red tail down in the dumps

[cowpuss]

after months of blistfull joy with my red tail, he is now acting rather odd... have checked all water levels at LFS and they say all is well, so am at a loss for possible problems

his tail looks as though he has a kind of excma, and he has started to swim clumsily, bumping into things, when not resting on the bottom, he swims frantically as though trying to get his reflection on the galss

whilst changing the water a few weeks back, (20% water changes on weekly basis) he nosed dived into the gravel and bent one of his whiskers - could this account for his clumsiness?

he is on his own in the tank but he has injured his whiskers and the base of his tail - its as if he has been fighting - if he had someone to fight with that is!

he has always enjoyed swimming to the surface to be hand fed, but seems to have difficulty locating his food, even when im practically holding it right next to his mouth

any suggestions would be most appreciated, will try and post pics later today so suspicious tail can be viewd

look forward to hearing your wise old views!

[coelacanth]

More information is needed as to Nitrate level, pH etc. I know the LFS has checked this but it would be useful to know what the readings were.
What filtration system are you using, and how big is the aquarium?
What food have you been offering?
Pete

[cowpuss]

hello again, thankyou for your reply. i didnt take note of the nitrate level, ph etc. (in future i shall write it down!) but the LFS guy assured me that it was all spot on. i popped down there again today, and showed him some pics i took earlier of his suspect tail and broken whisker, and he diagnosed his tail as a mild case of fin rot (how ashamed?) and prescribed waterlife myxazin - 5 day course. he told me not to be too worried about his whisker, as it would grow back, but cant help but worry cause it must have hurt! the filtration system is a penn plax cascade internal filter 400 and the tank size is 90L, and he is about 7.5 inches in length (cowpuss is his name) He enjoys a diet of lance fish mainly and cockles and greenlip mussels, which you so kindly suggested last time i posted a question! thanks again for your insight and look forward to hearing from you soon. PS. have got pics to post but not tekki enough to work out how to post them yet!

[Tom2600]

Hi

Sorry to hear your redtail is not feeling too well.

Without meaning to sound harsh, 90litres is FAR to small a tank for your redtail. I have no doubts that if you give him a larger swimming area his general health will improve.

Cheers

Tom

[medaka]

hi cowpus
you definately require a larger tank with a larger filter
one of the common things one finds out when keeping RTC'sis that they will produce loads of urine, which in turn causes excess amounts of ammonia, the "damaged whiskers" you refer to may be 'ammonia burns' to the barbels,,which with high levels of ammonia not only causes damage to the barbels but will also damage the gills, causing the fish distress,,(iam aware that you said that it banged into the bottom of the tank causing the damaged barbels)but, maybe? you just connected the two and thought that this was so.. did your LFS do a ammonia check.or did he just test for PH,GH,Nitrate and Nitrite's ..

as Pete(Coelacanth) wrote in answering your earlier post

One of the biggest problems for the private aquarist is maintenance time once the animal is large. Unless you can rig up a ball valve or similar, to do weekly 25%+ water changes on a 1000 gallon+ aquarium

1000 gallons(uk) roughly equals just over 5000Litres basically you are looking at buying and maintaining an 8 foot tank.(minimum).
It also might be worth your while purchasing your own test kits.. mainly that if you notice something amiss with your fish, say; in the early evening you dont have to wait till the next day for your LFS to open,,and could take the
action that the test kits information notice recommends if the readings warrant it.

[cowpuss]

the LFS checked everything for me and said all was well, but i do have to agree with you on purchasing my own water test kits - like you say, better to be able to check straight away, rather than wait for the store to open. cowpuss is awaiting a new tank which will be ready for him in time for christmass - 6'/2'/3' which should house him more comfortably, after that, when he's too big for me to handle, so's to speak, sadly i will not be able to accomodate him due to an obvious lack of room space! and he will move to a public aquarium centre who have agreed to 'adopt' him. for the time being though will use the medication prescribed by LFS and let you know how he gets on. thanks again for your advice, its really nice to know that catfish wisdom is available at the touch of a button!

[coelacanth]

the LFS checked everything for me and said all was well, but i do have to agree with you on purchasing my own water test kits - like you say, better to be able to check straight away, rather than wait for the store to open

Indeed. They are not expensive, and should be regarded as a minimal essential purchase to keep an eye on what is happening in the aquarium. I would suggest pH, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia and dissolved Oxygen.

cowpuss is awaiting a new tank which will be ready for him in time for christmass - 6'/2'/3' which should house him more comfortably, after that, when he's too big for me to handle,

The extra width will be a great help (I assume that the 3ft dimension is width and not height), but unfortunately this aquarium will still only suffice until Cowpuss is no more than 20" in length, which will be in less than 18 months time. The filtration is just as important as aquarium size, what sort of system are you planning to use?

Pete

[cowpuss]

hi pete - thats where you come in handy! suggestions most welcome, cheers cowpuss

[coelacanth]

hi pete - thats where you come in handy! suggestions most welcome, cheers cowpuss

For me the choices would be either a couple of very large canister filters, using a large overtank trickle filter, having the tank drilled so that a 'sump' can be used, or using a much scaled-up version of the 'river tank' that has been covered elsewhere on the Forum.
Of these the easiest to operate would probably be the sump option, but if this is to be in the same room as your TV etc. the noise of the ouflows could be intrusive if you get the angles wrong on the pipework.
What filtration had you been considering?
Pete

[cowpuss]

well, until you advised about the gravel im currently using instead of the sand base (which would be much better for him) and the filter, i [i]was[/i] going to just set him up in the bigger tank that weve got comming and have it just the same, but with a better filter to compliment the new tank size ... will have to do some extreme homework now though as this obviuosly wont do - dont want to upset the little chap anymore than i have already. will pop back to where i purchased him and have a chat with the boys. thanks again, cowpuss