few questions for people who have kept madtoms

[WckedMidas]

I live in maryland i got another thread lower down but anyways. I been getting madtoms originaly had bout 25 in a brand new never set up tank. yeah i no watter cycles blah blah blah not the cuase of problem im about to get to. Was doing 25 to 40 percent watter changes every other day to keep cycle in check prevent spikes and such. All the madtoms cam down with what sorta looks like ICH no other fish ever been near them besides the fish in the pond they came from. Anyone got any ideas how they would have got it?

Was it just from stress of going from a stinky old foul smelling pond to a clean fresh safe tank? the reason? any ideas coments suport would be nice i now have more about 10 or 15 they seem to be doing better then last batch but i havent put these in the new tank keepeming them in a bucket with airpump

 

[ShadowBass]

They shouldn't have gotten ich from going to clean water.

BTW, are you sure they are madtoms? If you caught a whole ton in one pond it seems more likely they're baby bullheads or something.

What are your water parameters? Was the tank even filtered? What size tank is it? (25 madtoms is a lot even for a bigger tank, especially not cycled) Ich can actually be detected in some tapwater sources or it could have been carried in through the water they were originally in. They don't have to come into contact with a fish with ich to get it.

 

[drewish]

If you are finding them in that number in a pond, they are probably bullheads as ShadowBass has said. Most fish carry diseases that only breakout when under stress. Since they are catfish, it will be harder to treat without killing them. I also agree that you are keeping them in way too large of numbers.

 

[WckedMidas]

the 25 was a first time event. they had thined down to about 10 or 15 in the first day or two. Was brand new tank yeah it was probly to small one them small 5 gal octogon joints from wallyworld dont flame me .
(Just do a search for me screen name and pics im not a nub just letting ya guys no.). anyways. It was filterd and all that good stuff and was doing watter changes to keep amonia spikes down. So i dont think it was that. pretty shore the first few that died was from the watter getting alittle to warm for there likeing on ride home. The batch i curently have none have died yet. The watter nvr got as warm as it did the first time.

I did the wisker count, color, fin and mouth location identifacation to determin they are indeed madtoms. Ive had bullheads befor the past. The pons has 1 stream comeing in and 1 exiting the pond. they are located at the exit of the pond where the watter has the most curent at. Wich also leads me to beleve they are madtoms. Fishbase also says they like liveing in shoals not a real solo catfish. Sry bout grammer and puntuation.

 

[WckedMidas]

bumbbbbbbbbbbbb

 

[stonecat]

The growth you speak of are a parasite, I have only seen them on mad toms sort of look like ick but bigger. I have seen this on many mad toms the wild ones and tank raised ones. This only seems to occur during the warmer months of the year, I have found that a good copper treatment and very cold water is what seems to cure them. Make sure you use only half the dose and treat twice as long as you would other fishes copper will burn catfish with a full dose.