Anybody know what could be wrong with my gar?

[michael]

Has started getting this fast on his head and now the other has it a little too? It doesn't seem like a disease or fungus but more like his skin flaked off in the creases along his face. Diet is mostly carnivore sticks and feeders, crickets on occasion.

[michael]

Bump! ????

[E_americanus]

i have seen this happen with much larger gars in public aquariums; where it appears that their faces are being eaten away by some sort of disease, primarily in the grooves of the bony plates.
first thing i would suggest is doing a water change, go with as much as you can up to 50%. add some salt to the tank and increase the temperature to 82F. i would keep up the frequent water changes for the rest of the week, perhaps every other day.
i am not sure what causes or cures this, but it seems to be almost symmetrical on the face of the gar, and if its happening to both it could very well be contagious.
have you added anything different to the tank recently? have they been acting any differently? basically consider anything unusual or different that has gone on in the tank. either way, the water change/salt/increase temp procedure is a good start as you don't want to medicate gars unless you absolutely have to.
if you have the tank space, you may want to set up two quarantine tanks, or at least remove the worse one from the main tank and carry out the treatments there. please keep us posted and good luck with your tropicals--
--solomon

[michael]

I have been adding fish periodically and doing water changes already but only about 20% changes. Water in my area isn't the cleanest so I try to stay away from huge water changes besides the quantity of water I'd have to change in the 300+g tank. The fish are still eating but it seems they have lost a little aggression towards the feedings. Hope to clear it up but...well see what happens. I don't have a tank big enough to quarantine these guys and the last time I did quarantine my lenticulata pike, I did a 75% water change and the fish died the next day and I am guessing due to the crap water here!?

[wab123]

stop feeding live fish for a time as this hurts water guality more than anything

[guppy]

Never seen it but I am betting it is a protozoal scale erosion, Try treating with quinine sulfate or metronidazole

[michael]

I was just at shark aquarium and there are still some left. They have fed them nothing but goldfish since day 1 in may, and there is no facial marks. I( am guessing it probably isn't diet but who knows?!

[michael]

Tried water changes and the marks on the one seem worsening and the other is staying the same. Fish are still eating but don't seem 100%. I love these fish and don't want to lose them.

[guppy]

If nothing else try 1 tbs, salt per 5g but I am betting on protozoans and they often take stronger measures.

[suckerfish]

how are the gars doing? i have one myself and would like to know how this plays out?

[michael]

Can't get this issue to go away. Water has been perfect for well over a month and the fish is not getting any better. They still eat and are very active but can't get the deteriorating to go away!

[E_americanus]

what have you been feeding the gars thus far? sometimes a change (such as more variety) in diet can help with degenerative conditions such as this (it often works with lungfishes). how often do you do your water changes, and what kind of filtration do you have on the tank?

since tropical gars will eat virtually anything, i would suggest getting some vegetable matter into their diet and see if this helps (may take some time to tell). the two tropicals in my biggest tank consistently eat algae wafers and vegetable sticks; this added variety and extra vitamins/nutrients may help combat the condition. please keep us posted, and good luck--
--solomon

[michael]

I used to only feed the gars feeders at first but in the last 2-3 months or so since I got them eating floating foods they seem to lazy to even go after the feeders. If a feeder goes by them they will definitely eat it but usually wait for other stuff. Now they're mostly eating large krill. they also eat hikari and tetra carnivore sticks, and fresh raw shrimp. never tried algae wafers, although I have 2 kinds but they both sink and they wont do that. What kind of "vegetable sticks"?

[Recycling Works]

DUDE, CHILL, my gar did that too, i think they grow in spurts, when hes growing his skin splits, also adds to his camaflauge, im no garologist, but almost posotive its normal and healthy for them

[E_americanus]

actually this is not normal and not necessarily healthy for them. i have kept many individual gars of all the species and have never experienced this. i have only seen this condition in either very old gars in public aquaria or occasionally smaller ones that definitely have some sort of degenerative problem. a healthy gar will not be exhibiting this condition, even though it may not seem to actually cause any severe problems for them AND they can probably survive normally for quite some time.

as for the vegetable sticks, i would check out www.kensfishfood.com (that should be the site, or something similar to it). they have vegetable sticks and also algae bits which contain garlic. although gars, especially the smaller t-gars like to feed from the surface, they will eventually learn to feed from all levels, provided they don't have a dominant competitor on the bottom (and even then they may be able to effectively eat off the bottom). my two larger t-gars in my largest gar tank (and this goes for all the gars in that tank) all feed off the bottom as i generally only feed them chopped raw/cooked shrimp and chopped smelt/tilapia. they will feed mid-water column as well, but seem to mainly get to the food when it sinks to the bottom.

you may want to try some sinking food (like the shrimp or fish) and mix in the algae food with that and see how they do. these t-gars are farm raised and seem able to readily eat any kind of food they are presented with. myself and brooklamprey (other big gar fanatic here) have found little to no food items that they will not eventually take.

hope that helps, please let us know how they are doing. again, i would keep up with consistent water changes for a long period of time...also perhaps increase filtration, water movement and perhaps biomedia. good luck--
--solomon

[Polypterus]

Michael

Do you have a more recent current photo?
One taken from above and the side?

Also please list feeding frequency and approximately how much each fish recieves per feeding. It would also be of a lot of help if you can post water parameters,
pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Natrate, KH buffering, GH hardness, salinity....Etc...

As E_americanus stated this type degeneritve disorder is sometimes seen in older public aquarium fish. The cause has been largely determined to be dietary.

I personally have not seen this ever in a gar this young, so suspect water conditions more than diet.

Richard (Widely known as Brooklamprey also)

[michael]

My ph is right about 7.0, ammonia and nitrites has sat at 0 for over 2 months now. I do feed everyday and one gar is more aggressive than the other. I'd say, though, that they eat till they're plump looking but not gorged. Something like 10 krill each or so. Haven't tried any veggies yet which is my next step. as for KH buffering, GH hardness, salinity I do not test these so....I guess maybe I should??

[guppy]

If you have access to a microscope do a swab and make a slide to see if the lines are sources for either bacteria or protozoans. If what you see looks like this try metrodanizole.

[Gar keeper]

What was the outcome of this gar?

[thefishguy7]

What was the outcome of this gar?
Might be this one:)
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232512

[michael]

LOL it is either that one or could be the one that broke its back and passed on me about a year or so ago. Not sure what that disease was but I ran only canister filters at the time and when I went to sump filtration it went away. Clean water can cure anything

[franchise513]

Alright LOL I just searched gar diesease and found this so that gar didn't die or anything from that? I guess I just gotta change water more often