Pictus Cat Not Right :(

[star4]

Juwel rio 400
Ammonia 0, nitrite 0 nitrate 0 (did water change yesterday nitrates normally very low as I have unreadable amounts in my tap water)
50% weekly wc
two aps 2000ef filters
other fish 3 other pictus cats, plec, one matae cichlid, one festivum cichlid, 2 tetremerus cichlids)
No fish or decor added for the last 2 years.
 
My largest pictus has started hanging around more and more on the side of the tank rather than the bottom. She is breathing normally, there are no marks on her at all, everything looks normal just her behaviour. I got her 6 years ago (will be 7 years in April) and she was about 3" long.  She will come down to feed but then even with the lights on she will go back to the same area at the one end of the tank behind the wood and just go back and forth along the glass keeping away from the other pictus.
 
 
 
 

 

[star4]

Just put her down. 111 views and not a single bit of advice?!

 

[Byron]

I know it is very disheartening when no one can offer advice to a problem, but when it comes to disease or health issues I would suspect that many others are in the same boat I am in, and that is...we just don't have the necessary experience/knowledge when it comes to such issues.  I didn't see this thread until just now, so I was not one of the 111 original viewers.  I wouldn't have been of any help anyway; diagnosing issues is extremely difficult, and unless I am absolutely certain from my own experience--which with disease is fortunately very, very limited--I will not guess at a treatment.
 
"Do this" or "try that" can often lead to death of the fish.  Fish in trouble are under severe stress, and adding more stress by using medications, treatments, etc. should never be attempted unless one is reliably certain it is the right way to go.  And that is certainly not easy.  I am fortunate to have a friend online who is trained in this area, and at the first sign of serious trouble she is consulted.  Three times now she has saved my fish when they were slowly dying from something completely unknown to me.
 
Losing fish is not one of the positives of this hobby to be sure.
 
Byron.

 

[star4]

The only conclusion I can come up with after searching the net is old age. I have found a couple of sites reporting pictus live 4-8 years. Considering I had her nearly 7 years and she was 3" when I got her, she could have been over a year old when I got her. The other pictus I bought just after her is swimming odd around the tank this morning - whether he is looking for her or he is dying I cannot tell, but he would be about the same age.