Help with my Bullhead Catfish Please!

[miko]

At the end of last spring my fiance and I got a few small catfish fry. We didn't know much else and had assumed they were channel catfish. I assumed they wouldn't last long, they were jet black and the largest were barely an inch long and had been wild. We had them in a 2 gallon plastic aquarium with a small filter. As expected many died off very quickly and we ended up with about 15 small tadpole looking fish I guessed.

At the end of February we decided we wouldn't be giving them away just yet, and we started looking at new aquariums. Suddenly 3 fish died on us and at first I thought the larger ones were eating the smaller ones because they were out growing their tank. A friend who is a salt water aquarist stopped by and said he thought it was Ich and gave us a bottle of Rid-Ich we started using. He said it was best to kill the ich in the old tank rather than transfer it to the new one. We started the Rid-Ich and lost 5 more fist in the next 5 days.

This is when I started looking into just what kind of fish we had and how to get them healthy. I found out they are actually bullhead catfish, and that the little aquarium they were in was a big part of the problem. There were more than I assumed in there for one thing, and that was causing stress, low air etc so we decided to move them finally.

The new aquarium is 29 gallons, I have a Aqua-flow 30 gallon filter with bacteria included (that was a big deal the FS fella said) and all I have in it now are river rocks, 2 chunks of tree root and I added their old fake plants until I can add live ones. I boiled those after spraying them down with vinegar. I added the last of a water softener I had so I can't name that exactly but its what I had always used without any problems with them before. I let the water sit a full 24 hours and got the temp up to 78 in both aquariums before I moved them. I lost a fish on both the first and second day, and the water turned very murky so I added Tetra Algae Control and the water cleared up considerably. Our friend suggested adding 2tblsp of sea salt a day and to add it in small amounts thru the day.

As of now at 9pm I am adding just under 3 Tblsp of Rid-Ich, and I take about half a cup of aquarium water in the morning and add 2 tblsp of regular sea salt and dissolve it completley and then add a small amount every few hours. I have removed the carbon bag on the filter. My fish still aren't eating, they are getting fuzz around their fins now and all look a little paler. Some of them have little white splotches still but are fading now.

I have a total of 6 left now, and I really would like to save them! Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I really have no clue what I'm doing.

Thank you so very much for you help in advance!

[naturalart]

Its been a while since I've treated ich but I would immediately cut the dose in half. These are 'naked' catfish (meaning no scales). And these types of fish dont take ich meds well. this treatment is dicey at best. Its good you are keeping the temp up. Keep the oxygen coming! probably full blast but don't set it up where the fish have to fight a current. Give each fish a place to rest quietly. Keep the tank dim or low light. some fish may not want to rest and swim continously, nothing you can do about that. fresh waterchanges and dose each day. Make sure you vac the bottom of the tank. I dont know that you want to be adding salt right now with the meds. But I have heard of some people doing just salt and hight temp, no meds, to treat the ich.

But I hope someone who has dealt with ich recently can respond with more details.
you could do a planetcatfish search to find a discussion on this. I bet its there. And theres tons of info about ich on the web.
very best of luck with your bullheads

[miko]

2 more down this afternoon...

I'll lessen the Rid-ich tonight as suggested. I'm browsing around now on some of the other catfish threads today as well.

Thanks again for your help!

[miko]

Another down. Trying to get the other tank set back up to try and sort them, they are all looking awful though...

[naturalart]

Might be too late for these. But maybe by a miracle 1 or 2 will pull through. Don't give up hope.

My first cats were black bullheads. So they are near and dear to me. You don't always find these fish in shopes but fish farms have them and I caught mine at the local pond. Hope you don't give up on these species as a pet. They are great fish to keep.

wishing you the best
naturalart

[miko]

Well we are down to the final 3, hopefully they make it!

I love these little guys! They really have a ton of character and up until this catastrophe they were pretty tought little fish! I think it just got a bit out of hand in that small aquarium.

I haven't seen these at any stores locally, I'd have to find some more at the pond as well. I'm still rooting for these last little fellas, I'm a little worried as the ones left happen to be the smaller ones that had been in there but they seem to be doing the best.

Thank you for your time and I'll keep you updated! I'd love to hear more about your bullheads, do you have any posts here about them?

[miko]

Well while out running errands this afternonn all 3 remaining lost their battle with Ich...

[naturalart]

Well sorry to hear. You did the best you could. hope you can give them a proper burial.

I kept bullheads long before there was ever planetcatfish. But I kept them in a baby pool in my basement. They ate everthing, easy to care for. coolwater. One day while temporarily holding them in an aquarium, I was able to record some sounds they made by putting a microphone in a plastic bag and placing it in the tank. It was pretty cool. I kept my bullheads for quite a few years.

Hopefully you can find a few bullheads at the local pond. If not maybe you can contact NANFA
North American Native Fish Association. They may be able to put you in contact with someone who has these fish for sale.