My Raphael is acting funky

AndrewM21

Hey Guy's,

I have a large striped Raphael catfish whom I've had for quite some time and recently I've noticed some changes in his coloration and his breathing behavior and I'm quite worried since I tend to get attached to some of my more unique fish. I can't for the life of my figure out the problem though.

I have him in my community 50G tank (non-aggressive tank) and he began breathing really heavy over the past few days and starting staying near the top of the tank. I figured there was something wrong so I moved him to my 20G tank for observation since I can monitor him better.

He seems to have gotten his color back (It was really light brown before I moved him, now it appears to have darkened).

Anyhow, now he has a odd red ?rash? on his side in between his brown stripes in the creamy looking area (It's a reddish tint). He is also still breathing pretty heavy but is actually swimming now, he also goes to the top of the tank and sticks his mouth out of the water.

Any helpful information will be greatly appreciated.

AndrewM21

UPDATE:

I drove an hour to go get some Melafix because I figured he had some sort of parasite or bacterial infection and by the time I got back his entire head had turned white (like a crusty looking white), he was still alive and stayed alive for a couple of hours after I dosed the tank.

But he died last night around 11 PM.