Bullhead Catfish...An Article

[Tubby's Mom]

My Bullhead has a grey spot the size of a dime on his head and his lips are turning grey.

i am not sure what to do, any ideas.

Anybody ?

Fantastic thread, but I noticed nobody replied to Noreaster's question from so long ago and it is this very topic that brought me here. Noreaster if you are still on this forum, I am wondering what happened with your catfish.

And to anyone else who has had one and might know the answer to this question, here is my similar "fish story":

We have had one for about 6 years (saved him from a very dry mud puddle when he was about 2 inches long)...now he is about 12" long.

Anyway about a year ago he started getting spots along the sides of his body. They were very round spots and totally symmetrical. Then he got some symmetrical spots on his head. His behavior and appetite never changed.

Then a few months ago he seemed to start losing parts of his skin and turning white over large parts of his body. Being a catfish the nitrates do get high from time to time, but we always changed 25% of his water out every two weeks. He's in a 90-gallon aquarium and has always been the only fish. So we have no idea what made him start changing like this.

We did 3 days of ich treatment (even though I didn't think it was ich but the guys at the aquarium store thought it was a form of it). It did nothing. Then we did 3 days of a stronger antibiotic (furan2). Nothing.

Here we are over a year later and he still seems to be losing skin or turning white (hard to tell which - there are no skin flaps or anything that I can see). But still his appetite and curiosity and behavior haven't changed one bit. Every night around 11 I feed him some wafers, shrimp pellets, and algae wafers. Occasionally I add some small pieces of fruit and recently we found he will come out of the water for pieces of cooked shrimp. LOL

Anyway, we love this guy. None of us in the family have ever had a fish before so we had no idea they could have the kind of personality this one does. He "follows us" whenever someone is in the room...watches everything that goes on...comes to the top to take food from us...comes up and hangs out touching the glass when I do the same...he's something else.

But I've tried everything to figure out what is happening with him and don't know where to turn. He means a lot to us and we really want to find out if something is wrong or if this is some normal part of aging in these fish.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[bullheadcater]

i have a brown bullhead in a tank in my basment and i dont no what to feed him i tried bred crums and worms the first day what do u think i should feed him he is 7 inches long plese pm me

 

[sandtiger]

i have a brown bullhead in a tank in my basment and i dont no what to feed him i tried bred crums and worms the first day what do u think i should feed him he is 7 inches long plese pm me

Directly from the article. Don't feed it bread, bread has no nutritional value and is bad for the fish.

"Bullheads will eat just about anything, in the wild they feed off anything that falls to the bottom. Dead fish, live fish, plant matter, invertebrates, fish eggs etc. In captivity they will also eat just about anything. Shrimp pellets, bloodworms, flakes, earthworms, algae wafers, cucumber and just about anything sold as fish food will make a bullhead happy. Variety in any fish is the spice of life so a varied diet is best. They can be trained to come to the surface for food and even eat straight out of your hand."

 

[Pomatomus]

Last year I remodeled a tank in the marine laboratory where i work. I found a 7" brown bullhead in about 80 gallons of water. It apparently dug a burrow in the bank and nobody had seen it in the 5 years since the tank was set up. It really explained where all the little fish were disappearing to...lol.

Now it's 10" and in a 460 gallon.

 

[k0y0te]

swsome info. raising one to go in my native tank of blue gills. thanks!

 

[Gearhead]

Cool, I have 3 of the little guys. My 2 store bought blacks seem to be much more skittish than my wild caught brown. I dont get it, the blacks are in the main tank and they see people almost constantly and always hide when they see movement. My brown is in my room and sees me maybe 3 times a day and is much more people oriented.

 

[Burbotman]

Fantastic thread, but I noticed nobody replied to Noreaster's question from so long ago and it is this very topic that brought me here. Noreaster if you are still on this forum, I am wondering what happened with your catfish.

And to anyone else who has had one and might know the answer to this question, here is my similar "fish story":

We have had one for about 6 years (saved him from a very dry mud puddle when he was about 2 inches long)...now he is about 12" long.

Anyway about a year ago he started getting spots along the sides of his body. They were very round spots and totally symmetrical. Then he got some symmetrical spots on his head. His behavior and appetite never changed.

Then a few months ago he seemed to start losing parts of his skin and turning white over large parts of his body. Being a catfish the nitrates do get high from time to time, but we always changed 25% of his water out every two weeks. He's in a 90-gallon aquarium and has always been the only fish. So we have no idea what made him start changing like this.

We did 3 days of ich treatment (even though I didn't think it was ich but the guys at the aquarium store thought it was a form of it). It did nothing. Then we did 3 days of a stronger antibiotic (furan2). Nothing.

Here we are over a year later and he still seems to be losing skin or turning white (hard to tell which - there are no skin flaps or anything that I can see). But still his appetite and curiosity and behavior haven't changed one bit. Every night around 11 I feed him some wafers, shrimp pellets, and algae wafers. Occasionally I add some small pieces of fruit and recently we found he will come out of the water for pieces of cooked shrimp. LOL

Anyway, we love this guy. None of us in the family have ever had a fish before so we had no idea they could have the kind of personality this one does. He "follows us" whenever someone is in the room...watches everything that goes on...comes to the top to take food from us...comes up and hangs out touching the glass when I do the same...he's something else.

But I've tried everything to figure out what is happening with him and don't know where to turn. He means a lot to us and we really want to find out if something is wrong or if this is some normal part of aging in these fish.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

I have a 2 year old Bullhead that has experianced the same thing. At first I thought it was my Bristle nose pleco sucking on the slime coat. Now I am not so sure. It tends to come and go, does not seem to affect his behaviour.

Anyone?

 

[chuby]

I'm getting a bullhead tomorrow!!!!!!!!

 

[usafyellow]

I just caught a 4" Brown Bullhead today out of a creek but he swallowed the hook, it's deep in his mouth. I have always been told that fish will always spit the hook out or their acid will eat the hook away.

I left the hook in in hopes that he would spit it out and was afraid to remove it in fear of killing him.

Is it true that they will spit the hook out or should I try to remove it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[warmouth]

It depends on how big the hook is and where its located.....if its a big hook blocking his throat....I would have to say yes; if its a small hook and he can still eat food , I would say no.