I have a 7 inch Red Tail Catfish that up until I did my last water change this afternoon was perfectly healthy... I have a 100 gallon tank and did a 40% water change due to some high nitrites 2 days ago. The levels were almost back down to zero for nitrites, zero for nitrates and .25 ppm for ammonia before the water change. I did lose an exodon and albino red tail shark when my nitrites spiked two days ago (believe it had something to do with adding a submergible rock background from universal rocks.com). Anyways, got that under control and like I mentioned, right after I did my water change and added API tap water treatment and nite-out II colony I noticed my RTC had his mouth open like a basking shark collecting plankton. Really weird. His breathing was erratic, like he would skip breaths and then open and close his mouth really hard and then stay stuck with it open. He started losing control of his body and was being twirled in circles by my wavemakers but then would get him self right side up and try to get to the bottom. He was never gasping for air at the top of the tank and I also want to add that my other fish are behaving completely normal. All water levels are normal, except for ammonia levels being at about .10 ppm. I was able to grab him by hand and held him in front of the wave maker's current hoping that the oxygen from the airline i placed behind it and the fresh water being circulated would maybe wake him up. I didn't know what else to do. I did this for a minute or two until he shook free from my hand. It has been a couple hours and after being completely vertical, to just being taken by the current, he has finally settled down between two rocks. I think he wedged himself in between them as to not be blown away because he doesn't seem to have the strength to control where he goes. Needless to say, he is right side up and breathing a little less labored. His mouth is currently not stuck open like it was a few minutes ago, but I have no idea what is going on with him. I have very fine sand substrate, is it possible that when i was filling up the tank a gas pocket stuck within the substrate got him or maybe he swallowed sand. Any advice or experience with this issue would most certainly be appreciated. Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to make sure I got everything down. Thanks
My Red Tail Catfish has lock jaw and breathing weird...advice needed
- Thread starter rmkblades
- Start date
Your tank is not cycled or is under filtered that's why you have ammonia, RTCs are more sensitive to ammonia than a lot of fish and you already said you have lost some and is guess that was caused by amo or toxic levels of nitrates.
How big is the RTC and what filtration do you have? They are very very messy fish and 100g is a small amount of water even if it has some room ATM. What's your water change routine?
Do you have a larger tank or pond? That would be the best thing for him if it's not already to late, the only time I have known their mouth to stick open is when they are dying.
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How big is the RTC and what filtration do you have? They are very very messy fish and 100g is a small amount of water even if it has some room ATM. What's your water change routine?
Do you have a larger tank or pond? That would be the best thing for him if it's not already to late, the only time I have known their mouth to stick open is when they are dying.
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I have a marineland c 530 and a fluval 303. They are both running matrix biological media and purigen chemical media in the fluval and seachem carbon in the c 530. I serviced my marineland canister and rinsed the matrix bio media under tap water, so I'm pretty sure I killed a large part of the bacteria. I did not change the fluval 303 so I assumed the good bacteria from that filter would repopulate the marineland's. Either Way, the matrix media is super porous and I know I should have used tank water to rinse it, but I have read that there should be plenty of good bacteria left internally on the matrix. I don't think the background is the problem either, since my levels were back to normal just before my water change earlier today. They are made for aquariums with non toxic materials (universalrocks.com). But it is interesting you mention red tail catfish being sensitive to ammonia, because i tested the tap water which I use to refill the tank, and it has a level of .225 ppm of Ammonia. I have tap water conditioner which I add after I fill the tank, but I'm thinking by then the ammonia has already done its harm. I need to figure out how to treat the water first ...? (is .225 ppm a lot of ammonia for tap water? I can definitely smell chlorine in the water)...I don't have a pond, but if he survives, I do think finding him an appropriate home conducive to his growing size and needs would be a good idea. I'm counting on them being a hardy fish and crossing my fingers he makes it.
If you cannot treat the water with conditioner before you put it into your tank then you must add conditioner to the tank for the entire volume before you add tap water. So if you have a 300 gallon aquarium and your doing a 50% water change you treat aquarium with conditioner for 300 gallons then add your tap water.
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You will just have to keep the levels under control and keep your fingers crossed for him.
Prime is highly recommended by a lot of people for lowering ammonia levels.
Don't be to disheartened, we all make mistakes but yes you are probably better off finding a more suitable home for him if he makes it.
Best of luck
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Prime is highly recommended by a lot of people for lowering ammonia levels.
Don't be to disheartened, we all make mistakes but yes you are probably better off finding a more suitable home for him if he makes it.
Best of luck
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Prime does NOT remove or lower ammonia. It makes it into a harmless form for about 36 hours. This is to give you time to do a waterchange or in a properly cycled, sufficiently sized filter give it time to process it. For more information go to Seachems website. I hope your fish recover.
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Amazingly, he is still alive. He is looking better and better everyday. I was 99 % sure he was going to die, but man, is he a fighter. I'm just keeping a very close eye on him while I look to find him a bigger and better home. Thank you everyone for all the help and advice. My fiance was crying and crying when we saw him in such bad shape, as he was her favorite of all my fish. Again, thank you all.