Upside down Catfish (white patch) disease

can anyone identify the white patch on the fish. Is this some form of disease?
yesterday it was not present. You can see the patch near/on the Top Fin.

 

Are you talking about that white on its adipose fin? Is it fluffy-looking or flakey?

 

When I first saw it this morning; you'll laugh at this but it looked like tippex when dry. Its a matte white. I have tried closer inspection, but its not fluffy; and at this stage it doesn't appear to be flaky/flaking. I will check tomorrow morning.

I have other fish in the tank, but they appear OK.

 

It sounds like it may be an injury. From what I can see and what you've described, I think the catfish either scratched itself badly on a piece of decor (slamming into rocks/wood when frightened) or one of the other fish in the tank attacked it.

Catfish lack scales, and only rely on a slime layer and their bare skin as protection. As a result, they can be quite prone to injuries. Some fish have a white-ish colouring just under their skin layer.

What other fish do you have in the tank, and are there any particularly sharp rocks in the tank?

 

One Malawian, one Clown loach, 4 small fish (origin unknown); known as mosquito. Two out sized Chinese algae eaters. one small eel (Hardly see him/her). Two glass cat fish, one Upside down cat fish, One Bumble Bee cat fish, One striped cat fish and four middle swimmers (don't know their names). Oh and I have a large North African eel (Breaths in and out of water)

Hope that helps!

 

To be quite honest, I'm surprised they're all getting along...

Most 'Malawians', ie: cichlids from Lake Malawi have aggressive or otherwise territorial tendancies. As a result, they do harass and cause chaos for other fish. In general, you should be keeping your Malawi with other fish from Lake Malawi, which can tolerate each other.

Chinese Algae eaters (I'm presuming Gyrinocheilos aymonieri) get quite viscious as they get older, which would likely seem the case when you say yours are oversized - it's likely that they've reached maturity. It's especially noted that, when they're older (mature), they hold a small territory, and chase away other fish from there. They've also been known for attaching themselves to the sides of large bodied fish (generally flat-sided fish, but your S. eupterus has the 'hump' typical for their species, which puts it in the 'large-bodied' category). By sucking on other fishes' sides, they can remove not only the outer slime layer, but also potentially scales and skin too.

And the North African eel... that name is ambiguous. The true eel that I know comes from North Africa is Anguilla anguilla - and by all means this fish can be problematic too keep with other fish, as large specimens are quire capable of tearing chunks out of other fish, if not swallowing them whole. The mark on the side of your catfish isn't typical of an eel attack, but there is the risk.

Anyways... has the white patch grown or decreased in size? Has it changed texture? Has the behaviour of the catfish changed at all?

 

I think that this is the first time in my life as a fish keeper (23yrs), that I have got so much information in one go. Thanks for the information.

To answer your question; I really had a good look at my tank and though it seems peaceful, I think that the Malawian has chased the upside down away from its enclosure. I say this, as the upside down spends 80% of its time next to my power head in the top reaches of the tank. (I've read somewhere that these fish have a tendency to like internal filters and such like).

The good news is that that white patch has diminished in size, it is still visible. Obviously I will keep checking. However I must now make a plan to find a spot for the Malawian.

The story regarding the one Malawian being in my tank, is that my colleague at work also has a tank, and he was experimenting with community tank species. He bought two Malawians, one died and the other remained for a time, but got territorial with the other community fish and he suggested if he could put the criminal in my tank. I have had him for six months. So now he has to move. We have another large tank in our reception area, with some quite big fish, so there he will go.

Incidentally, because my algae eaters are so big, there is not enough algae or that sort of thing available in the tank, however I keep them supplied with OTTO bottom sinking food tablets, and their favorite, which all the other fish also like, is the Green Seaweed by OMEGA ONE.

On occasion and in my other tanks at home (plecos do it as well), they will latch on to the side of other fish, but its like "oops! sorry I thought you were something else".