Brown Bullhead Catfish in NZ Aquarium - health issues!

[kimberley]

Hi,

We have around 5 brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) in a large public aquarium (in a museum).

They have been fine since we got them (around 2 years ago) but in the last 6 months have been having health issues, with one of the smaller fish dying.

We're at a loss to explain why they're getting sick as we're feeding them regularly (twice a week) and their water is filtered.

Does anyone have any advice as to how we can troubleshoot the cause of their sickness? It's quite on and off, one day they'll look horrible and the next they will be fine...

Thanks,

Kim

[MatsP]

Have you done a water quality test (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH)?

What size pond/tank are they in?

How big are the fish?

I don't see any description of what is actually wrong with the fish - can you describe the symptoms?

Without the above information, we'd pretty much just be guessing - and whilst an educated guess may well work most of the time, it's much easier to get closer to the "correct" answer if we have more information.

--
Mats

[racoll]

Sounds odd. These fish should be as tough as catfish get!

If I were to guess, I would say a combination of variable water quality, low pH and high temperature.

I would say feeding once a week is not "regularly". If you're feeding them a lot at once, and the filter is not coping with this irregular regime, then poor water quality could arise.

Unfortunately to be more help we will need to know the parameters and details of the tank: dimensions, filtration, tankmates, foods, substrate, decor, nitrates, ammonia, nitrite, pH, temp, etc.

[Viktor Jarikov]

also, if I may suggest, if you are very serious about this issue and the help is needed urgently, pictures would get you much farther and faster than words. Of course, the requested water parameters are a must know.