catfish acting strange

angeng24

I have a catfish, not sure what kind, but he has been at the top of the tank for 3 days now and acts as though he cannot get enough air and he does not move from that spot. I just had the tank cleaned by an aquatic company but I am afraid Catfish Hunter is sick and I do not know what to do???? HELP!!!!

jones57742

My best guess is that they did something wrong and he is suffocating.

IMHO I would remove him and place him in dechlorinated water at the tank water temperature with an air stone until you can get the situation rectified.

TR

musho3210

what are the water params, why did you ask them to clean your tank, the tank never needs a cleaning, only in dire emergencies, my guess is that the clean killed all the nitrifying bacteria and spiked the ammonia.

angeng24

My husband is the one that has the fish and takes care of him and he is away right now so I called the aquatics company to clean the tank because I know nothing about caring for fish and the tank was really really dirty, so what should I do? I called the aquatic company back and they told me to add the stresszyme..should I do something more...??Help, I have no idea what to do here. I don't know what it means to put him dechlorinated water, is that something I add to the water? I need steps for a retard, seriously!

Lupin

Welcome.

There's no need to put the blame on yourself. It can happen. I quite understand your situation.:)

What are your water parameters? This can be answered by simply buying API Freshwater Master test kit in your pet store and determine your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. All those mentioned are very important. If the company made a thorough clean-out, your tank will experience cycles again. Try to ask your lfs for a used sponge and squeeze the muck into your tank. Monitor the water parameters daily. Your ammonia should spike. In a few days, nitrites will eventually become detectable. In the end of cycling, you'll need to make sure ammonia and nitrites are zero whereas nitrates should spike. If nitrates exceeded more than 40 ppm, carry out a partial water change(dechlorinated) to whittle it down to less than 40 ppm.

The term 'dechlorinated' is used to describe the water which is free from chlorine and chloramine. Chlorine is a gas and should dissipate on its own accord if the water is left in a pail overnight or you could use an airstone and leave it in the pail for hours. I prefer the use of a chemical often called as dechlorinator however as it removes chloramine almost immediately. It depends on the brand of product anyway. Chloramine is not a gas so it can still stick in the water whereas the chlorine will be removed as mentioned previously.

Use the dechlorinator and do as what Jones had suggested. In the meantime, determine your water parameters and do water changes with the addition of dechlorinator to remove ammonia and nitrites.

Good luck.:)

sazzy

as above but also adding some air bubbles, this will help him recover faster

good luck