Urgent Care :: Any guidance re: south american catfish?

[puppylovejewelry]

Hello everyone. I am the mother to Rainforest Jasper the turtle who I found thrown away in a park years ago. This forum was of great assistance to me in learning how to properly care for her and give her a nice life. She is doing GREAT- living in a 70 gallon home indoors, she is 7.5 inches long now...she enjoys some sun time outdoors but also has her reptiglo, I make her food. Life is good for Rain.

I now have another poor victim of people's negligence in my care. I understand this forum is for turtles. I am having trouble getting my account to work at the fish forum. I was hoping someone here might have some knowledge. I was scoping out my new apt I move into in a month. The last tenant left 4-5 days ago and LEFT HER 15 YEAR OLD SOUTH AMERICAN CATFISH to die in a 5 gallon bucket of water. I successfully revived him yesterday by slowly infusing fresh tap water into his terrible dirty oxygen depleted water. She also left some cheap tropical fish flakes by him which he ate.

I plan to buy him what he needs to have a decent life for the rest of his years. I have him safe at my place now in a very large container so he is not going insane in circles anymore. He started to do jumps out of the water as I revived him-he was SO HAPPY I found him

Understanding what things are best for him is confusing to me because "south american catfish" refers to a very rich bio-diverse group of fish with thousands of subspecies. I have been googling for one with his big bug eyes but have had no luck. He is about 6 inches long and maybe 2 inches wide at his fattest parts (around his head). He is strong and healthy, swimming fast. He did a jump out of his water container this morning when I was changing over his water and I picked him up by hand to put him back, got a closer look that everything appears healthy as far as I can tell.

I did contact the past owner-I think she has a serious substance abuse problem. She told me he can live in tap water fine and all she has ever done is to add ammonia drops or some old water that he just came from (which I have done, infused fresh water into his old water). I read they need the ph to be in a rand of 6-7 and his water is in that range now: 6.5 this morning after I changed out some of it. It gets more acidic of course as his waste builds up and he needs a proper set up with a quality filter and testing supplies for me to adjust his water. I just want to learn what he really needs before I go buy stuff. I don't even know about testing water parameters beyond ph (I had medical urine dip sticks to check if my guinea pigs have a urinary tract infection and those have a good ph measuring square on them-that's how I'm testing the water ph for now).

My questions to anyone who can help:
-what sub species of south american cat fish could he be given his appearance and unusually old age?
-what does he need for properly adjusted water so he is most comfortable and also what foods for a quality diet (rainforest jasper gets made turtle jello shots w/ fresh produce, tuna & calcium-I learned how to do that here and she LOVES it, keeps her healthy).
-What kinds of natural scenery will help him feel most comfortable with his instincts (like places to hide, fake vegetation, etc) or is there a risk of him eating them or eating bedding rocks like with turtles?

I understand that he needs an aquarium, a quality water filter, and a heater as I keep my home air conditioned (he's on the porch for now but protected from predators-its the right temp for him in Tucson az).








Thank you for entertaining my post even though he is not a turtle. I'm just not getting help elsewhere and I hope to figure out enough today to go get him some things to help his situation by this evening.

[ljapa]

I can't help with your questions, but I do remember your initial posts about your turtle.

It's great to hear Rainforest Jasper is doing well and that you're diving in to help another animal in need.

I wish you luck and hope you can get the fish forum worked out.

[puppylovejewelry]

Thank you I found catfishplanet.com later in the day. There are scientists from all over the globe there who seem to know some about the thousands of sub species of "south american catfish". We are starting to think he could be a very very abused emaciated iridescent shark catfish...possibly even a very very rare mini version called a short body balloon shark catfish (not even legal in the US). Anyways, he has had a bad life. I just got back from the pet store with supplies to set up a kind of hospital for him with very stable water and super good food. I'm going to try to get him healthy.

Yes, Rain is a very happy girl-not skittish at all. She doesn't even mind when the husky comes up to say hello to her and look at her while she is sunning! She is doing great, growing at an appropriate rate, no shell problems, happy and healthy! Thank you so much for helping me get my start with her here.

[steve]

Very cool looking fish! Rain and Nacho are lucky to have you

[puppylovejewelry]

Thank you Steve I am lucky to have them too- my animals are my family, I get a lot out of sharing life with them.

I am following up to post a link to the very long involved thread that has come of this story for anyone interested in learning in case they are ever in a similar situation. Apparently irresponsible people leave fish like this more often than I care to believe is real. Nacho is actually not a South American Cat fish, he is an Asian Catfish but the scientists feel confident he is an iridescent shark catfish that is supposed to be over 4 feet long but the abuse of 15 years has crippled his body 6 inches long! That he lives is a miracle. He is currently very stable in probably the cleanest nicest home of his life with his own fluval 206 running:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =9&t=42123

Rainforest the turtle may play a role in saving his life, as the scientists ended up deciding that using some of her biomax filter media was the smartest thing to do in this situation to help save his life (to get the mature nitrogen processing bacteria out of it so that we don't risk him dying of new tank syndrome and initial ammonia build up in his weakened state). I've done a crash course on some really involved aquarium chemistry and the thread contains a link to what I used to learn if anyone ever needs this info.

[steve]

I saw that thread the other day, looks like you found a great forum. If what they think is true, that's pretty amazing. Is there anyway to confirm it, like with a DNA test?

[puppylovejewelry]

I don't think there is any need- at this point we are all pretty certain he is a growth stunted iridescent shark catfish. This kind of fish was irresponsibly sold everywhere back in the 80's and 90's. Horrifically abused and growth stunted ones have been seen many many times, its just that they usually die of organ failure before they reach his age, so he is special. One possible explanation is that he is one of the specialty bread mini versions called a "short body paroon shark", and perhaps an especially small one. That is a possible explanation for his small size, age and still being alive. But he is an iridescent shark catfish, I'm pretty sure at this point. I've been reading for a week now. I've found many small things on his anatomy that match and everything in his behavior matches. What the abuser called him (the shark) is no coincidence. We are all pretty sure now. He has an amazing story. But nature is full of them. And the rescue community is full of them. Life pushes through. When life wants to keep going, life finds a way. Nacho wants to live. When I found him in the bucket, he told me that. I don't often share this but I can "hear" what some animals "think" on some level-not all the time but very often with my own companion animals and very often when an animal is in distress. When I found him in his bucket what came screaming into my head was the idea "HELP, I AM GOING TO DIE VERY SOON-I NEED TO LIVE." I have a lot of hope at this point that I can get him through this and give him a peaceful life for the rest of his years. I will stop back and post when I have him in an aquarium with pictures as he gains weight and begins to look normal (hopefully). I move into my new place July 1st and it should be safe to transfer him into an aquarium set up a few weeks after all is settled from the move.

[steve]

Aside from the size, there are no physical indications of stunted growth? I think turtles in particular will exhibit deformities from poor husbandry.

Anyway, good luck with the move!