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I have two pictus catfish in an established tank with approx. 15-20ppm nitrates. One appears to be ill, and is showing this by a paleness and "shimmy." Although, the breathing is at a normal pace. There are no redmarks or noticeable inflamations on the fish at this time.

It's eating normally, and up until very recently hasn't displayed any behavior indicative of being stressed over something.

A month or so ago, I added two brazilian sword plants which I bleach washed and thoroughly rinsed before I placed in the tank. But, I can't imagine this would have much of an effective on the fish, particularly a negative effect. My other pictus appears to be doing just fine.

Also, I'm curious as to whether a "pale" pictus cat, where his spots have faded, is truly a bad sign or not.

Did you check to see if the other pictus is picking on it? They are schooling species that should be kept in a group of 4 or more, and keeping just two may lead to unusual behavior, such as the stronger picking on the weaker.

I had considered that, and the one that's ill is actually the dominant of the two. There's occasional nipping, but they seem to be fairly respectful of each other.

Just today I noticed that my pictus cat, the one that was troubled from before, has a red area at the base of the dorsal fin. I removed him from the other tank since I'm not certain what this problem is.

Any ideas?