Help! Catfish died and don't know why

[BlueStraggler]

What does circulating mean in this case? All I can think of is that you mean circulating air... or its a different term for cycling.
Thanks in advance.

[bmoraski]

Originally Posted by hilifter

Alright I'm going to do a 75% water change tomorrow and see where that takes me. Along with adding the prime.

Thank you for your help!!!

i would agree
that is your best option
definitely want those nitrites down to 0 ppm and i believe nitrates should be around 10-20 ppm ( veterans please correct me if im wrong )
good luck

[unwritten law]

nitrates should be under 40... thatll be fine.

[jo3olous]

Originally Posted by hilifter

I have a 30 gallon tank which I let cycle for a week without fish. I have a Top Fin filter system which came with my tank. I have bubbles coming out of three places and a few live plants.

Now after a week of cycling I put in two pictus catfish and two silver-tipped catfish. I purchased these four fish from my local Petsmart store. After 5 days one silver tipped died. He was not really swimming but more like just hanging in the water. Right after this, I put in two bala sharks. During this time, my other silver-tipped catfish was swimming around and very active. The next day my other silver-tipped catfish started doing the same thing and eventually died. That was the 1 of April. Today, the 4 April, my two pictus catfish died. When I took them out it looked like their skin was peeling off. I tested my water and everything was right were it is supposed to.

If anyone could help me figure out why and what happened to them would be great. I didn't think to take pictures at first, wishing I had now haha. If anyone needs more information, I will try my best to give it to you. Thank you again

Everyone provided you with pretty solid info. your tank definitely wasnt cycled and the fish were probably stressed from the move as well, which is magnified in a tank with bad water conditions (bad in this case means uncycled tank). Also no one else mentioned it so of course I have to, the pictus catfish are okay for your tank, however they would do better in a larger tank (preferably longer).

exerpt:
The tank should be fairly large as the Pictus is an active swimmer and needs plenty of open spaces. Although a 36 inch may suffice I believe the standard 48 inch, 55 gallon would be better. Generally an easy to care for fish the Pictus cat should present few problems. Preferring to be kept in schools when young, they tend to form smaller groups when mature. When kept in small groups this nocturnal fish will be seen out and around more often during the daylight hours. Feeding is not an issue as the pictus will accept all types of food, being an insect eater it is beneficial to feed live food on occasion and frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp when live is not available. The tank should be planted toward the rear and include large areas of open space for swimming as well as areas for hiding such as caves, driftwood and roots. The substrate should mimic its home and consist of fine sand or gravel. Clean, soft and slightly acidic water with strong filtration and a good current is ideal. They are great tankmates for the larger community cichlid aquarium, smaller species such as neons will be eaten. A note of caution, the spines are very sharp and can cause injury to you and the fish if mishandled. It is better not to use a net but rather some sort of plastic container (or bag, watch for leaks) when buying or moving this fish.


I also wanted to note bala sharks are not a good choice for a 30 G. They swim, are very fast, and tend to jump a lot. Plus they can reach adult sizes of 16-18 inches. A school of balas should be in nothing less than a 125G tank.

That's pretty much the only advice I can provide here, everyone else seemed to hit the other points. GL