Agitated bolt catfish

[neelhound]

Hi i have a bulky 12in bolt cat in my 6x2x2. hes always in the shade and gets agitated a lot ramming into the sides of the tank and jumping, sometimes scaring my geos, usually hes peaceful.Recently hes been agitated a lot more and the water hasnt been meddled with or anything, and hes hurting himself with a few bleeding cuts. does anyoen ahve any advice on tis? thanks

[neelhound]

ho woops i put this in the wrong place but i donno how to move it...

[sojapat]

There are 2 things that really upset big Pims ,
Low ph .. What is yours ?
Oxygen content ... What is the filtration / Airation.

If the water is not touched also Nitrate .
What are the water parameters ?

[neelhound]

Hi
I sometimes put on an airstone but there are 2 big spraybars in the 6x2x2 and they are about 2ft long each agitating the surface well
Ph is just a bit under 7
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 20 and 50 closer to 20
I have used aquarium salt for parasite a while ago i heard it might be bad for pims im pretty sure ive done at least 3 30% w/c s since then
He used to be in a 10 fter and i enjoy seeing hims wim a lot but he just doesnt like the size of the tank as theres some decor and he bumps into the side and his wounds arent that bad.Its not the first time hes been agitated so ive put him up for sale for someone whos got a very large tank as hes scaring all my other fish although hes so nice

[MatsP]

Bolt catfish =

Aguarunichthys torosus

?

Large pims, being predators, are often able to produce huge amounts of ammonia waste in one go - and I suspect you have other large fish in a 6ft tank. When you measure that nitrite/ammonia level, is that an hour or two after feeding the tank, or later on? Taking samples [say every 15-30 minutes] from feeding time and onwards for say 3 hours would give you an indication if your filter system is "fast enough". Spikes of ammonia/nitrite may also spook the fish.

--
Mats

[mod edit: Jools: Fixed clog tag]

[Richard B]

Good info from sojapat & Mats as always.

Something else to consider, but perhaps not an influence (?) is atmospheric pressure. We've seen some extremes in the last couple of weeks, with tremendous varience within 48 hour periods.

[neelhound]

yep we just got a barometer and its going crazy
but with the bolt i do love him, and whatevers causing it id like to get to the bottom of, although it looks bad i drop a prawn in and he eats it so it can't be that bad, and he has been stressed with the more aggresive geos bullying him(which is weird considering the 15" jardini i used to have didnt cause him any problems, i guess the geos stay closer to the substrate like him), and it just looks like a tank size problem and he used to be in a 10 footer i only have a 6 footer. He doesn't like the decor but in the end people have recommended selling him as he will eat fry and im looking to breed, and im generally worried about the tank size when he gets to 14", which is more than 1/2 the 20" width, so im contacting people about sellign him, informing them that hes been agitated recently.
However i'd like to carry on with this thread.
SO is it true pims can't deal with aquarium salt?
ANd He swims in loops sometimes and swims everywhere and tries to jump as a result of me moving some decor,alarming geos,causing one to try and nip him only for him to have a huge go back, and after that he takes a rest in an awkward position, at this point some geos try to have a go at him, then he goes back to normal.A bit weird and worrying, i dont know if i'm doing the right thing selling at this point? Im not just sellign him coz hes been spooked recently though