Pygmy Catfish Death :-(

[nicoleandthebee]

Hi

I'm looking for advice / help if anyone recognises these symptoms. One of our new Pygmy catfish had been behaving very strangely over the last two days and we think it's the same one found dead today.

In a nut shell it looked like it was twitching, very rapid jerky movements, it kept swimming to the surface but didn't look like it was getting air, it was also swimming round in circles but in a rolling motion, then it dropped to the bottom of the tank like it had died!

I went to net it out and it came "back to life" and seemed normal but later I noticed it kept doing these odd things... Today when testing the water (API kit) I noticed another twitching

I tried to take a video but the little #29### stopped doing it!

1. Water parameters:

• Ammonia - 0
• Nitrate - between 40 and 80 (it's hard to tell!) - could this be the cause? We're due to change the water today anyway
• Nitrite - 0
• PH not tested
• Temp 24.5
• Hardness - soft water

2. A full description of the fishes symptoms.
Very quick jerky movements, constantly going for air (almost like in a panic), swimming in circles and rolling over from side to side and then falling to the bottom of the tank (as if dead) then acting normal. This behavour happened over two days, how the poor fellas dead

3. How often you do water changes and how much.
Weekly changes, about 50%

4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water.
De-chlorinator

5. What tank mates are in the tank.
1 male dwarf gourami

6. Tank size.
53lt

7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish?
They are the new fish, added a week ago yesterday

Tank life
Been running for a good 6 months with fish and about 2 prior to that as we were doing the fishless cycle (but it took ages!!)

Location
England!

 

[nicoleandthebee]

Did a 50% water change last night and added an antibacterial medication.

Has anyone got any other advice at all? Anyone?!?

 

[the_lock_man]

How many fish did you add? If the tank only had 1 Gourami up until a week ago, and then you added more than 1 or 2 catfish, it may have caused an ammonia spike.

 

[Katch]

I had a pygmy doing that for some weeks. Looks like an epileptic fit followed by a short period of unconciousness. Fish died eventually. Never found out what caused it but there are several diseases that can have this neurological effect.

I've had no other losses or fish displaying the symptoms since.

 

[nicoleandthebee]

We added 5, unfortunately I found another dead this morning

It could have been an ammonia spike but it's been over a week since they were introuduced and all the tests we did gave low readings but I wont rule anything out at this point.

@Katch it's good to hear, maybe it's not something that spreads to other fish but I'm still worried.

Thanks very much for your replies! I don't feel quite so losts and frantic

 

[Katch]

I've seen others have this problem with pygmaeus as well; resulting in death. I had 7 pygmy cats and lost 4 in total over the course of 1 year (only one showed these symptoms).

I was concerned that it may be fish TB which has a tendency to wipe out the whole tank. I happy to say I haven't had a fish death in many months and all my stock are healthy and thriving. My other corys even breed in the community tank.

I wonder if it is something inherent to the species.

 

[ellejay]

I wonder if it is something inherent to the species.

Oh no, I've just bought 8 of them! Will let you know if I have problems too

 

[Katch]

Don't get me wrong, I know of plenty of people that keep and breed them with no problems at all. It is just strange that this undiagnosed problem has presented itself in otherwise healthy tanks on more than one occaision.

With the way a lot of fish farms around the world opperate, it would not be a great supprise to find a particular group within a species that have a genetic disease.

 

[alihar]

I have 5 Pygmy catfish and quite often see this behaviour in them.
I have had them almost 2 yrs now with only 1 death.
They frequently spawn and seem happy apart from the odd "fit"
I have no idea why they do this I thought it was gill flukes at first but after numerous medications they still show this behaviour so perhaps it is just something they do.
I found more fry at the weekend too!
Alison

 

[nicoleandthebee]

I found more fry at the weekend too!

Very jealous, I want fry!

This is really interesting though what everyones said. I thought if it was a common illness there'd have been lots of replies (or more results when searching) so it's left me wondering if its less common or a pygmy issue.

We want to get more now there are only 3 but are a bit worried they might die too! I think we'll see what happens over the week. They are absolutely adorable though!