Please Help Me Identify This Catfish...

[ItamaeChef]

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These pictures where taken years ago. Sorry for the quality. My wife and I purchased this guy from a local pet store in '97 when we were first setting up our 30gal tank. We had quite a mixture of fish. All community. Great looking tank for a beginner too.

To make a long story short, over the years we lost all of our old fish and have moved several times. The only thing that has stood its ground has been our Catfish! We love him! He now lives alone (unfortunately) in a 50gal tank and is approx 13" long. We have a good bit of cover for him and he seems to like it quite a bit.

Well, for the first time ever I have a problem with him. I believe he has contracted Ick or Hexamita from our last batch of feeder fish. All of a sudden he has what appears to be a strange combination of both.

His left eye is slightly cloudy and there are only 3 or 4 spots that appear to have gone right through his skin. He is not however covered with fuzzy white spots like I've seen with other fish that?ve had ick.

Something else that bothers me is that all of a sudden, and I mean sudden like 1 nite, he is missing small bite sized chunks out of both sides of his gill openings. There are no other fish in the tank with him though.

From researching on the site, I'm new, I believe him to be "Horabagrus nigricollaris" Black Collared Catfish. We've always just called him a Channel Catfish since he was purchased in Mississippi.

Please help if you can. I apologize for such a long post but my little guy is sick and I'd be really upset if something happened to him after all these years.

ItamaeChef
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[Caol_ila]

Hi!

Sounds pretty bad...my first guess for the fish would be some Pangasius (mostly sold as sutchi (not sushi) here)...the illness sounds like fish tuberculosis with which you should be really carefull cauz it can be transmitted to human. Hard to tell when you cant take probes from the fish...but cloudy eye, chunks missing sounds like a severe bacterial infection.
If you wonna save the fish go to a doctor immediately but dont touch the fish and better use some gloves! Good luck (Hope im not making too much noise just being really carefull)

[clothahump]

Pangasius santiwongsei I think.

[ItamaeChef]

WOW! Thanks for such a quick update!

Looking at the pictures some of them really do resemble my guy. The adult pictures seem to show some really larger versions of him with different coloration but the juvenile and dorsal views of this catfish really have similarity.

Now, my next question is in regards to the tuberculosis that was mentioned. This scares me to think that my little pet could harm us in such a way. How is it contracted?

We do not handle him in any sort of way and only rarely come in contact with his tank water on our hands when we're feeding him his new batch of food.

He eats roughly 40 mid-sized feeder fish a week. I try to rotate with pellets and frozen brine shrimp also.

Please help if you can.
ItamaeChef

[Caol_ila]

Its just about being carefull...if you dont have any wounds or a weak immune system it shouldnt be contracted but still i wouldnt touch the fish. If you have a chance to see a petdoctor who has a clue about fish you should try see him tomorrow or so...diagnosis from a description only isnt very secure (i dont actually know what my fish had who died last night) Positive thinking - good luck. Waterchanges cant hurt...

[Caol_ila]

check this if you find something
http://www.eheim-uk.com/disease.asp

[ItamaeChef]

Thanks for all the help. My wife is on the way to the house right now to take some pictures so that we might get a little further along on things.

I agree about seeing a doctor but unfortunately for me I have found non in my searches. I live in quite a nice sized town but our local PetSmart is about as big as it gets on pets. I'm not knocking it; they've saved me many times before, but...

I have been reading now about Fish TB and it's scary how familiar it's sounding. I surely hope that it is some other type of curable disease.

I'm now just having a problem trying to find sites that show pictures along with descriptions. That would be a great assistance.

I'll post again soon with some more pics. Thanks again everyone. =)
ItamaeChef

[ItamaeChef]

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This is a great profile picture. Disregard the far left blue spot. It is caused by the cam flash. If you look closely at the eyes you can see they are slightly cloudy. Last nite only his left eye was cloudy. Now, as you see, both are. Also check out the gills. Do you see the 2 missing sections? It looks like something just bit them right out.

