# My poor, stupid catfish... hope he survives.



## Subaru4wd (May 6, 2011)

Three days ago I came home, and found my African Featherfin catfish laying on the carpet, about a foot from my large aquarium. At first I was sure he'd be dead... i was gone for hours so i had no idea how long he had been laying there. But when I went to scoop him up I noticed his gills were still moving, and his mouth was gasping.

So i quickly scooped some aquarium water into a tupperware container and put him in there, and moved him around backwards in the water until he was able to move himself around. His skin had dried out pretty bad, and he was not able to move his body but one way. I set him back into the large tank but he wasnt lookin good. He kinda float alittle in the current, but he made his way to the bottom of the tank and i left him for about an hour. 

When I returned I found him near the inlet to my canister filter, and i was sure he had given up and was just waiting to die. But when I tried to scoop him up with the net, he scoot away real quick and i could tell he was able to swim and survive. So I then took my large 20gal bucket I use for water changes, and filled it with some treated tap water, and tank water... dosed it with some MelaFix and ran a airline and placed an airstone in it... then put the catfish in there with a few objects for him to hide in.

Fast forward now 3 days and he is still alive. He is taking food and can move around in the bucket fairly quickly. His skin appears to be peeling, his entire body is pale and it looks like most the fin on his tail is missing along with most of his dorsal fin.





































Today I syphoned out alot of the crap at the bottom of the bucket, and added about 3gallons of tank water to replace it. I am hoping his fins & skin start to grow back and color returns.

Here's what he looked like before he decided to be stupid and jump out of the tank. Maybe he'll learn his lesson?


----------



## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Awwww. I hope he gets better. :3


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Best thing for him at this point is to keep his water clean and to keep dosing meds as needed. Make sure you change out at least 50% of the bucket with fresh dechlorinated water. Not from the tank.


----------



## sondre (Jun 1, 2011)

hope he gets better .


----------



## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

Poor guy! Hope he gets better!


----------



## Subaru4wd (May 6, 2011)

susankat said:


> Best thing for him at this point is to keep his water clean and to keep dosing meds as needed. Make sure you change out at least 50% of the bucket with fresh dechlorinated water. Not from the tank.


daily??

I will do a 5gal change tomorrow with dechlorinated water. I already dosed the bucket today and dont want it to goto waste.

I also have a heater in the bucket to keep the temps as steady as possible.


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

In order for him to heal up it needs to be daily but you can change out every other day. The reason I say daily is because synos are a major waste producer and you don't want him in that waste especially since you don't have a filter on it. and it does need to be 50% so that would be 10 gal since its a 20 gal container.


----------



## Subaru4wd (May 6, 2011)

This bucket isnt completely full. Probably has 10-15gal total.

I will do a water change tonight after I feed him.


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

With plenty of water changes his fins should grow back since the damage isn't down to the flesh.

Here is one of mine. Hitting 6 inches


----------



## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Does the MelaFix help with the slime coat? I can't remember. May want to look at adding something like Stress Coat to aid with that as well.


----------



## Subaru4wd (May 6, 2011)

The bottle says it does... so we'll see.

I woke up this morning and looks like my catfish has color again  I did a 50% water change last night after feeding him. Today is day 4 of his 7 day vacation. Hopefully soon I can return him to the tank.


----------



## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

awesome deal! keep up the good work bringin him back.


----------



## mike63 (Mar 18, 2011)

good job!!!:animated_fish_swimm


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Great to hear, keep up with the water changes and it won't take long.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Poor guy!Glad to hear hes doing better,and I hope for a fast recovery..Possibly cover the gaps with some craft canvas to keep him from jumping again,or others following suit.You can either just place it there or silicon it.


----------



## Subaru4wd (May 6, 2011)

My tank came with 2 glass lids that I was just too lazy to put on. Believe me, they are on there now! Also, I changed the landscape so things arent so close to the top of the tank. He will have 2 caves to choose from when he gets back in the tank, along with plenty of hiding places between.

I hope he doesnt find a reason to jump next time.


----------



## Subaru4wd (May 6, 2011)

Just a quick update. I put him back in the tank the other day. he is doing real well. His tail still hasnt grown any fin back, but he now has some of his dorsal fin and a whole lot of color back.


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

So good to hear that. They are awesome fish. Love mine a lot.


----------



## retiredsemi (Feb 8, 2011)

glad to hear that he is starting to heal have you tried a bit of aquarium salt in the tank that is supposed to help heal them
*old dude


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Glad to hear.Its amazing how fast you see regrowth when keeping the water pristine for them.


----------



## Subaru4wd (May 6, 2011)

Well one final update. The guy has fully recovered. All his fins have returned and you could never tell he was so messed up. In the past couple weeks he has finally started to come out of his cave and explore the tank alittle. He comes out alot when I feed the tank, and he's alot of fun to watch.


----------



## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

Glad that he made it through all that, he's pretty! You can't even tell what happened to him


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

So glad to hear that. You probably didn't need to use to much meds, the main thing was to keep up the water changes. Now you know what to do if it ever happens again.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Aw,he looks great!Glad he has made a full recovery and hope he decides his surfing days are behind him.


----------



## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

I'm glad he's back to his handsome self.


----------

