Healing Catfish Barbels

[Featheryfish]

So, I went into the fish store to get some veggie flakes for my molly, and what did I spy but a brand new shipment of glass catfish, still acclimating in a floating bag. I was going to wait another week or two to get my lone glass catfish the school he deserves, but I figured this was a serendipitous opportunity to grab them before they'd been marinating in a crowded, stressful pet store tank for too long.

They seem to be in good condition - clear eyes, clean gills, fins intact, clear bodies, very active - with one caveat. Their whiskers are pretty banged up. I've read that catfish barbels can usually heal, but is there any special TLC that could help them regrow, other than clean water and a quiet, low-stress life? My preexisting cat had some minor damage on the tips of his barbels which healed up quickly when I got him (they're so looong now!) but this is a lot more severe.

And if a broken whisker does get infected, what medication/treatment is least likely to harm them? My understanding is that they are very sensitive to medication and that it would need to be diluted for them, or their exposure time limited, if it is used at all.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Cool! I would love to see a picture!

Just water changes. A 40%-50% water change ever other day should fix that right up.

 

[Byron]

I cannot advise on the re-growth of barbels on this species; with some catfish such as Corydoras they can regenerate if they were worn down, but not if by disease (sometimes).

As for treatment, clean water is all you should use. Make sure the aquarium is established. These fish are scaleless so they should not be exposed to any chemicals/medications unless absolutely essential to their survival. They also are highly sensitive to water quality and conditions.

My usual practice with such fish is to leave them in the store for at least a week, or two weeks sometimes. I do this with any Corydoras; I would rather they died in the store tank than in my tank. The stress of capture/holding/transport to the store was very severe, as severe as stress can be for fish, and chasing them around a tank, bagging them, then into your tank is additional stress.

 

[Featheryfish]

Alrighty, water changes it is.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

“When In Doubt, water change it out!”

 

[Featheryfish]

“When In Doubt, water change it out!”

I'll just get that printed on a sticker and put it above the tank.

So far this morning, 5 out of 6 new catfish look A+ and super happy with their environment. Even though there are several good driftwood hidey holes, when they're not schooling against the filter outflow or exploring the plants they all cram into one hideout together.

#6 started having some major buoyancy issues - judging from the looks of his guts (aren't clear fish great) I think he's got some kind of intestinal blockage. Either that or his swim bladder was injured at some point beforehand, of course... I moved him very gently but who knows how he was handled prior.

I'm kinda glad I bought him anyway - he'd just have been cannibalized by a mob of guppies in the store tank when he started going floppy. I'm keeping him warm and isolated, and if he doesn't improve in a couple days, or deteriorates, I can give him a more humane end than he probably would have gotten if he'd been only one of thousands of fish in rows of tanks. Though I don't want to be too hasty with the clove oil, in case he is just backed up.

Das just me tho.

 

[Featheryfish]

Catfish update, if anyone was interested:

Sadly, Catfish #6 deteriorated rapidly. After only a couple more hours of observing him, I decided to run around the corner to the grocery store and buy clove oil, but he bought the farm on his own before I could euthanize him. Ultimately, I think being unable to swim properly meant his broken barbell was rubbing his eye, causing it rapidly swell up and become infected. I removed him quickly, did a big water change, vacuumed the bottom, and gave all my fish equipment a good cleaning, just to be on the safe side. The pet store refunded me, and I buried him under a fig tree.

New catfish #1, #2, #3, and #4 have really bonded with my existing catfish, Ghostie, and they now do everything together. It may just be my eyes playing tricks, but I swear their barbels are already a smidgen longer and healthier. They look good, are eating well, and at night I see them doing a lot of exercise!

I really wonder about the basis of the descriptions I've read of glass catfish behavior. They do like the shade, but hardly seem timid - so far they're perfectly willing and able to engage in mild pushing and shoving to keep their favorite spots and compete for food. I also read that they were on the slow side - nope. If they feel like it they can zip around like they're wearing little rocket boots.

New catfish #5 I'm not so sure about. He's not exhibiting any obvious signs of distress, but he has become a recluse. Every day he spends less and less time with the group. Perhaps there is something wrong with him that is invisible to me but nonetheless causing the other fish to reject him. Since he doesn't seem to be suffering acutely from anything, I'm simply leaving him be. Maybe he'll come around.

 

[Byron]

I really wonder about the basis of the descriptions I've read of glass catfish behavior. They do like the shade, but hardly seem timid - so far they're perfectly willing and able to engage in mild pushing and shoving to keep their favorite spots and compete for food. I also read that they were on the slow side - nope. If they feel like it they can zip around like they're wearing little rocket boots.

