Need Help

Kinda hard to see it in that pic, but water change, bump temp and salt are known help most issues with Gar. As far as salt I would go with aquarium salt designed for freshwater tanks, but I have also heard that kosher (jew) salt works.
However I also read that some kosher salts have a "yellow something" in it that is an anti-caking agent used to help baking. Don't use that kind.
Wait till some more people chime in, especially Sol. But while you're waiting might as well get that water change going and turn up that temp
Can't risk losing this great creature...

Spatula;3784126; said:

Kinda hard to see it in that pic, but water change, bump temp and salt are known help most issues with Gar. As far as salt I would go with aquarium salt designed for freshwater tanks, but I have also heard that kosher (jew) salt works.
However I also read that some kosher salts have a "yellow something" in it that is an anti-caking agent used to help baking. Don't use that kind.
Wait till some more people chime in, especially Sol. But while you're waiting might as well get that water change going and turn up that temp
Can't risk losing this great creature...

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i definitely agree.

bump up temp, but do so after doing a big water change...preferably 50-70%. add 1 tbsp of salt per 10g of water...go with aquarium salt if you can get it as you will know that's safe.

i would skip feeding feeders as this is likely your delivery system for the bacterial/fungal infection. your gar should be a garbage disposal at that apparent size, so switching to non-live should not be a problem and will avoid these sorts of issues in most cases.

let us know if the initial treatment works...keep it up and do a water change every other day...you should see a reduction in the problem in a couple days. if not, let us know and we'll go for the next step in treatments--
--solomon

doubtful that this is a parasite...i've seen this in gars before, particularly Atractosteus genus fish. sometimes it gets pretty bad before it gets better, and there isn't a whole lot one can do for the fish except provide very clean quarters for the fish (hence keep the water changes up). keep with the salt and heat treatment for now. the next step would be direct application of neosporin to the eye, but it's best to wait and see how the condition progresses for a day or two first.--
--solomon

I can see it now, the whole eye has that white coating. From my experience I always figured that was the beginning of the end. When one of my baby FL Gars started to get that I was worried, however a little bump in temp along with a nice water change (50%) and a little salt and it was all gone within a few days.

E_americanus;3786520; said:

the next step would be direct application of neosporin to the eye.--solomon

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I'll bet that would be fun with a gator gar...

m245;3802006; said:

The heat and salt treatment has proven successful.

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Nice! Congratulations on getting him healed up. We need a full body shot so we can appreciate him fully .

m245;3915365; said:

The gator gar had a recurrence of eye infection lately. I keep my gars outdoor and it is quite ineffective to raise the water temp using a thermostat. So I decided to add salt only and didn't raise water temp. After a few days, the infection became worse and spread to another smaller gator gar. Therefore I moved them to a smaller tank and did the salt and temp thing. Without surprise, the infection was clear in just three days. Just wonder if anyone knows the reason why adding salt alone doesn't work.
Also, is it harmful to the gars if I maintain the salinity level for a prolonged period of time to prevent recurrence of infection?

Thanks

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what is the salt concentration you are using? gators are very tolerant of salt, so they would probably be ok (but you don't want to overdo it).

the heat is often necessary in combating infection as it will speed up the fishes metabolism and help it work in conjunction with the salt to beat the infection. salt alone may help prevent some infection, but it may not always be enough to cure it once it takes hold (hence the heat combo).--
--solomon