We have a water garden pond with plants, Koi fish, shebunkin, other goldfish and 2 albino catfish. Last summer our albino catfish started developing a dark color throughout their bodies. At one point, they both looked very sick and we weren't sure they were going to make it. But, they survived the winter and now again this summer they still have the same discoloration. Sometimes it is worse than others. They are acting fine, but look like they've been through a war. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this and how to treat it? Also, is it possible for them to get sunburned? We would greatly appreciate any help as we want to make sure if they are infectious that we take care of them before something happens to our other fish.
Sick Albino Catfish
- Thread starter angel 30
- Start date
jollysue
Fish Connoisseur
I'm thinking you want the "OTHER CATFISH" forum moderated by CFC. You can post again or I can try to get it transfered.
I sent a message to CFC. I don't know if it should go to his board or the emergency board. But hopefully they will get back to you soon. If not I will PM someone else.
I sent a message to CFC. I don't know if it should go to his board or the emergency board. But hopefully they will get back to you soon. If not I will PM someone else.
jollysue
Fish Connoisseur
CFC is on a different time table (England) so I may try something else.
Ok, I have also PM'd Inchworm. She is in the States, so one of them should get to you today.
Ok, I have also PM'd Inchworm. She is in the States, so one of them should get to you today.
jollysue
Fish Connoisseur
Ok, angel, Tolak has moved this thread to the Cold Water Pond forum. If you don't get an answer, post again here or try the emergency forum where I am sure you will recieve attention. You can pm me by clicking on my name and selecting Send Message.
GoldLenny
Fishaholic
What size pond? Where do you live? What are the winters like?
Overwintering fish in a pond is a very delicate procedure and the pond and fish should be prepared for the overwintering process. While goldfish and Koi can overwinter, I don't think it's very healthy for your catfish. Many people even lose Koi and goldfish in the overwintering process if they did not prepare the fish and pond for the process.
What kind of catfish are they? There are literally thousands of catfish species and most of them have albino variants. Most are tropical fish or maybe sub-tropical but most are not cold water fish.
Overwintering fish in a pond is a very delicate procedure and the pond and fish should be prepared for the overwintering process. While goldfish and Koi can overwinter, I don't think it's very healthy for your catfish. Many people even lose Koi and goldfish in the overwintering process if they did not prepare the fish and pond for the process.
What kind of catfish are they? There are literally thousands of catfish species and most of them have albino variants. Most are tropical fish or maybe sub-tropical but most are not cold water fish.
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
Yeah i agree with Goldlenny, also, can you get any pics of the catfish or describe its general appearance? Does it look anything like the catfish in the below link;
http
/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...hp?species_id=6
?
http
/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...hp?species_id=6?
Okay, some history of the pond. I bought my house about a year and a half ago from a woman who was rarely around to care for it or the pond. She left it to her sons and visited every other weekend. The pond is a 2500 gallon pond with a waterfall (which we stopped running last year b/c of a leak d/t improper installation). We do have it set up so that water still runs into the pond as though the waterfall works. Since the pond was leaking when we first bought the home, water had to be put into the pond on a daily basis. The pond was very dirty. In this pond, there are Koi, shubunkins, comet, and what the woman told me were 2 albino catfish. She didn't go into further details about what kind of albino catfish they are so I really don't know. At the time, they looked quite good (color wise). Since we have gotten the pond, we have been working to clean it up, improve oxygenation with plants and improve water clarity. Since we stopped the waterfall, we no longer needed to add water on a daily basis. Beginning around June/July of last year the catfish began to develop dark red areas on their body. Not specific to one area, but all over. Around July 4th, they really looked bad...had trouble breathing, very sluggish, didn't eat, etc. However, they got over that in about a couple of days, but the color never went away. It did fade as we entered fall and winter and they looked a little better. However, as we are back in the full swing of summer, they are really starting to look very discolored again. They are behaving fine. No symptoms other than their discoloration. We don't have very much shade on the pond for the fish as our lily pads are not very big- they need a little work done with them. I'm just wondering if they could be getting sunburned as this problem never occurred until the pond clarity began to improve. We have noticed some of the other fish are having some other problems, but they don't seem to be connected. Right now I really want to concentrate on the albino catfish. Pond water tests fine without any problem areas. We are desperately seeking help as we are not that knowledgeable about fish diseases and would like to keep them all healthy. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!!!!
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
Do the catfish look anything like the ones in the above link i gave you? What are your water quality tests for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and ph exactly? The redness could either be due to;
a. Bacterial infection
b. Water quality problems
c. Fish being kept in the wrong type of environment etc.
So we need to find more on your exact situation and the exact type of catfish that you have. Also what sort of climate do you have throughout the seasons/where abouts do you live in the world?
a. Bacterial infection
b. Water quality problems
c. Fish being kept in the wrong type of environment etc.
So we need to find more on your exact situation and the exact type of catfish that you have. Also what sort of climate do you have throughout the seasons/where abouts do you live in the world?
Yes, I think that resembles the catfish that we have. I don't recall the exact numbers for some of them, but the nitrates and nitrites were 0. I will have to take a sample in again for the other numbers, but they said everything looked very good.
We live in Dayton, Ohio. We do have a heater to help keep the pond from freezing over. This is the same routine the previous owner utilized and the fish were fine.
Last year, we fed the fish antibacterial/antiparasitic food, which it was hard to tell if it helped or not. We have started feeding them that again and also recently treated the pond with Pimafix.
Hope this helps in finding a solution to our catfish problems. Thank you!!!
We live in Dayton, Ohio. We do have a heater to help keep the pond from freezing over. This is the same routine the previous owner utilized and the fish were fine.
Last year, we fed the fish antibacterial/antiparasitic food, which it was hard to tell if it helped or not. We have started feeding them that again and also recently treated the pond with Pimafix.
