then you shouldn't feed, because rotting food will just make the water less good.

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Mats

Thanks again for the advice. He looks pretty rough, his fins are tattered and he has lost all his barbles, but he is alive and active again.

I fed him some shrimp last night and he was deffinetely hungry.

Again, thanks for the help.

newt