Gerald Bassleer presents case number 98: Pimelodella pictus (pictus catfish) that arrived from Colombia very underweight. He documents external wasting and severe gill damage consistent with secondary bacterial infection, and internal findings including empty intestines, dark liver inclusions, and spleen lesions. Bassleer emphasizes a holistic diagnostic approach (water, stress, feeding history, microscopy) and recommends immediate nutritional rehabilitation (spread feeding, pro-/prebiotics) and, when indicated, antibiotic treatment (example: Veromor) plus specific supportive products to restore gut microbiome and immunity.
Questions this video answers
Pimelodella pictus (pictus catfish).
Case number 98.
Colombia.
May 9, 2023.
Veromor (from Accordion Muenster).
Chapters
Dear aquarists, today we will talk about case number 98. I hope you've seen some of my previous cases because it would have helped you to understand why problems occur with our aquarium fish, why they die, and what you can do about it by doing a good examination. And then, of course, to know what kind of treatment you can give. It's all about the holistic approach of looking at the water, the stress, all different factors like the food and the history of the fish, what it all went through, and then taking the appropriate actions. So you have a microscope in particular, that helps you to identify the real problems. Or if you don't find it, maybe it gives you the directions to go to a laboratory or to ask for a specialist in microscopic research or in laboratory research. Well, today it's a case I will share with you about Piblodella pictus, a pictus catfish. And here it comes. It's a catfish that was very skinny, which arrived from Colombia. And you can see here the fish and the fish tank after one day arrival. How skinny some look. Look at the one here up front and here in the back, there are a few. And, well, this is. Might be typical for wild fish. They had some deprivation of food for a couple days, maybe a week. Also the fight in nature to get enough food and the stress of handling and transport. But usually it's a lack of food. But what we can then observe is a bacterial infection here in the gills. You see the damaged gill filaments in here and here, which is of course causing a kind of pneumonia in infection like in humans. You know how serious that can be. If you don't do a proper treatment, death can occur, and certainly with our fish. And that's why fish in many cases die from. But those bacterial infections might have had a cause. And the cause might have been the stress, the lack of food and everything that involved in it. And then the fish becomes weak, like I explained in many of my trainings, that your immune system weakens. And the fish can get easily an infection of a pathogen. And here we see another part of the gill arch. You see, it's completely rotten away. So that's a very serious damage which should be treated as soon as possible. If we check the internal. Here we put some of the organs, even including the gills and the liver, the intestine. And we examine that in the microscope. And here I show you the video of the different organs. Here is the spleen, which has a lot of melanoma growth centers. Typical is the very empty intestine. Here is Part of the liver which has some dark inclusions. It's not nice brown. It is not a good looking liver. And here more parts of the intestine with very little particles of fish food or any food. So that is of course a serious problem. When we observe that that the fish needs to be fed as soon as possible. That's a treatment you have to give particularly when those wild fish coming in skinny is giving a fish food that has also pro and prebiotics to help to improve the immune system of the fish after such long transport. And of course secondary bacterial infections can pop up like I showed you due to all the stress involved and the weakness. And that we should try to treat with antibiotics that you can get from your fish doctor or your veterinarian. Or bacterial medication you can use is for for example Veromor from accordion Muenster. The immune system and the gut microbiome should be optimized. And this can be done with the help of our Dr. Basler Baish Food forte or aloe vera or the Fuko or professional care that all helps in recovery and already proving the immune system. And make sure when you're feeding you spread well the food so all the fish have a chance to get food. And I show you in the next video that some skinny fish don't have a chance if just a bunch of food is dropped into the tank. Here you see me spreading the grafining granulates in the fish tank. So all the fish here it's the tanish Chinese Daniel or were obtaining food. And even you see the skinny ones also have a chance to to get their little particle of food and not only the strong and the big ones. So this video might have helped you. You can follow more on my my Patreon channel where I give specific training that can help you to become a better fish doctor. And of course I'm a consultant in the industry and I try to do precise work because so for some people it's guesswork. Well, this is more than guesswork that I give you to you it's more appropriate diagnosis. Thank you for watching.
