I'm new to this forum and new to fish keeping. A member of another forum sent me here to get good information about catfish, so I hope I'm posting in the right place.
We bought this house a year ago and it had 2 koi ponds in the back yard. They are connected and the water from the upper pond flows into the lower pond. The lower pond has koi and goldfish in it and the upper pond has an albino catfish that's about 3 feet long. Yesterday the catfish was fine and swimming his laps as usual, but when I went to feed the koi today, the catfish looked like he was dying. The temps got down to freezing last night, but he was fine last winter. He looks very bloated and his eyes are glassy and it looks like he's gasping for breath. I don't understand what could have happened overnight since he seemed fine yesterday. Can anybody help? I know nothing about fish but I don't want to lose "Big Boy" and I don't know what to do for him.
I believe he is an albino channel catfish but I don't know for sure. Does anyone know how long they usually live? I went to the pet store and they told me it could just be old age but I think he's only 7 at the most. They gave me some medication that contains melaleuca and said it won't hurt the koi. I hope I didn't do the wrong thing.
We bought this house a year ago and it had 2 koi ponds in the back yard. They are connected and the water from the upper pond flows into the lower pond. The lower pond has koi and goldfish in it and the upper pond has an albino catfish that's about 3 feet long. Yesterday the catfish was fine and swimming his laps as usual, but when I went to feed the koi today, the catfish looked like he was dying. The temps got down to freezing last night, but he was fine last winter. He looks very bloated and his eyes are glassy and it looks like he's gasping for breath. I don't understand what could have happened overnight since he seemed fine yesterday. Can anybody help? I know nothing about fish but I don't want to lose "Big Boy" and I don't know what to do for him.
I believe he is an albino channel catfish but I don't know for sure. Does anyone know how long they usually live? I went to the pet store and they told me it could just be old age but I think he's only 7 at the most. They gave me some medication that contains melaleuca and said it won't hurt the koi. I hope I didn't do the wrong thing.
