Red Lizard Whiptail Catfish

[Zeeth29]

Excuse the mess of the tank. I'm currently rearranging and moving things. I noticed a few days ago that my Red Whiptail looks a bit bloated. I have no idea of the gender so maybe it's full of eggs? But to be on the safe side I've been fasting it since Wednesday but its belly remains unchanged.
Does anyone have any advice on the next steps I should take?

 

[BettagoSplenda]

I am unfamiliar with this fish species. However, first identifying its biological sex might help. Here is a link to a third party site with nice picture of a female. https://planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52854 I am sure someone more experienced will chime in soon.

 

[SheepAquatics]

Hello zeeth. Beautiful fish you have. Love the whiptails. To really know whats going on we will need more info for sure.

How big is the tank and how many fish are in it?
Tank temperature ?

How old is the fish?

What do you feed it and how often? Maybe its just bloated from food, these guys can get bloated from too much protein and meaty foods. They benefit from plant matter in their diet. Although since you said you havent fed it for a few days in would be worried its stomach hasn't went down.

This makes me think bacterial or parasite off the bat.

If your tank water is in a bad state thats gonna cause fish sickness most the time because it weakens their immune system when their environment isnt ideal. For example if its too cold or not clean/overcrowded.

What filter do you have on it?

Also a top down picture will let us know gender. Males more rounded head while females are thinner and more pointed. Just from that pic I would guess male.

Tell us more about the fish behavior and appearance. Is it letharagic? Does it swim properly? Any redness? Bulging eyes? You know best because you have observed your fish. If anything seems off let us know. Is it hiding? Flashing? which is sudden quick movements like its scratching itself on something. Is it pooping and what color? White poop is bad. Red worms coming from the anus? Fish are similar to us if you are sick and feeling bad you will show it. Its similar with fish. Just take some time and observe the fish. Any clamped fins? Things like this.

If it was my fish I would use a bacterial med like maracyn or maybe canaplex. If you have it a antiparasite med wouldn't hurt like fritz para cleanse. For antibacterial/ antibiotic something with clyndamycin(maracyn), kanamycin(kanaplex), or metranidazole.

You can use all these meds together usually but check before you throw them all in at once. Treating a lot of diseases is a guessing game a lot of times because we can only go by what we see. Unless you had a microscope for fecal samples to look at any worms or parasites in the gut.

If I didnt have any meds and I had about 50 dollars I would go for these meds just to make things easy. Fritz maracyn and para cleanse and Ich x. The latter for fungal and ich. If your local store has these even better and cheaper.

Hope this helped zeeth and I hope your whiptail pulls through. We gotta figure out if he is indeed sick tho. Let us know zeeth.

 

[Zeeth29]

Hello zeeth. Beautiful fish you have. Love the whiptails. To really know whats going on we will need more info for sure.

How big is the tank and how many fish are in it?
Tank temperature ?

How old is the fish?

What do you feed it and how often? Maybe its just bloated from food, these guys can get bloated from too much protein and meaty foods. They benefit from plant matter in their diet. Although since you said you havent fed it for a few days in would be worried its stomach hasn't went down.

This makes me think bacterial or parasite off the bat.

If your tank water is in a bad state thats gonna cause fish sickness most the time because it weakens their immune system when their environment isnt ideal. For example if its too cold or not clean/overcrowded.

What filter do you have on it?

Also a top down picture will let us know gender. Males more rounded head while females are thinner and more pointed. Just from that pic I would guess male.

Tell us more about the fish behavior and appearance. Is it letharagic? Does it swim properly? Any redness? Bulging eyes? You know best because you have observed your fish. If anything seems off let us know. Is it hiding? Flashing? which is sudden quick movements like its scratching itself on something. Is it pooping and what color? White poop is bad. Red worms coming from the anus? Fish are similar to us if you are sick and feeling bad you will show it. Its similar with fish. Just take some time and observe the fish. Any clamped fins? Things like this.