Fish behaviour is largely dependent upon the environment, and here I use the word to mean everything within the tank from water parameters, water conditions, substrate, aquascape, numbers of the species, other species, light, filter flow (water current). When authorities say this fish is timid, they mean that without these "expectations" of the fish being met, they will be timid and that causes stress and so on. Provided with the correct environment, the fish should not be so timid. This applies to most fish species. And it is a well-known fact that fish that are naturally secretive will generally be less so if they know they have places of refuge. Colouration will be brighter too.

 

[Featheryfish]

Fish behaviour is largely dependent upon the environment, and here I use the word to mean everything within the tank from water parameters, water conditions, substrate, aquascape, numbers of the species, other species, light, filter flow (water current). When authorities say this fish is timid, they mean that without these "expectations" of the fish being met, they will be timid and that causes stress and so on. Provided with the correct environment, the fish should not be so timid. This applies to most fish species. And it is a well-known fact that fish that are naturally secretive will generally be less so if they know they have places of refuge. Colouration will be brighter too.

Thanks for clarifying, that makes more sense if I read it that way!

They have a big piece of driftwood to hide under, and my home is pretty quiet, so maybe that's emboldening them. It is neat figuring out how every little thing effects them. For example, I thought I was going to keep a bare-bottom tank with potted plants, but then I realized Ghostie did not seem to like the light reflecting off the bottom. The other fish couldn't care less, but since it bothered him I scattered a layer of leftover plant substrate around to cut the glare. For the tank I'm setting up this week I went ahead and bought black sand. Hopefully that will please them.

I noticed my original glass cat has more of a blueish rainbow sheen in the light than the newer ones, maybe they'll start to color up too. The tetras were sort of ugly, white and pasty when I got them, and now they are more of a gold. Cool beans.

 

[Featheryfish]

Not sure if anyone will see this or not, but I just wanted to report that glass catfish barbels do indeed grow back with a vengeance! Most of them have grown between a quarter inch and a full inch of new whisker already - once they really got rolling it happened quickly.

New catfish #5 has also improved a ton. He has rejoined the school, started behaving normally, and is finally sporting one whisker stump - he had the most barbel erosion and I wasn't sure his were going to grow back at all, but it looks like he wants to try and catch up now.

The water changes have worked. At one point some whisker tips were looking a little fuzzy so I was worried, but I just kept changing water and vacuuming, the old degraded tissue fell away and everything cleared up on its own.

I've scrubbed out the original 30-gallon I had so I could re-relocate the catfish into it if the skirt tetras showed any aggression or tried to nip off their new whiskers, but so far I've had no reason to stress them with another move. With a larger group and more territory, the tetras seem to have no interest in pestering other tank inhabitants. The extra activity of the 12 tetras actually seems to encourage the catfish to school in the open more instead of lurking under the driftwood all day. So that's worked out better that I'd hoped, though I'll still be keeping an eye on them.

 

[Byron]

All sounding good. Yes, the "magic" of water changes.

Keep a close eye on the tetras, and the behaviour of the glass catfish relating to the tetras. The hobby is full of scenarios that seemed to be working only to have things change literally overnight.

 

[Featheryfish]

All sounding good. Yes, the "magic" of water changes.

Keep a close eye on the tetras, and the behaviour of the glass catfish relating to the tetras. The hobby is full of scenarios that seemed to be working only to have things change literally overnight.

I will stay vigilant. (Luckily?) I am disabled so I am home almost all the time to watch them and my other animals. The long-term plan is probably still to separate them, but at least I appear to have time to make sure this tank is 100% established, and then I can piggyback an additional filter on it that I can use so I won't have to go through that cycling from scratch nonsense again.

Oh, and I can use the time to redo the silicone seals on the 30. Once I was finally able to get a good look at them with the tank empty and dry, I was just glad it hadn't burst apart and gushed fish and water all over my living room.

Most of the tetras are still on the smaller side and the catfish appear fully grown, so that probably helps. The tetras do get foul-tempered when they're trying to breed, which is most of the time, but on those days they are far too absorbed with chasing each other around to even notice that the catfish exist.

The only direct interaction the two species tend to have is an undulating catfish group occasionally scooching an inch to the left to make way for a tetra chase sequence that's blasting by. I was a bit concerned at first that it would be too much excitement for the gentle catfish, but it doesn't appear to disturb them.