Flower Ray issue... AGAIN

mshill90

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 4, 2009
3,179
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Mechanicsburg, PA
Alright, so many of you know that I purchased a "true" flower ray a few weeks back. It was skinny to begin with because the guy was having issues with him eating. The only thing he would eat is bloodworms.

So, I took him home, put him in with my motoros (I know, bad to not QT) and after a few days, he was eating. I soaked krill with bloodworms, and things were good.

Then, he started not eating again. So I treated with prazi. Still not eating.. treated with prazi again.. still not eating..

Then I got him to eat bloodworms and mysis shrimp.. then the next day, nothing.

He now will not eat anything.. no worms, black worms, bloodworms, shrimp, krill, pellets...

So, I treated with prazi once more. (last night)

Last night I noticed disc curl.. and it was bad. I was sure he would be gone by morning. Then today, he's not curled, but the back ends of his disc are frayed. This fraying happened within 2 hours (between me coming home, and my fiance going to work).

Water params are 0,0,10. ph is 7.4 Water changes are done every other night, prime is added. He is separate from the other fish.

He's not breathing heavy, and he does swim around at times.

Any ideas? I know chances are he will not make it at this rate, but I want to try out what I can while he's still holding on.

It was asked if there is anything added into the tank that I don't know of, and the answer is no.
 

JML1997

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 22, 2010
4,106
5
68
N.B, Canada
Prepare all of the previous foods he ate in his life...the mix in some garlics...yes garlic, A buddy of mine did it with cichlids and it worked great. Hope it pulls through! Good luck!
 

mshill90

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 4, 2009
3,179
3
0
Mechanicsburg, PA
Garlic has been known to be completely useless with rays. Is the flower divided from the motoros?
At first, it was not because it was eating and actually being an aggressive eater. The motoros did not bully him or try to take food from him, as I fed them first on one side, and then I would feed him on the other side.

But then it stopped eating, so yes, it is separate, and has been for a few days.
 

oTo

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 4, 2010
220
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North America, NY
Keep the lights off in the tank and the lights around it dim. Keep the water as pristine as you can. What type of filtration do you have? Do you have a good source of aeration in the tank?

Also, what type of water testing kit do you use? How old is it? The fraying of the disc is very odd. I would check on all things electric related in the tank. Make sure a heater or filter isn't malfunctioning and producing an electric current in the water.

When you moved the ray into a new tank, did it eat soon afterwords? How long after moving it did it stop eating?
Perhaps the move stressed it out.

Best regards,
Tom
 

calgaryflames

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Nov 10, 2009
1,771
48
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calgary
dose # 1 of prazi was your first mistake your second mistake was dose # 2 of prazi and your third mistake was dose # 3 of prazi

the ray had not gained weight nor have you given it a chance to.all you did with the prazi is made it not want to eat even more.remove all fish in that tank except the flower.the motoros were probably spooking it! yes flowers get spooked very very very easy and yes something simple like that would and can occurs with flowers.they are not like motoros or leos totally different type of ray,very shy .

get the meds out of the water asap i have never experienced prazi enchancing the appitites of stressed rays.garlic wont do **** right now you need to remove the meds quick and get that water premo.sometimes they eat at first yes, than something like another fish or lights or slight ph change spooks them into being alot more shy and not eating in front of you.if the motoros were not in that tank you could feed live stuff at night ,or you mentioned the are divided now so feed the flower in the dark.flowers can be insanely slow eaters i use tongs and hold the food in its face for a few minutes.get some live earth worms live black worms and some snails or ghost shrimp

i think the damage is done now i hope for the best and next time you get a new flower give its own tank and dont use anti parasite meds until you know thats the issue.prazi wont ever make a ray eat.
i would add lots carbon turn on uvs and do water changes to try and get the water as pure as possible as quickly as you can.
 

mshill90

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 4, 2009
3,179
3
0
Mechanicsburg, PA
The lights have been off in the tank since I've had him. They have been turned on, but only when I was putting the divider in, or making sure that everyone is ok.

The motoros never bothered with the ray. The flower chilled on one side, and they chilled on the other. I thought at first that yes, it could be the motoros, but even observing them at night when all the house lights were off, they still stayed to themselves. If anything, the flower ventured over to them, and when they wouldn't react to him, he would swim back over to his side.

I have 3 eheim pro canister filters, and 3 ac110s on this tank, as well as 2 3" airstones. All things are in tact, and nothing is sending out electric currents.

I only use the API test kit, and this test kit was just bought 2 weeks ago, so I know it's not bad. I have 3 new kits, and they all give me the same readings.

I used prazi because the seller said it probably needed treated again, as it was treated before he got it, but it would not eat for him either, except bloodworms. I have tried live earth worms, as well as blackworms (as said in my post). I've used prazi with my other rays, and seen no ill effects, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to treat in the event the ray had internal parasites, which you can't ever really know.. so that's why I used prazi.

I haven't treated the tank in over 2-3 weeks, except for last night.

I am not going to remove all of my fish in my 240, and try to cram them in the only tank I have available, which is a 110. That's just not possible. I have been debating about moving the flower to the 110, but I do not want to add anymore stress to the fish.

You know, yeah, this sucks.. but I tried, and you have to give me credit for that. Sh** happens, and sometimes there's nothing that can be done, and I am sure you know all about this calgary now don't you? I actually debated posting this thread because I know someone would have something smart to say about what I did. I knew the issue... the ray wasn't eating.. there are no physical signs as to why he wouldn't be eating, so I thought internally.
 

FishDog

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Jan 2, 2008
3,553
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831
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B.G. KY
Just odd to hear a flower eating bloodworms and krill as these are foods they normally eat later in life after being captive for awhile. My guess would be he was really not eating but just chewing. Your best bet at this point is get meds out and offer ghost shrimp. I have brought lots of rays in from the wild and it was very rare to find one skinny or not that would refuse a ghost shrimp. Load up the tank with about 3 dozen and see what happens. The last batch of flowers I had would not touch black worms but tore some ghost shrimp up. Get him eating then try to convert it over to chopped night crawler. Leave it divided and do not move it.
 

johno27

Piranha
MFK Member
Feb 21, 2006
3,527
36
81
44
Eastpointe MI
The disk shredding still throws me off, something has to be causing it. Not eating or prazi are not causing the disk problem which is almost certainly why he is not eating. You just need to find the root cause and hope it is not too late

I hope he pulls through for you, I know you are doing your best for him.
 
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