If it was my fish I would use a bacterial med like maracyn or maybe canaplex. If you have it a antiparasite med wouldn't hurt like fritz para cleanse. For antibacterial/ antibiotic something with clyndamycin(maracyn), kanamycin(kanaplex), or metranidazole.

You can use all these meds together usually but check before you throw them all in at once. Treating a lot of diseases is a guessing game a lot of times because we can only go by what we see. Unless you had a microscope for fecal samples to look at any worms or parasites in the gut.

If I didnt have any meds and I had about 50 dollars I would go for these meds just to make things easy. Fritz maracyn and para cleanse and aquarium solutions ich x. The latter for fungal and ich. If your local store has these even better and cheaper.

Hope this helped zeeth and I hope your whiptail pulls through. We gotta figure out if he is indeed sick tho. Let us know zeeth.

Currently it is the only fish in the tank. Tank is a 20 gal high I'm not sure on the age, but I've had it about 8ish years maybe? Temp is 75 degrees. Now that you mention it, I did have it with some corrys who I was feeding sinking pellets so maybe that is it? I haven't noticed it acting any different than normal. It usually just hangs out on the sponge filter and driftwood. Besides the belly I noticed a little bit of fuzz on its head, but I don't know if that's a new development or not as it is rather shy.

 

[SheepAquatics]

Currently it is the only fish in the tank. Tank is a 20 gal high I'm not sure on the age, but I've had it about 8ish years maybe? Temp is 75 degrees. Now that you mention it, I did have it with some corrys who I was feeding sinking pellets so maybe that is it? I haven't noticed it acting any different than normal. It usually just hangs out on the sponge filter and driftwood. Besides the belly I noticed a little bit of fuzz on its head, but I don't know if that's a new development or not as it is rather shy.

It is pretty old then maybe it's just getting near the end of its life. Since the bloat hasn't went down I would treat it with a med as I stated above.

Since bacteria is always present in the water an older fish might just have a weaker immune system not fighting off the natural occurring bacteria as well anymore.

The meds mentioned above can be dosed and are rather gentle on the fish and won't hurt to try. Remove any carbon or purigen in your filter and dose it. If it has fungus on his head which could be more likely if he is already sick with a bacterial infection. Fish often get a fungus infection with a bacterial infection.

In that case give it some aquarium solutions ich x to treat the fungus. Maybe some methylene blue or other antifungal would work. Both meds(bacterial and antifungal) can be used at the same time. If you dont have these meds I would look for them. Just good practice to have if you have fish.

Beware the antifungals can stain things like decor in your tank so if you have a bare hospital tank its best. Perform a water change as soon as you can to keep the water clean.


Best of luck to you friend...

 

[chromedome52]

I've had breeding pairs, that's a female full of eggs. She may dump them, or she may get eggbound. Without a male it could go either way. If she's eggbound, it will eventually kill her, and no amount of medication can prevent it. However, epsom salts may loosen the clump enough tor her to dump them.

 

[Redshark1]

I've not had this problem. This is how mine looked. My red lizard whiptail lived for exactly six years from purchase. I record my purchases and deaths carefully. Great fish and one of my favourites. They are rather stiff but quite capable of obtaining food for themselves. The only problem I had was from aggressive fish. These including a bristlenose catfish which acted territorially against it and damaged its skin and fins. I acted quickly because in my experience fish can appear to die of stress when bullied.

 

[SheepAquatics]

I've not had this problem. This is how mine looked. My red lizard whiptail lived for exactly six years from purchase. I record my purchases and deaths carefully. Great fish and one of my favourites. They are rather stiff but quite capable of obtaining food for themselves. The only problem I had was from aggressive fish. These including a bristlenose catfish which acted territorially against it and damaged its skin and fins. I acted quickly because in my experience fish can appear to die of stress when bullied.

They are an underrated fish. They don't get enough love. I really like them and they have some fun breeding behaviour.