Red-tail Catfish Has Bitten Off More Than He Can Chew

[slec2]

My red tail catfish has accidently swallowed my thermoneter as it's sucker lost it's suckability. What should i do about it?

 

[WILDER]

How did he manage to do that, hope he's ok, sometimes then can be abit of swine to stick on again, but it will.

 

[smithrc]

How did he manage to do that, hope he's ok, sometimes then can be abit of swine to stick on again, but it will.

I think the problm is the RTC eating the thermometer... not sticking it back to th tank

how big is the RTC? can you see the thermometer?

A vet might be the best bet... one that deals with fish.

 

[PlecMama]

Wow, that's not great - hope it comes out the planned route. What on earth made him do that?

 

[Animation]

How big is he?

 

[CFC]

Big cats eating inedible objects is quite common so its best to keep all equipment in the tank to a minimum, large RTC have been known to swallow heaters and internal filters!!

The best course of action now is to feed the RTC a large piece of beef fat, mammal fats are indigestable for fish so the RTC will regurgitate the fat within a day or two which will also bring up the thermometer which will be safely coated in a layer of fat which will protect the gill rakers from any rough edges which might damage them.

 

[dobbygolem]

I dont know how you will do this, but whatever way you decide to act upon it, be careful. If your thermometer has mercury in it. If the mercury gets out, the catfish will most likely be poisoned and the other fish in the tank will probably be affected too!

I've only ever had one thermometer smash, but luckily it was out of the tank and was in the sink, so most of the balls were not too dangerous.

Hope he's ok

I know RTC's can get big, but how big exactly? I think it was either 3 or 6 foot...

 

[andywg]

Just to add to CFC's point...Big fish stomach juices are very bad for the fish once outside the gut. After a regurgitation bout you will need to do a water change or two.

On a side not, some RTC owners have had to extract pieces of slate as long as the fish...

 

[smithrc]

I dont know how you will do this, but whatever way you decide to act upon it, be careful. If your thermometer has mercury in it. If the mercury gets out, the catfish will most likely be poisoned and the other fish in the tank will probably be affected too!

I've only ever had one thermometer smash, but luckily it was out of the tank and was in the sink, so most of the balls were not too dangerous.

Hope he's ok

I know RTC's can get big, but how big exactly? I think it was either 3 or 6 foot...

thermometers dont have mercury in... the balls are just weights to keep it upright. the red stuff is alcahol - no mercury

 

[demonmagus]

have you got it out yet?

 

[yvez9]

i know this won't help, but you really be keeping a red tailed cat in a home aquarium... they need a swimming pool sized pond to live. they'll eat whatever they can fit in there mouth including shoes, hands, pets.... they get massive , like 4 feet long

you can check out their profile on the profile page!

hope he survives his unfortunate swallowing

 

[PlecMama]

Can we get an update? Did he spit it out or are you still puzzling over him?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How big is the fish currently and what other objects are in the tank including decor? You will probably want to be condsidering your options if the fish has a mouth big enough to swallow objects that big, how are you keeping the tank heated and filtered currently?