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This is a horrible close-up. One again overlook the blue spot. Here you can see his left eye is slightly cloudy as I saw last nite. Here you can see a mirror image of the other side gills. 2 identical sections are missing as though they had been bitten out.

On a side note the little specks are now all over him. Those weren't there last nite. This, I know, looks like Ick. Even Fish TB doesn't mention something like this. A strange combination of different symptoms. He's never been sick either, ever.

I appreciate everyone?s help.
ItamaeChef

[ItamaeChef]

Pangasius Sanitswongi?

I've also now noticed that none of the other pictures of this type show their dorsal fin the same as mine does. My cat's dorsal fin is somewhat lazily folded back while others of the Pangasius Sanitswongi appear to be quite pointed like a shark.

Any further insight or could he still possibly be a Black Collard Catfish.
ItamaeChef

[Silurus]

Actually, I think your catfish is some kind of ictalurid. Not too sure of the identity, because of the angle. I'd say it's either a channel cat (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>) or a blue catfish (<i>I. furcatus</i>). The shape of the anal fin suggests the latter species.

[ItamaeChef]

Now that I've checked out Ictalurus Punctatus a lot of things are coming together. As I mentioned earlier he was bought in Mississippi which is where I see this kind is primarily sold. I see that the albino variety is more popular and easier to find than the colored. (We waited until they had a non-albino) And, the general description matched my guy.

Something else that makes me wonder. I see that their desired tank temp should be between 12-21C (54-70F) and I've just replaced a tank heater about 3 weeks ago that now has the tank between 22-28C (72-82F). I clearly have the temp too high for him.

I'm wondering if I've brought on an aggravated version of Ick due to the last batch of feeders possibly being infected and the higher than normal temp.

Things are finally falling into place. I really do appreciate all the help. Please, keep posting if you have an opinion.
ItamaeChef

[Silurus]

Possibly, but channel cats are usually pretty tough. You might want to remove the heater, tough. If the tank is in a well-heated room, I see no real need to have separate heating.
You might also want to stop feeding him live fish, as this is the easiest way for him to catch all sorts of diseases. Channel cats aren't fussy eaters, so it should be easy getting him to eat something else.

[Dave Rinaldo]

Your original pics seem to show different fish, the first a Pangasius sp and the second seeming to be younger pics of your later posts. Maybe that is why you are getting different opinions on ID.

[ItamaeChef]

I can?t believe it. You are completely right. The first pic on the left (now removed) was an Iridescent Shark I used to have.

In my panic I picked the wrong pictures. So sorry.
ItamaeChef

[smilingSyno]

maybe the fish could be a
Ameiurus catus, the american
white catfish.
I have one about 4" long that
the lfs got in with its ghost shrimp
when it was about 3/4" long.[/i]

[Silurus]

Nope, don't think it's <i>Ameiurus catus</i>. Head is too flat for an <i>Ameiurus</i> and the anal fin is too long for <i>A. catus</i>.

[ItamaeChef]

As of today, (01/21/03) his condition seems to have improved some. This is what I've done since we originally started.

1) Turned the tank heater off. I found I had the temp way too high for him.

2) Stopped feeding him "feeder fish". He hasn't been eating since he's been sick anyway.

3) Added some additional salt to his tank.

4) Treated for 2 days with Ick Meds. His symptoms seemed more and more to resemble Ick so this is what we've tried to address first.

5) Changed 1/3 of his water.

How has he reacted.

1) White spots on his skin seems to have cleared considerably.

2) Fin degradation has not occurred any further.

3) Breathing seems normal.

4) Cloudiness on both eyes has now completely cleared on one and partially cleared or the worse eye.

Overall he seems to be getting back to normal. I think I might have to go through another Ick treatment though. I'm watching closely. Granted, he's not very active but he seems more back to his normal ways.

I cant tell you how much I appreciate the help everyone has given. I will continue to update everyone on his condition and always welcome further suggestions just in case I've missed something or messed something up.
ItamaeChef