Hope this helps in finding a solution to our catfish problems. Thank you!!!
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
What diet do you have the catfish on/what do you feed them and how often/much? I would advise testing the water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates again as things can change quite quickly in water quality, blood under the skin is septicemia which is mostly an internal bacterial infection, often brought on by stress the fish is suffering.
GoldLenny
Fishaholic
You need to retest your water and post your numbers. There is almost no way your nitrates would be 0.0ppm.... unless you have the pond very well planted or have it filtering through a bog. Instead of saying the tests are normal or fine, please give us the numbers so we have something to analyze. There is no such thing as "normal" or "fine" when it comes to nitrate, pH, KH and GH. Ammonia and Nitrites should always be 0.0ppm so I guess that could be considered "fine" but those are the only two tests that have a specific number that is OK. The rest of them have various ranges that could be "fine" for one fish but not for another.
How deep is your pond? From what I remember, OH had a very viciously cold winter last year... right? If your cat's are Channel Catfish, they can do OK if the pond is deep enough so the bottom thermocline stays warm enough for them.
You should read ALL the overwintering articles on this page http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/ponds/index.html so you can properly prepare your pond for the process next year. This is where so many people mess up and come spring time, their fish have multitudes of health problems.
Here is a feeding article based on fish size and water temperature so you will have a better idea on how much to feed based on the water temp. http/www.texaskoi.com/Articles/you_might...eeding_your.htm
Unless your heater is BIG enough to keep the pond over 55F (this would be a HUGE heating system and very expensive to run), you should not try to compete with nature. You need to learn to work with nature. This is where the overwintering process and preparation come into play. You do not want to run a floating heater on the top of the pond to keep an opening in the pond. A surface bubbler is better for this as it does not cause the water to circulate messing up the thermoclines where the fish hibernate for the winter. This is also why people should not run their pumps during the cold months as it causes the thermoclines to mix together and messes up the fishes hibernation.
I'm certainly no expert on overwintering in an area as cold as OH since I am way down in N'Awlins 'burbs where we might only get 1-3 days where it goes below freezing for a few hours at night, but if you read all of the articles on that AquaArticles page, you will learn much more and have a lot more questions which I or others might be able to answer.
How deep is your pond? From what I remember, OH had a very viciously cold winter last year... right? If your cat's are Channel Catfish, they can do OK if the pond is deep enough so the bottom thermocline stays warm enough for them.
You should read ALL the overwintering articles on this page http
/www.aquarticles.com/articles/ponds/index.html so you can properly prepare your pond for the process next year. This is where so many people mess up and come spring time, their fish have multitudes of health problems. Here is a feeding article based on fish size and water temperature so you will have a better idea on how much to feed based on the water temp. http
/www.texaskoi.com/Articles/you_might...eeding_your.htmUnless your heater is BIG enough to keep the pond over 55F (this would be a HUGE heating system and very expensive to run), you should not try to compete with nature. You need to learn to work with nature. This is where the overwintering process and preparation come into play. You do not want to run a floating heater on the top of the pond to keep an opening in the pond. A surface bubbler is better for this as it does not cause the water to circulate messing up the thermoclines where the fish hibernate for the winter. This is also why people should not run their pumps during the cold months as it causes the thermoclines to mix together and messes up the fishes hibernation.
I'm certainly no expert on overwintering in an area as cold as OH since I am way down in N'Awlins 'burbs where we might only get 1-3 days where it goes below freezing for a few hours at night, but if you read all of the articles on that AquaArticles page, you will learn much more and have a lot more questions which I or others might be able to answer.
jollysue
Fish Connoisseur
I have not read all this, but an albino plec breeder told me to keep albinos out of the sun, because they can sunburn. Did you remove shade from the pond.
I know I am way out of my league here, and you still need to read the articles and to post the information that Tokis and Lenny have requested. If you don't have proper test kits, take a sample to your lps/lfs and they will test it for you.
I know I am way out of my league here, and you still need to read the articles and to post the information that Tokis and Lenny have requested. If you don't have proper test kits, take a sample to your lps/lfs and they will test it for you.
Can you get a pic of the fish out the water?
If its only in the summer then it could be just the sun darkening the pigment which can happen with some light bodied fish.
Need a pic though as no one can give a diagnosis on what you write
If its only in the summer then it could be just the sun darkening the pigment which can happen with some light bodied fish.
Need a pic though as no one can give a diagnosis on what you write
We recently tested our water again. Here are the numbers: ammonia= .25 nitrates and nitrites = 0
pH = 7.5
We were also low on salt, so we have added the correct amount and retested to be sure adequate amount present. We have not removed any shade that the previous owner had, but again, our water is much clearer than it was previously due to placement of pressure and UV filter as well as multiple planters filled with anacharis.
Sorry do not currently have digital photo capability, but will work on figuring that out. The fish have not gotten any worse, but actually look slightly better. However, the pigment discoloration is still present.
I appreciate everyone's input on this matter and appreciate any help when it comes to pond matters! thanks again!
pH = 7.5
We were also low on salt, so we have added the correct amount and retested to be sure adequate amount present. We have not removed any shade that the previous owner had, but again, our water is much clearer than it was previously due to placement of pressure and UV filter as well as multiple planters filled with anacharis.
Sorry do not currently have digital photo capability, but will work on figuring that out. The fish have not gotten any worse, but actually look slightly better. However, the pigment discoloration is still present.
I appreciate everyone's input on this matter and appreciate any help when it comes to pond matters! thanks again!
Similar threads
- Poll
Most reactions
-
399 -
261 -
198 -
181 -
180 -
175 -
168 -
162 -
150
-
113 -
109 -
102 -
99 -
93 -
F
68