Clarias Catfish not eating for a month. HELP!

[hassanabbasdec]

hello i'm new to this site (monsterfishkeeper).
i am having 90 gallon tank with 1 oscar (8inches), 1 parrotfish (3-4 inches) and 2 clarias catfish or what we call it as white catfish or walking catfish (1 feet each). i had RTC and Naja Shark but they died several months ago.
I'm having catfishes for the last 3 years, i bought them when they were around 2 inches. they were eating normally in summers as well as in winter. Now suddenly from the last one month BOTH of them stopped eating, they roam around in aquarium normally means they dont seems to be ill at all, they take oxygen from air like they always do, every thing seems to be normal but they stopped eating.
my water temperature is 30C. I read in a forum that it can be because of nitrates etc so do 25% water change every three to four days and after 3-4 water changes they will be fine. i tried that also but all in vein. They normally comes up to take oxygen when i put food in, normally swims around but don't eat it.
i asked pet store for the solution, they gave me a medicine named 'cure it' and said to put it in another aquarium and increase temperature of it and put fresh water in it. i tried it too but nothing happened.

can any one help me ? may be i am missing something.
i will be really thankful in advance.

 

[kno4te]

Post some water parameters. Curious as your fish got better after water changes. You do have a few fish that produce a lot of waste.

What’s ur water change schedule like? Do you treat ur water? What are you feeding? How often were the fish fed prior? Pics of the fish?

 

[Yoimbrian]

You sound overstocked and under water changed.

Is 25% every 3 or 4 days more than normal for you?

I'd bet a pretty penny your water is dirty and they are suffering for it. And if that's the case, adding more chemicals won't fix it...

 

[Drstrangelove]

Agree with Yoimbrian .

Your tank is way overstocked for that level of water changes. My estimate is you're adding around 11 ppm of nitrate per day (it's an estimate from your post) and that would indicate a need to change around 75% of the water every other day.

If my estimate is right, your nitrate levels could be well over 100, perhaps over 200 ppm. That would depress appetites, the immune system and cause lethargy in some species. Yours? I don't know as it varies a lot by species.

 

[hassanabbasdec]

You sound overstocked and under water changed.

Is 25% every 3 or 4 days more than normal for you?

I'd bet a pretty penny your water is dirty and they are suffering for it. And if that's the case, adding more chemicals won't fix it...

you say my aquarium is overstocked, pet store says its fine. and there were 10 fishes in same aquarium when they were small, now when they grew up i sorted them out. they were quite fine for several years, what happened suddenly. all i can now do is give these fishes back to pet store cz i am not able to get any instruments to check water parameters as they are not available.

 

[hassanabbasdec]

Agree with Yoimbrian .

Your tank is way overstocked for that level of water changes. My estimate is you're adding around 11 ppm of nitrate per day (it's an estimate from your post) and that would indicate a need to change around 75% of the water every other day.

If my estimate is right, your nitrate levels could be well over 100, perhaps over 200 ppm. That would depress appetites, the immune system and cause lethargy in some species. Yours? I don't know as it varies a lot by species.

you might be right, but why other fishes are eating normally ?? i will figure it out today

 

[hassanabbasdec]

i'm sorry, i don't know water parameters, there are no instruments in pet shop they can provide me for finding out these parameters etc, all they say is do a water change and nitrates will be removed. i'm really sorry, i know i am at fault but water apparently is crystal clear.
here in Pakistan its difficult to find out nitrates and pH etc cz of no instruments availaibility.

3 years ago when i bought aquarium and kept fishes, i used to change water after 2 months at that time., now i do it every week. 50% water change every week.
pet store gave a rule for food that no food should float more than 2 minutes, so i feed them twice a day, means every 12 hour.

 

[Drstrangelove]

you might be right, but why other fishes are eating normally?

Different species can react differently (sometimes disastrously) to different chemicals or conditions. E.g., although dogs and humans are both mammals (like Oscars and Clarias are both fish), dogs can die from eating garlic and chocolate which most humans can eat with no ill effect.

Because one fish appears to be fine, there is no reason to assume others aren't suffering.

And how did the RTC and Naja Shark die? Is it related to this or is it just a coincidence?

 

[millerkid519]

Wait... You had a rtc in a 90g... I know why it died

 

[FunWow!]

Really 4 fish in a 90gal over stocked lol. Well I’d say just having the 4 fish in the 90gallon now isn’t a issue. With a redtail cat yeah it was probably a lot more of a bio load. Just do 50% water change a week. What were you feeding the catfish before they stopped eating? Did you change foods? Have you tried earthworms? They love them... did the redtail cat act the same as the walking cats right now before it died? If so you might want to treat for internal bacterial infection and high nitrates aren’t going to bother them cats lol they live in anything.