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I went to turn on the lights to my 120g today and one of my Pimelodus blocchi is swimming vertically up the front glass. He is seriously beat to ****, missing almost all of his fins and his whiskers have even taken a beating. I quickly (but dumbly) netted him and tried to put him by himself. Well of course he spined the net so I spent the next 5 minutes cutting him loose and he still has some net attached to his spine. Once released he just floated to the bottom of the tank. He is not actively swimming anymore. I need to know what I can do for him. I believe Epsom salts can't be used with catfish. Can anyone help? I am leaving today around 1 so if I could get an answer for meds before I leave that would be great. Thanks

The first step is a stable, clean tank to recover in.

If the fish has been beaten up by other fish, then it's usually possible for them to recover, as long as it's a good, stable, clean tank.

Medications don't usually help much unless you have distinct symptoms that you can relate to something that has a known medication - just adding medecines "just in case" is not helping, as the medicines used on fish are usually quite strong and can lead to further stress (the medicines are also quite good at curing when they are correctly used - but unless you know what medication to use, that's no help).

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Mats

i have two quarantine tanks: a 15g with substrate and a 10g bare bottom. Which do you suggest? So you say no medicines at all... just keep him in nice clean water until he recovers? I will try to get some pictures so you can see how bad off he is.

No, I say "no medicines until you know you need them". That's not QUITE the same as "no medicines until the fish recovers".

The point being that medicines without a proper cause will be just as likely to make things WORSE as they are to make things better (many medicines will for example affect the oxygen levels and/or the fish's ability to take up oxygen - and as you can probably expect, this will not improve the fish's health in itself).

Since it's a fairly large fish, I'd go for the larger of the Q-tanks - and make water changes VERY often - at least every other day. Clean water is good for fish recovery.

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Mats

When will I know if he needs the meds? I am concerned now about blood poisoning since he is soo badly beaten. I will get pics up soon

A clean tank by itself and some Melafix will get him right again. Melafix is a mild antibiotic that also significantly boosts the healing and regeneration of tissue lost to infection, fighting, etc. It's virtually harmless and can be used with other meds if needs be.

You should see improvement in three days or so after starting Melafix, if not before.

A water conditioner that helps replace slime coating would not be a bad idea either. But I have found Melafix and it's sister product, Pimafix to be very effective. I have even used it to treat fungus w/ no other meds just the Pimafix. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

Yes, I agree with the above advice, although Melafix and Pimafix both will reduce the uptake of oxygen in fish, so add an extra air-stone or two - it certainly won't hurt.

And a hiding place probably help the fish feel calm and thus heal better.

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Mats

this might be a dumb question but does a catfish NEED its whiskers to eat??

MisanthropeKitty wrote:this might be a dumb question but does a catfish NEED its whiskers to eat??

No. The barbels make it easier to find food, but a catfish doesn't need them to eat.

How's your Pimelodus blocch? Last I logged in he was still newly healing.