TSNs keep dying?

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Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 17, 2010
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north jersey
I have had 3 TSNs now (smaller sizes) The first 1 lasted a day or two, than kicked the bucket, pet store replaced it, same deal, gave up on them for a little while, they were also very small, only 3-4 inches. Few weeks later i got myself a 6 inch, looked terrible for the 3-4 weeks i had it (short wiskers, not growing back very much) Died yesterday, all the limas are fine (4-6 inches) and the water is perfect. My guess is that they starve themselves to death, because nobody is hurting them. Any ideas? I would like to get a TSN, however, its not working out well...

was in a grow out 55, 78 degrees
 
could try bumping the temp to 80 and maybe a little aquarium salt, i alwasy use that with my cats
 
biggest thing when i had my little guy was i thought he wasnt eating, the other fish may be getting the food before he does, put him in his own tank and provide him lots of food, freeze dried brine shrimp, blood worms, (defrost from cubes before u put them in the tank) live baby guppies, whatever it takes, i fed mine frozen bloodworms from a spoon, would defrot them from the cubes scoop em in a sppon and then stick them infron of his face
 
What defines your perfect water parameters? You want to be 78-82 degrees, 6.4-6.8 ph, soft water preferred, 0 to very low nitrites/nitrates. Good aeration never hurts either.

What are you trying to feed? I have seen very very few if any TSN starve themselves to death, and if they did it would not be in 2-3 days it would take a lot longer than that. For juveniles if you're trying to get them to eat, live feeders work well and I've found that TSN especially are easily converted to pellets down the line after you get the fish stabilized.

What is it being kept with currently and where is it going after the 55 gallon?

If it's whiskers are deteriorating and not growing back then that is a definite sign of poor water quality and is common in shovelnose catfish when the water quality diminishes.
 
when i got my first one he was only 2 inch... feed live til around 4 to 5 which was only a month... then put tilapia in and took it on the first day... now had him for 6 months and is 19 inch... if you get another small one just give him what he will take til he gets some beef on him... they are very easy to get to another food once they are going... but what are your water levels? i also keep mine in 81 to 82 temp...
 
I dont have the "official" paramaters, since my water test kit didnt arrive yet, but the LFS used a dropper test kid, and color wise, it was perfect. (minimal everything)

tankmates are a few baby pictus, a pleco, and 2 limas. Pictus just scurry around, never seen him get bothered, 1 lima sits on the heater (and burns himself all the time) the other sits under a "log" pleco is in a cave.

The wiskers were very short when i got him (likely due to his tankmates) they tried to grow back, and somewhat did, but, they never filled out, it was like dental floss from him.

Fed nightly, hikari carnivore pellets and omega 1 shrimp pellets. Never witnessed him eating it, but, a fish wont starve itself to death... right? It lasted 3-4 weeks, and it looked and acted very healthy. always kinda "idled" in place, never sat down like the other lazy ones.
 
When relative to the fish's death was the water tested? The minimum on everything isn't always a good thing. For example minimum pH or alkalinity would be bad and on most scales either drops or test strips would put it at almost no buffering (means you can have huge changes in water parameters quickly) and high 5's pH wise.

I would try smaller live feeders instead of sinking carnivore pellets at that size. It might be too hard to digest the pellets when it's that small and or could be choking on them.

What size tank do you have setup for after the 55? It will only be able to live in there for about 3 months tops before it will need a major upgrade
 
When my tsn was tiny (2") I kept him in a small tank to himself and fed him bloodworms with a turkey baster, right in front of his nose, till he started eating well. Though I think something may be up with your water because a fish shouldn't just die randomly, gotta be something health related. Perhaps there were internal parisites or something?
 
amazonfishman;4825169; said:
When relative to the fish's death was the water tested? The minimum on everything isn't always a good thing. For example minimum pH or alkalinity would be bad and on most scales either drops or test strips would put it at almost no buffering (means you can have huge changes in water parameters quickly) and high 5's pH wise.

I would try smaller live feeders instead of sinking carnivore pellets at that size. It might be too hard to digest the pellets when it's that small and or could be choking on them.

What size tank do you have setup for after the 55? It will only be able to live in there for about 3 months tops before it will need a major upgrade
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i have a 4 dia kiddie pool, than bigger after that. As for the water, i guess minimum everything wastn the right wording, the LFS is good, not some petco bullish, they said your water is perfect, i dont see how the water could have done it. I have had great water for a while now, so i would be very surprised if that is what had done it.
 
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