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These are some pics of my 12 year old "aluminum cat" I'm sure it is a chrysichthys but because of the huge eyes it has thrown me off. I thought it was a brachynema. This has been an extremely hardy fish, surviving a week in a five gallon bucket in the winter during an ice storm with no power. Three days at 40 degrees F and 4 dats at 68F (yay wood heat). Its about 7 inches long. In the last week it has become active in the day time unfortunately for my red rainbows. It has been in a 55 gallon for 8 years then was moved to a fourty gallon where it grew in width of head and eyes.

Looks more like to me.

Well the pectoral fins dont match. And mine has tremendously small finage, could be from age? Could the small fins and large eyes be from being crampt in a tank? I had heard that large fish kept in small tanks after many years remain small but some body parts continue to grow causing for problems later. Is this true? Anyone else have any pics of old chrysichthys sps?

Your fish is in extremely poor shape. It's got deformed fins (or the fins have been repeatedly bitten off by tankmates, or rotted from prolonged exposure to high ammonia levels), pop-eye, and the unproportional head indicates that it was starved continuously through its youth (perhaps to prevent it from growing). That fish is a victim of extreme, prolonged, neglect and abuse.

It might be possible to nurse that fish back to health, but if that was my fish I would probably euthanize it.

Wow hmmm. He has been kept with 2 blood parrots (no ability to nip) in a a 40 US gallon. Rainbows were only in long enough for his snack. Ammonia, nitrates, etc not a problem, 10% water change weekly. Earthworms, feeder fish, sinking pellets for food. Too small of tank perhaps but neglect hardly. Now yes his cave was a pastic cave that Im sure he damaged his fins on going in and out.

Wow, that fish is in a bad way... I agree with everything thats been posted here so far but you cant really say the "fins dont match" because the fish is so deformed/unhealthy. Looks a lot like the picture or C. maurus, though. I have a few topics with pics of my Chrysichthys if you wanna compare. Jippo said mine looks a lot like his Chrysichthys cf. nigrodigitatus so I'm going off that.

Whatever problem that fish has, it's still ongoing: the adipose fin looks like it's been ripped clean off, leaving an open wound; the pectoral fins appear to have finrot (maybe that's what's taken all other fins too); and the eyes are clouded and protruding. I don't know how old Chrysichthys get, it's possible age has something to do with its horrible condition, and since you say this poor catfish hasn't been starved and viciously mauled by malawi cichlids for years I will take your word for it.

It's not just old age, though. I'm not sure exactly what it suffers from (and like I said I personally would euthanize that fish, I have never had a fish that ill which recovered) but if you want to treat it a start would be to isolate it and treat it for finrot/external bacterial infection (specifically columnaris), that might give the fins and wound time to heal. I'm not sure what to do about the pop-eye - it's caused by some form of internal infection, could be anything, but with a spot of luck the columnaris medication might help with the internal infection too.

Hi Matt. Welcome to PlanetCatfish! Please do not get us wrong. Everyone is trying to help you.

If it does not behave sick - for instance, it is active and has a good appetite, does not flash, etc., then perhaps euthanasia suggestion may be premature. The fish does look real rough, Matt. If you blame the cave for some of this, remove it.

This is an African big-eyed catfish but the eyes should not be so popped. There is a pressure behind the eyes that makes them pop - either inflamed/enlarged tissue or gases. I am no fish vet though. Maybe, age and certain prolonged health problems may cause it too irreparably. Dont know. Cloudiness of eyes may be caused by water parameters - likely the easiest to correct, unless, again age/health-related.

The fish does not look starved/emaciated but it certainly does not look well-fed. If it feeds a lot but never gains weight, it may point to internal parasites, e.g., tape worms. This may also be manifested in sudden jerky movements of the mouth/gills or the whole body; regurgitations, etc. The head appears (unless the camera distorted it) too big for the body proportions - it needs a fuller body and a tail. I doubt it is genetic mutation. This fish looks like it struggled to put on weight.

I think after a certain point, when finrot has eaten away too much for too long, the fins do not grow back anymore. So, at this point you may or may not worry so much about the fins, except the adipose that looks white at the top - active wound?

When too much of a fin has been bitten off, it will not grow back or grow back fully either.

How long ago was the power outage that it survived? Did it look better before that?

mattCD wrote:I had heard that large fish kept in small tanks after many years remain small but some body parts continue to grow causing for problems later.

I have little knowledge about this. Somehow some people in the trade stunt some fish that do grow big and this is how, e.g., short-body paroon sharks are produced (one of the Pangasidae catfish). An abomination IMHO.

mattCD wrote:Earthworms, feeder fish, sinking pellets for food.

I do not like the feeder fish in this list. That's one excellent source of introducing a constant supply of bacterial infection and parasites into one's tank, especially if we are talking goldfish. You may choose to treat with a combo of metronidazole and praziquantel to purge/kill internal parasites. Soaking the food in these is the best. If he does not take it, you will have to put the meds in the water. Or add freshly squeezed mash of garlic - a strong appetizer.

Bristlenose 94 wrote:but you cant really say the "fins dont match" because the fish is so deformed/unhealthy.

I think Matt simply didn't realize that the finnage was not normal. Matt, Bristlenose94 has had several aluminum cats. I did and still do too but mine are in the pond - cannot take pics atm. One of mine was a rescue looking only slightly better than yours. His name, immediately, became an Ugly Duckling. I see glimpses of him sometimes in my pond - he's been there for 1/2 a year. So, he is alive. But I do not know if he is better or healthy, really.

I agree the fish looks bad. The popped eyes and large head developed recently. The power failure was about three years ago and he looked normal then. So it is possible this adversely effected him. This is one the problems with pet stores selling fish with trade names and putting 6inches as max size on the sticker.