PlanetCatfish.com

Hello, I've come to this site for many years, but I almost never post anything.

I have a small (5in or so) electric cat in a 30 gal. tank. I have recently seen it scraping its sides against the rocks or driftwood in the tank, as though it was trying to get something off of its skin. I've kept many kinds of fish for almost 6 years, and I've never seen this before in my aquariums. Does anyone have any ideas as far as diagnosis and / or remedy? Any help is greatly appreciated!

I have a few questions first.

Have you tested the water? what were the results?
How often is it scratching itself?
Is there any gray patches of skin or any marks...ect?
How long have you had the E-cat for?
It well be hard to speculate cause without alot more information.

I haven't tested the water. What tests would you recommend?

Ii've had the cat for about 10 months. Ii'm rarely home, so I'm not sure how often it happens, but I see it two or three times a week. I haven't noticed any discoloration or scratches on the skin, though I have looked.

Two or three times a week is quite normal for any species of fish, they do sometimes scratch themselves the same way we sometimes scratch ourselves (its just that most do it on plants and wood ect so unless you watch for the behaviour it would go unnoticed). It doesn't mean there is an actual infection.

But you would only realise the difference if you were to experience an actual parasitic infections...ect, at that time they would scratch every 30 seconds or so.

I would still recommend you get a basic test kit though because everyone should have one. it's the only way to know whats going on in your tanks. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH are the basic ones.

Do you have an exposed heater in the tank? It may have burned itself.

Rusty

Do you have hiding spaces in the tank that the e-cat can burrow under? I find that they like to burrow to hide and will scrape themselves vigorously against immovable objects in the tank in an attempt to do so.

He has three or four places that he hides most of the day.

And I believe I have found the culprit: ich.

I bought a new java fern a few weeks ago, and an upside down cat somehow stowed away in the bag, and survived in the few drops of water at the bottom. But I looked in the tank that the LFS had him in, and those guys had ich. I'm now starting to notice some spots on my e-cat.

I swear I will sue that UD cat.

Upside down cats often have small white spots which look like ich but are part of their pattern and are more regular in distribution. Have a look at the Cat-eLog pictures of to see what I mean.

That said, can you see anything like ich on the e-cat?