My catfish died,why?

Question

I bought a catfish two days ago, and it was perfectly fine last night, swimming around just fine, but this morning I found it laying at the bottom,dead. I know, that alot of fish dont make it,espically fish from Walmart (which is where I got him BUT, I've also gotten all my other fish there, and we have four that we've had for more than a year,and they are healthy) it seems ok, but it has these red marks on its body. I dont know if maybe that was from the other fish eating him after he died, or if he was sick, or maybe he got in a fight? I dont know exactly what kind he was, but the tag says Pictus (sp?)Catfish.

I think all my fish are comunity fish, I had two tiger barbs but they were aggressive so I gave them to someone. He seemed to be eating just fine. We have an alage eater and I saw him eating part of an algae waffer yesterday, as well as fish flakes on the bottom. I've just never had one die so fast. Our tank is heated too.

Answer 1

The red marks could be either from septicemia (a bacterial blood infection) or ammonia poisoning. There's really not enough information given for me to be able to say which it was. Some things that may help you to figure out which it was would be the size of your tank, how many other fish you have (and their sizes), how long has the tank been set up, when was the last water change, and do you have the water tested (by yourself or your pet store) for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. See ammonia poisoning and septicemia in this link: http://www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm


It may be impossible to figure out just what the cause was if the fish had already been sick at the store.

Answer 2

Is it possible the water temperature was alot different than the temp that your catfish came from ? If Walmart just got these fish in they are already stressed out. So more stress might have done him in. Some fish have diseases that are not noticeable to the eye.. Within it's body. If you get fish at any aquarium, find out when their shipment comes in. wait a few days, then go in and buy them.. I raise fish and I had a person buy some from me and in two days they died.. I feel it was stressful for them to move and also probably went into water that was different.

Answer 3

If he had the red marks prior to bringing him home, he was probably sick with some sort of infection.

I find that catfish are very hard to reestablish in a different tank. They also prefer soft water. There are a couple of good sites about catfish on the internet:

Corydorasworld.com
Planetcatfish.com

They have great information on how to care for catfish. Was yours in the corydoras or plescostimous genus? Either one will be in planetcatfish for certain.

Answer 4

Ouch! definite! those gill fins(spines) can pop you in a hurry. You gotta cope with with care. you may carefully grip under the fins in case you carry close it mutually as the fins are prolonged. nonetheless, be careful! All catfish have sharp stout spines of their dorsal and pectoral fins. The dorsal fin is the only on the decrease back, and the pectoral fins are the place its hands could be—if a catfish had hands. Catfish lock those spines while they are alarmed. touch the top of one and you’re stung or finned, as you're saying. The fleshy barbels close to a catfish’s mouth look like stingers, yet those purely incorporate style buds and are innocuous.

Answer 5

Well catfish are scavengers so maybe he starved not having any thing to eat. They eat what is left over on the bottom of the tank. Plus, they don't care for cold water. Plus, if you had him with other fish they may have hurt him.

Answer 6

Your catfish was a pictus http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=276. I have 3 of them and had no trouble but I believe because they are scaleless they are more susceptible to some diseases.

Answer 7

"I found it laying at the bottom,dead"

If it were dead, wouldn't it be floating on TOP of the water?