Is there a problem with my Pictus catfish

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Corey MacFarlane

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My Pictus catfish is at the front of the tank and is swimming back and forth aggressively and every few minutes he goes to the top of the tank. Is there a problem with the ph or ammonia levels, is it too hot or cold?
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Any chance of a picture and short 20 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

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What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the tank water (in numbers)?
If you don't have test kits, take a glass full of tank water to the local pet shop and ask them to test it for you. Write the results down in numbers when they do the test and post them here.

How long has the tank been set up for?
What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
What other fish are in the tank?
How many Pictus catfish do you have?

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Pictus are schooling fish that do best in groups. However, they can reach 8 inches long so need a big tank. Fish swimming back and forth along the glass are usually stressed and bored. If you only have 1 Pictus and the tank is big enough and has suitable tank mates, you could look at getting more, but don't add any new fish until we get this sorted. Pictus catfish are predators and will eat small fish.
 
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a7u1avF-_yCsWdOP2qUoj9OQ My ammonia level is at 0.02 pm. My nitrate is at 5 ppm. My nitrite is at 0.5 ppm. My ph is between 6.8 and 7. The tank has been up for a month. It is a 36 gallon but is is filled to about 33 and the dimensions are 30 in Length, 15 in wide but the front is curved so the sides are 11 in, and the height is 19 in. We do a 25-30% water change every two weeks and we do not clean the gravel. We have two filters, the whisper 20-40 and the aquatech power filter 20-40. I use a sponge to clean the filters every month. I have 5 other fish, 2 Corys, 2 bristlenose plecostomus, and an angelfish. I only have 1 pictus catfish.
 
I would suggest the problem is almost certainly that this fish is alone. Pictus is a shoaling species, and should have five minimum, but as Colin said they get large and your tank is not anywhere near sufficient for this species.

Some additional info: Peaceful but it is predatory and as it matures it will eat small fish. Should be kept in a small group of at least 5; single fish may pine away. Tankmates should not include sedate fish like angels, discus, gourami and even cichlids as these will be pestered by the nocturnal habits of this catfish, nor nippy fish like barbs. Medium-sized characins, larger rasbora, rainbowfish are suitable.

On another matter, you need to be doing weekly partial water changes; every two weeks is not sufficient. And increase the volume at each change to at least 50% of the tank's volume but more will be better for the fish. This applies to all aquaria generally, though here the fewer water changes can affect fish health and this can be one factor. But the lone pictus is likely the real problem.
 
I do water changes every two weeks because I let the water sit to rid of Chlorine then I put an extra heater in the water then add the salt and water conditioner. Is there a faster more efficient way?
 
If you have chlorine in the tap water, you can get rid of it by aerating the water for 24-48 hours (48 is preferable). You can also get dechlorinators that neutralise chlorine and chloramine almost instantly, although you should still aerate the water for at least 30 minutes to allow the dechlorinator to come in contact with, and neutralise all the chlorine. Aerating the water also allows the dissolved gasses to stabilise.

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As long as the new water is within a few degrees of the tank water, there is no need to heat it up before adding it to the tank. If the new water is noticeably colder than the tank water, you can add some boiled water or use an aquarium heater to raise the temperature of new water before adding it to the tank.

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Why are you adding salt to the water?
Pictus, angelfish, Corydoras and bristlenose don't need salt and it can cause problems to them if they are exposed to it for long periods of time. It can damage their kidneys.

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You need to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0. Doing bigger water changes and gravel cleaning the substrate when you do a water change, will help to dilute these nutrients and keep them low until the filter establishes.

You should do a 75% water change every day until the levels are 0. Then do a 75% water change once a week or any time you get an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm. You should also do a big water change and gravel clean if any fish die in the tank.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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The fish in the video is stressed. You need some floating plants and some caves for it to hide under. The best floating plant is Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta). It grows rapidly on the surface and can also be grown in the substrate.

As Byron mentioned, your tank is too small to house an adult Pictus catfish, let a lone a group of them. I would return the fish to the pet shop and get a store credit, and when the filters have cycled, get some more Corydoras.

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Your tank looks milky cloudy and that is usually caused by uneaten food breaking down in the gravel. This could also be causing the ammonia and nitrite readings. Reduce the feeding and doing a couple of big water changes and gravel cleaning the substrate should fix that. When the filter has established, it should also help.

How do you clean the filters?
Filter media/ materials should be squeezed out in a bucket of tank water and put in the tank. The filter case and impellor assembly (magnet with plastic blades) can be washed under tap water. When it's clean, reassemble the filter and get it going again.
 
Si how long do you think the pictus could last because I was thinking about upgrading to a sixty gallon in November, do you think it will last or not.
 
As long as you keep the water clean and provide some hiding places for the catfish, it should be fine for a few months. However, there is still the issue of stress from being isolated. The fish will survive physically but it would suffer some psychological stress.
 
Si how long do you think the pictus could last because I was thinking about upgrading to a sixty gallon in November, do you think it will last or not.

I advise you to return the pictus now, or re-home it to another aquarist with a suitable tank and other pictus. I have looked into this issue of fish stress quite a lot, and once a fish shows signs like these it is likely it has been psychologically damaged and it will not "recover." Stress in fish is a complex subject, and signs like this of acute stress are not generally reversible.

A 60 gallon may not be sufficient6 space for this species anyway; a group of five needs at minimum a 4-foot length (120 cm) tank that is minimum 18 inches (45 cm) width. More info here:

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/pimelodus-pictus/

Colin responded to your other issues about water changes and salt, and I fully concur with him. These things too have impacted the health of this fish.
 
I know its an old thread. But I don't accept many of these answers for I do have a pictus and the reason for the swimming is the fish normally live in fast streams and likes to swim in and out of river streams fast and slow running water inbetween day and night. The way to go ahead and remedy for that would be to give him running space on one side of the tank. I personally took a long smooth flat piece of driftwood that touches both sides of the tank and placed it on the back window 6 inches below the surface of the water with a strong current directed to run down it. He loves it. He runs, eats, and run a little more, then just cruises the tank.
 

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