Five Amur catfish aka Silurus asotus

[thebiggerthebetter]

Minus one more. Down to three.

They all have been suffering from the supposed columnaris epidemy I have had in my tanks in 2018. Some more, some less. They still feed well but I can see that their bodies are swollen, especially the abdomen carries lots of fluid, and the heads changed shape because of the swelling and the eyes are pushed out.

The infection finally finished this guy, supposed male, 16", after 1 year of coping. The tummy is filled with fluid. Head is misshapen. Eyes horribly bulged out. Yet fed just a few days prior.

I need to kanamycin, erythromycin, or something all my tanks, I guess. Nothing less will do. Bite the bullet and buy enough medicine to treat 55,000 gal.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The remaining trio has been doing well, despite their heads and eyes remaining somewhat swollen and misshapen. They have excellent appetite but have stopped growing pretty much and have been at 16" two of them, I suppose males, slimmer, and one at 20", fuller one, I suppose female:

About a week ago they got upgraded to an 1800 gal which I had finally finished, they have already accustomed to it, feeding and loving to swim around, 31:15 minutes and on:

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Doing well in the 1800 gal, feeding like pigs. They don't seem to have a territory or be territorial but frequent one tank corner.

IDK why they are covered in faint scuff marks. I see them sometimes flicking and as if rubbing off the bottom and rocks violently all over their tank like mad fish (both in the former 240 gal and the present 1800 gal) but I am never sure why. No one else is flicking / itching.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

A video on the topic of parasitic rasp by Synodontis on Amur catfish, among others. This time the big Silurus asotus female. She is fully recovered now and lives in a 240 gal until we find something better:

As a side note. I've witnessed the two males being violent to each other or at least one to the other in 1800 gal (there had been some in the 240 gal too). An attacker would get a hold of the other's tail fin and hold tight, while the other is trying to get away, and they jerk around, tangle up, body slam, etc. I guess that's why their tails lost their original shape 6 years ago. They appear to do the same to the female too, judging from the condition of her tail fin, but I've never caught this action.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Amur catfish aka Silurus asotus, 16", minds his business, works in earnest on a piece of herring, is interrupted by a 20", 3-bar Indo Datnoid perch.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The female amur has been ok in the 240 gal. The bend in the spine seems to be getting more pronounced though. Also a pleco tank mate has developed a taste for its slime and I catch the pleco trying to rasp the amur once in a while, with the amur though not having it and swimming away but this makes me uneasy.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

A third asotus passed away. 8 years old. 16 inch / 40 cm. Male. IDK why. The full bely is still full of food - a day before it fed as usual with an enviable appetite and much gusto. They always feed like this.

I don't think this involved any kind of tank mate attack. The only guess is that since it swallowed 3 pieces of cut herring, perhaps a bone could be fathomed to have punctured the stomach and a vital organ, pretty weak hypothesis.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Minus one more, last female with the bad spinal kink after an illness 4 years ago. Only one male remains in the 1800 gal.

 

[fatboy8]

Still have my one Silurus from Wes as well. Looking at yours they definitely have different eyes and look different the larger they grew. Mines pretty much stopped growing at around 18-20". I do believe it to be a Meridionalis but its tough to find a lot of info on them.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Good to know, thank you for the update. I'd say if you bought yours from Wesley as Silurus meridionalis aka Chinese wels catfish, then that's what it is. Males often may stop growing at around 2ft in captivity. Ours is of course a different species, Silurus asotus, a smaller growing fish.