Bristlenose Catfish Eating Habits

[miko]

I just recently put a BN Catfish in my tank just over two weeks ago and I have never seen her eat! She obviously moves around the tank a fair bit as everytime I see her she is in a different hiding hole each day (but I never see her move or munching away at anything in the tank.

My concern is that maybe it is sick or will just end up dead one day. I have read in other discussions that they should be relatively easy to look after.

My current tank is a 165ltr community tank with plants etc and a otherwise healthy community (except for two Congo Tetras who got a really bad case of Ick - one died last night - the other is in a treatment tank). The BN Catfish was bought the same time as the tetras so my guess it is sick but I can't quite tell.

Any suggestions?

[joz]

Hi miko.

Your bristlenose will spend a lot of its time hiding if it has places to hide.

I just saw one of mine the other day for the first time in about 8 months.
Glad it was still there.

Whether its affected by white spot I can't help you??

[miko]

Thanks. Got back from work and the BN was dead. I thought something was wrong for a few days already.

Will look into getting another couple cats maybe this weekend. Have to try again.

[pumpkin-666]

i would try to remove the itch in your tank before getting any more, otherwise they will probably get sick too. remember you can only kill it while the itch is swimming aroud in the tank

[wombat1100]

Definitely treat all problems with your tank BEFORE purchasing more fish.
theres a great thread on here about treating ick here:
http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=1442
But from what i understand its takes a long time to treat it so be patient unless you want to lose more fish.

[canberra_plec]

yes definately treat it prior, try raising the temperature and aerate the water well for about a week. try 30 degrees c.

remember species like pleco's(bristlenose and the likes) and tetras are alot more sensative to chemichal medications so can be quite hard sometimes to propperly medicate