Upside Down Catfish

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my year or so old upside down catfish has been acting different over the past 2 days.
it had a nice dark colour to it and was very active,
but since the weekend it has been very docile, prefering to stay still in the same
spot all day long.
the colour has also went from the nice dark shade to a very pale look.
we have a silver dollar in the same tank which has developed a small case of what looks
to be white spot, and the two have always been the best of friends, swimming together
all the time.
there has been no white spot detected on the cat though.
do you think these two problems are caused by the same thing or
do you think they are totally unrelated issues.
we have various corydoras, tetras, rasboras, plecs, a garra, a small angel, a couple of indian gouramis,
and some mollys in the same tank and none are showing any issues.
the water pH is around 7 and everything else seems fine.

any ideas would be gratefully received as i am very concerned for mr.whiskers and also penny (the silver dollar)

 

[Colin_T]

if the silver dollar has whitespot, then chances are everything else in the tank has it to. Treat them for spots and they should get better.
If you have carbon in the filter then remove it before treating.
Don't overdose the tank and check the medication. Some medications recommend half dose for catfish and scaleless fish.

To work out the volume of water in the tank
measure Length x Width x Height in cm
divide by 1000
equals volume in litres

When meausuring the height, measure from the top of the gravel to the top of the water level. If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove them before measuring the height.

 

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will it be harmful to the two baby mollys we have in the tank (in a small baby tank)

 

[Colin_T]

whitespot can affect any fish so the baby mollies will be at risk too.

The medication should be fine for the baby mollies as long as it isn't overdosed.

 

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i use a tetratec ex1200 filter, do i need to remove ALL the carbon from it ?

 

[Colin_T]

all the carbon must be removed otherwise it will absorb the medication and you won't treat the disease.

 

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i see, it was just that my filter has a few layers of carbon in it.

 

[Colin_T]

you will have to disassemble the filter and get all the layers of carbon out before treating

 

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right the carbon removal and white spot treatment was done at 3am this morning,
a 50% water change was done as well, by 7 am he seemed really happy and active again.
now at 10:30am he is back in the same corner again, not moving,
however the colour has returned to him.

 

[Colin_T]

You said the PH was around 7 and everything else seemded fine but have you checked the ammonia and nitrite today?
If the water is fine then just let the medication run and see how the fish are in a day or so.

 

[tidyshow]

checked the water with liquid test kit and strips,
all levels are good, slightly elevated ammonia
but only just above normal.

 

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well since the last post he has kept the same lighter colour but is very
active and happy looking.
gave me quite a scare though, lil bugger.