Chaca Chaca Catfish Strange Behavior

[Loganfish]

Hello! I have a Chaca Chaca Catfish that, for the past 10 or so months I’ve had it so far, has been doing great. However, starting a couple weeks ago up until now, he has suddenly stopped feeding as aggressively and willingly, and has been more sluggish. Today I found him resting above the sand laying at an angle. He is stuff pretty thick despite having not really eaten anything recently. I check for a pulse, which was difficult to identify at first, but I eventually did. He was moving some when touched, but was overall unfazed. The tank water was a little cold, despite there being a heater pre set to 78, so I acclimated him to my 55 gallon, where I have the temp set to roughly the same. Since adding him in (about an hour or so ago), he has been in the same spot, though he willing swam down to the bottom of the tank and started “kicking” and moved more when releasing him. I also put his face towards the filter flow in hopes to get fresh, oxygenated water through his gills, which seemed to have woken him up some or something. I also tried “force feeding” a feeder fish to him, which at first he seemed to take it, but was soon followed by him spitting it out. Any thoughts on what may be going on? Or is this normal?

 

[tlindsey]

Hello! I have a Chaca Chaca Catfish that, for the past 10 or so months I’ve had it so far, has been doing great. However, starting a couple weeks ago up until now, he has suddenly stopped feeding as aggressively and willingly, and has been more sluggish. Today I found him resting above the sand laying at an angle. He is stuff pretty thick despite having not really eaten anything recently. I check for a pulse, which was difficult to identify at first, but I eventually did. He was moving some when touched, but was overall unfazed. The tank water was a little cold, despite there being a heater pre set to 78, so I acclimated him to my 55 gallon, where I have the temp set to roughly the same. Since adding him in (about an hour or so ago), he has been in the same spot, though he willing swam down to the bottom of the tank and started “kicking” and moved more when releasing him. I also put his face towards the filter flow in hopes to get fresh, oxygenated water through his gills, which seemed to have woken him up some or something. I also tried “force feeding” a feeder fish to him, which at first he seemed to take it, but was soon followed by him spitting it out. Any thoughts on what may be going on? Or is this normal?

Give some time for the chaca chaca to adjust to it's new environment.

 

[Loganfish]

Update: this morning when I woke up, I checked on him and his tail is all white and does seem to be breathing. I’ll check on him after school today and give a further update.

 

[Fallen_Leaves16]

Infection. They need to be kept in pristine, soft water; what are your parametres?
How big is the fish? Any pics? What's the setup look like?
Shouldn't have disturbed him much; I see no reason to put him directly in front of water-flow, much less try to force-feed when you say the fish isn't skinny to begin with. No need to force one to eat; they have fairly slow metabolisms and can go for a fair while without food. Trying will just stress it out.
Should've done a water change and left it be if you saw it acting unwell. No need to transfer tanks if it's been doing well in that one system for months before.
What do you mean by "checked for a pulse"? Bit confused by that.
You'd have to treat for both fungal and bacterial infection. Even if it only looks as though the fish only has a bacterial infection, fungus almost always sets in soon after. They don't handle or like salt well. Kanamycin + methylene blue dips, along with clean water and minimal disturbance worked well enough for me in the past.