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Anyone seen this... Its a small spot on my Spotted catfishes face. He isnt eating and has a couple other spots on him as well. Please let me know.

looks like a slightly infected scratch

but
what I'd do
is
change 75% of the water
add a good amount of salt (1 teaspoon per gallon of water or more)
increase the temperature to 80 degrees F
offer him some frozen brine shrimp with the lights off

article on ICK
and a picture of Loaches with ICK here:
http://www.unclenedsfishfactory.com/Bul ... hlight=ick

no, I don't think your cat had ICK
but
If he's not eating something is not right

We are on the course... tank is up to 78 now ( normally 72) and rising.... Currently we do 1 cup of salt for every 15 gallons... Do you think we need to increase the salt even more... We do change 50% of the water every week since we are kinda full of fish... I do have a 10 gal that has all my fry in it, Should I move him or just leave him and treat him there..

Is this a brackish water tank (Mono's, scats, some puffers etc.)??
For freshwater (this includes African Cichlids and catfish) at 1 cup per 15 gallons you have overloaded the tank with salt. There are 48 teaspoons in 1 cup so you are at around 3.2 teaspoons per gallon. This level of salt can be very stressful to many species of freshwater fish and any rise beyond that level could be lethal. Our medicated dose of salt at the store is 2 teaspoons per gallon and for general disease prevention and health we often do only 1 teaspoon per gallon. Regardless of what happens with your catfish, I would slowly reduce the level of salt through water changes to about 2 teaspoons per gallon - and maybe even less after a little adjustment period.

To me, the mark on your catfish looks like a bite mark from a cichlid or another fish with a mouthful of tiny scraping teeth. I would suspect that the salt level, combined with an aggressive tankmate, are the root of your catfishes problems. If you do have a tyrant in the tank and need to get rid of it, you can give us a call and we will probably take him in.

Good luck,
Sam

Ok this is going to sound crazy but we have had this tank up and running as a "brackish" tank for about 6 months, We have not had but one or 2 fish die, they breed like crazy and in general are
" happy"
SO my question is this, now that they are adapted to this level of salinity is it going to hurt to lower it? and then should I lower it to none or shoot for one tsp per?
I have listed whats in it below...

I appreciate all your help and advice...

Hi,

I would add some MelaFix or PrimaFix, following the instructions. I've found it works well to help minor/moderate skin infections. It will not do any harm. I wouldn't add any more salt. I'm not aware of any of those fish needing salt. The Rift Lake Cichlids like hard water. Salt, is just one ingrediant used to make up hard water.
That tank has a lot of salt. Do small water changes to reduce the salt level slowly.
One last thought.. In brackish tanks, use marine salt, which contains trace elements that will benefit the fish.