Hello! Sorry for the long post, but its been a rough few weeks...so 3-4 weeks ago I noticed my Redtail (about 20" long, in a 360 gal. indoor pond, Filtration is Fluval FX-5) had some small splits in his fins. Typically I do weekly water changes of about 60-70% but I missed that week so I assumed it was due to the missed water change. I changed the water just like I normally do, then 2 days later he had a large white patch on his side where the skin seemed to be peeling away. It was about the size of a nickel roughly halfway down his body. His behavior was normal and he had his normal appetite. I rushed to the store to find medications to try to keep the spot from getting worse (it had a cottony fungus look to it so I was thinking anti-fungal). The only store that sells meds near me is petsmart and they only have API medication. Each box treats 100 gallons and they only had 2-3 boxes of each type so I couldnt get enough to do a full round of treatment but I bought what they had. I bought Erythromycin (enough to treat 300 gal.) and "General Cure" (enough to treat 200 gal.) I treated him with the Erythromycin first and it seemed to take care of the cottony growth but the patch was still there and had a bare fleshy part (looked kind of like raw chicken). So then I treated him with the "General Cure". This was about day 5 now and I had been doing daily 50-60% water changes. The general cure didnt really do anything. By this time the meds I ordered online had gotten here so I started with the BiFuran+ (active ingredients nitrofurazone and furazolidone). After 2 days of treatment the patch looked good and it was obvious it was healing so I stopped with treatment and just continued the large water changes. Over the next week he cleared up and was looking good so I thought we were out of the woods, but we weren't. I went to check on him in the morning as usual and he was breathing heavily, twitching and flashing against the rocks on the bottom. He had been perfectly fine the night before. I tested the water and everything looked good. By the time I got off work he was floating at the surface (right side up) with his nose sticking out of the water and drifting around with the current. Based on what I read online I was thinking possibly gill flukes or chilodonella. I did another big water change and treated him with the 2nd medication I ordered Rid Ich (active ingredients Formaldehyde and Malachite Green) which is supposed to be good for treating flukes and chilodonella. I've been following the directions and dosing for the last 5 days and he's continuing to get worse. He developed these weird stringy tufts on his whiskers on Saturday and by Monday morning the end of his whiskers fell off at the tufts. His pectoral fins have been deteriorating from his body outward and he now has white patches like the original patch on both sides right where his pectorals meet his body. I dont want to just keep throwing random medications at him but I have no idea what else to try. I've tested the water multiple times and never had any readings of concern (0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, worst ammonia was 0.10ppm and that was the day after a feeding.) I've been doing so many large water changes I dont see how it could be a water quality issue....The other 2 fish in the pond (giant gourami and irridescent shark) are perfectly fine! Not even a scratch or a freyed fin...I am really at a loss on what to do so any advice or thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read all this, sorry again for the length...
Sick Redtail Catfish, treatment help needed...
- Thread starter KMKgirl1605
- Start date
i am not a redtail catfish expert sorry but i did see something similar happen to my friend betta before. i think its parasite that is attacking ur fish but then i might be wrong (if any1 out there really know what going on please correct me) i think u should separate from the other fish and treat him in a smaller tank where u can save u a little bit of money. i think my friend put aquarium salt in and it stop the spreading for about 1 or 2 days (it only slow it down not cure it) i gave my friend my bottle of Metro+ and i think it work for him but im not sure if it will work for u but u can try it out and see what happen. i wish u luck 
Thanks for the input! =) I've been continuing the large daily water changes since the post and tried tetracycline which helped quite a bit. I've got him eating again and his patches are mostly cleared up. His whiskers haven't started growing back yet but they don't have the weird tufts so I'm thinking we're on the upswing, just cross your fingers that nothing else shows up! Thanks again! =)
sounds fungal. as suggested if space is available QT him and treat with salt, heat and anti-fungals. If its a parasitic infection the salt and heat will help. If you had success with the original medication, get it going again. I'd almost have to guess its some type of fungal infection...but I'm not a disease expert by any means.