pictus catfish has bloody lips

[kazulanth]

I have a pictus catfish in a 2 gallon tank by himself - I don't have a testing kit handy so I don't know the water parameters. He is a few years old, so several days ago when he started swimming oddly (upside down, floating along at times, etc) I thought it was the end of the line for him. Later he recovered and now is swimming fine. At the time his two small barbels on his upper lip were curly and generally very frayed looking, and I thought he had a growth. His lips were a bit pink but as he is a neurotic fish who sometimes slams his face into the tank wall I did not give it much thought. Now his two small barbels have completely fallen off and his lips are red like fresh blood, although he does not appear to be bleeding above the skin, only under it. He isn't eating very much but I think that is because his lips are bleeding, and his activity is normal. Is the lip bleeding bacterial? Should I get an antibiotic medicine? What do you recommend?

 

[CFC]

i hope that the 2g tank was a typo error and that you meant 20g!

The symptoms you describe are caused bt poor water quality,more than likely a nitrite spike,you need to get some test kits asap.Most pimeloid catfish react badly to medications so dont treat the tank unless you really have to and even then only use half the stated dose,once the water quality is sorted (if thats what it is) the barbels will regrow and the redish lips will fade.