Bristlenose Catfish Bristles going white

[Ravyk]

I have a lovely 15cm male common bristlenose who's bristles have been turning white on the tips slowly. I've also noticed that his two bristles that had forked are no longer forked.

Anyone got any ideas what could be causing it?

 

[Doodles]

I've read about this before somewhere but can't remember where or why


Can you get a photo at all?
What are the water parameters? water change regime, temp, feeding?

 

[Irene0100]

what are the edges of his tail like? only cos I am thinking fin rot or similar type of infection. (if so add some pimafix and melafix)
any photos of fish, tank etc might help and as above more info on tank conditions, diet, tank mates and any recent changes to the tank - eg added any new fish/plants to teh tank recently.
are there any other males he could be fighting with?

 

[bre]

Have a read through this thread and see if this is the same
http://www.petfish.net/forum/index.php/topic,65371.0.html
This is a quote from one of the posters in it.

My bristlenose came down with something similar several months ago.
One of the fish in the tank had fin rot, I isolated and treated it. Then a
few days later the pleco had his bristles start turning white,
he got irritated and itchy, and over the next 2 days his bristles started
receding.
I promptly isolated him as well and treated him with Jungle Bacteria Eliminator,
which contains Nitrofurazone and Furazolidone. Worked well, the white
went away, and his bristles are starting to grow back now.
I dont know if it was "fin rot" but it must have been some bacterial
infection.
You may want to treat it, if it continues, or just watch daily and see how
things progress.

Now the tricky part, the med used in this post is NOT available in Aus and I can't think of any off hand with the same ingredients.

 

[Ravyk]

can't find my test kit [i know it's here SOMEWHERE!] but last water parameter check , everything was normal.
1/3 water changes done weekly [280L tank]
temp is set at 26 degrees
fed Hikari algae wafers daily and peas, zucchini or other fresh veggies at least twice a week.

Here is a photo, please ignore the strange texture over the whole photo, the flash reflected the bedsheet pattern onto the glass.

other than the white bristles he seems quite happy and healthy, his fins are all intact, no sign of fin rot or anything.


ETA- read through the thread-mine looks almost identical to the one pictured there and that's exactly what his bristles are doing.

 

[Irene0100]

yes def some type of infection. do big w/c as clean water is one of the best medicines, then add some anti-bacterial meds such as the 'fixes'.

 

[Ravyk]

would it be better to move him to another tank to medicate him? my partner doesn't really want to medicate the whole tank.

 

[Doodles]

If you have a spare tank then its always better to move them unless when you have to treat the whole tank for something ie whitespot etc

 

[Ravyk]

Yay. It's going to be fun trying to catch the bugger! He's in a 4ft planted tank.

 

[foti]

lol i hate catching fish
some how i always end up catch the wrong fish by accident!
but if tried to catch it i wouldn't be able to !!
go figure !!!

P.s. "i hope it all works out"