Catfish problem in my malawi tank

Hi guys

Last night when I got home I found one of my synodontis catfish was dead and the other swimming in circles, upside down and really looked disorientated and then stopped. Removed him from the tank and placed him in a hospital tank. I have a feeling that when I get home tonight he would have also crocked. I know malawi's can bully other fish by nipping at them but then there would be tell tale signs on the catfish and the malawi's aren't even coming close to them.

The fish seem fine and don't display any signs of sickness or unusual behavior and all my male fish are in full colour and doing their courtship behavior.

What could be affecting the catfish?

 

Hey Shakes

Just out of curiousity, have you done a water change fairly recently? Also, what is the temperature of the tank, and is the heater working?

SA

 

Isn't the water maybe a tad too hard for them?

 

If you use RO water, best check your pH. I have seen my levels drop very rapidly when buffers are low.

 

Hi SalmonAfrica. I do water changes every two weeks and replace between a quater to one third. I have two eheim 300watt heaters in the tank, one in each corner,the one heater set at 25 degrees and the other at 24 degrees and the tank temp sits at 25 degrees.

Franna the catfish was/are S.nyasse which is an indiginous species to lake malawi so the water ph/hardness would be the same.

Scaly I dont use RO water on that tank.

 

My line of thinking was that, if you've done a water change recently, something in the water may have affected the catfish. At first I thought it may have been a temperature drop or rise - such changes in temperature can cause some fish (ie: your cichlids) to come into spawning condition. I thought a rapid change may have come as a shock to the catfish.
Otherwise there may have been another chemical present... which isn't likely, since the other fish didn't seem affected. Regardless, some fish are more senstive than others, and 'chemical shock' or otherwise chemical poisoning can affect some fish adversely, showing unsual behavior and sometimes dying (though I'd expect Synodontis to swim upside down anyway...).

I recommend you do a water test with whatever test kits you have, and then get your LFS to do any other tests.

 

Have you had your water tested? I think your nitrates may be to high. You may need to do your water changes more frequently. How are your other fish doing?

 

My other fish are doing excellent. In fact to the point that all the species I have in the tank are breeding and females are carrying. I just bought two 250lt grow out tanks as I'm running out of room to hang nets.

But I've got an excellent kit to do the tests and will do them this evening and let you know what the outcome will be. Unfortunitly I got home very late and was able to test my ph which was fine and remove the catfish from the tank.

SalmonAfrica the fish was swimming in a tumberling motion and with no bearings in which way to go, if you know what I mean. Theres a third synodontis in the tank, a feather fin, but he seems to be okay. I was wrong to say that the temp is 25 degrees as the temp does fluctuate by a half a degree to a degree up or down, as my lounge area does get alot of sun during the day. By the way Salmon that moray is eating like a beast now.

 

Hmmm... this is confusing. I'll wait on those water results then.

And that's great to hear about the moray. Have you seen him tearing chunks out of food by tying himself in a knot? It's the most awesome thing to see!

 

Okay, the water results were, Ph 7,6 which is slightly low but not enough to affect the catfish, Nitrate, nitrite and amonia levels were perfect according to my LPS who specializes in malawi's. Still leaves me stumped. Maybe the catfish were being bullied and just put under stress, but I personally have never see the fish bothering them.

The tank filters 6,5 the total volume of water in an hour and the water is very well oxyginated.

I don't know what happened or what caused it. The catfish were already adult fish were I bought them, how old they were I dont know, but two fish dying of old age a day apart is highly unlikely.