Ray became lethargic

rlane

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 6, 2012
310
87
31
Morristown, NJ
Over the course of the last week or so I have noticed my female black diamond has become more and more lethargic. She still eats, but no where close to how she used to. She is currently around 10" and up to this last week she could eat a full shrimp like it was no ones business. She would aggressively attack the tongs when I would feed her. Now she is eating maybe 1/3 to a 1/2 a shrimp twice a day, so she is still eating a decent amount, but she is not eating with the aggression she once had. My water parameters are great so I am not worried about that. I have a male BD/P-14 in with her and he is acting like normal, eating as much as I can possibly give him. The have not seen any aggression towards the female either. There are no scrapes or bites or anything on her. Outside of her lack of aggressive feeding, she is behaving somewhat normal, although I have noticed that she has been burying herself under the sand more than normal and she doesn't appear to be sifting through the sand looking for food as much. This could be me being a little paranoid though. Have any of you guys experienced this type of behavior? Is it normal? Any advice as to what I can do to snap her back to her normal self?
 

rlane

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 6, 2012
310
87
31
Morristown, NJ
I will test the water again tonight and post but up to this point the water params have been right where they are supposed to be. I did have a small ich outbreak about a month ago when I added a new peacock bass so I had the water up to 85 degrees, which is when she was the most ravenous. The water is now back down to 81 degrees or so. Like I said, the male eats like there is no tomorrow. I also just did a 350 gallon water change, like I do on a regular basis, I will check the water parameters again tonight though.
 

T1KARMANN

Giant Snakehead
MFK Member
Sep 19, 2005
10,105
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London UK
Over the course of the last week or so I have noticed my female black diamond has become more and more lethargic. She still eats, but no where close to how she used to. She is currently around 10" and up to this last week she could eat a full shrimp like it was no ones business. She would aggressively attack the tongs when I would feed her. Now she is eating maybe 1/3 to a 1/2 a shrimp twice a day, so she is still eating a decent amount, but she is not eating with the aggression she once had. My water parameters are great so I am not worried about that. I have a male BD/P-14 in with her and he is acting like normal, eating as much as I can possibly give him. The have not seen any aggression towards the female either. There are no scrapes or bites or anything on her. Outside of her lack of aggressive feeding, she is behaving somewhat normal, although I have noticed that she has been burying herself under the sand more than normal and she doesn't appear to be sifting through the sand looking for food as much. This could be me being a little paranoid though. Have any of you guys experienced this type of behavior? Is it normal? Any advice as to what I can do to snap her back to her normal self?
Dam is that all you feed her I must be feeding to much

For 4 big rays I put in a dinner plate full of shrimp twice per day


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Blkpiranha

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 8, 2007
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Even at a full shrimp a day she was probably suffering from something. A 10" ray should easily eat over 5 big shrimp at one sitting if they are healthy. Starting checking water,filters and start looking into possibly treating for parasites or something as one or more of these things are causing her decreased appetite and activity.

Are these fish are in your 10' x 4' tank? If so then water quality may be your problem as that is a newly setup tank.
 

jim barry

Goliath Tigerfish
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Jun 21, 2006
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Same as you Richard. I feed a plate full of shimp and mussel in the evening and a good handful of pellets in the morning. Nothing left and they would eat more if i offered. Half a shrimp twice a day fo one ray is a very small amount of food to be offering a growing ray.
Dam is that all you feed her I must be feeding to much

For 4 big rays I put in a dinner plate full of shrimp twice per day


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

rlane

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 6, 2012
310
87
31
Morristown, NJ
Guys, I would feed her until she stopped eating. She never ate as much as the male for what ever reason. This morning she totally ignored any food and didn't move around much at all. The male on the other hand, who is about 8 inches, he took down a whole shrimp, a smelt and some tilapia until he wouldn't eat anymore. I feed them a minimum of 2 time a day and most days 3 times until they wont eat anymore.

Unfortunately my wife didn't realize what my water test kit was and accidentally threw it out so I couldn't take the water parameters. I will buy a new kit and test this afternoon. I am also going to do another 350 gallon or so water change today.

In theory, if I had a problem with my water parameters, wouldn't both rays be acting more or less the same way?
 

T1KARMANN

Giant Snakehead
MFK Member
Sep 19, 2005
10,105
127
147
56
London UK
Guys, I would feed her until she stopped eating. She never ate as much as the male for what ever reason. This morning she totally ignored any food and didn't move around much at all. The male on the other hand, who is about 8 inches, he took down a whole shrimp, a smelt and some tilapia until he wouldn't eat anymore. I feed them a minimum of 2 time a day and most days 3 times until they wont eat anymore.

Unfortunately my wife didn't realize what my water test kit was and accidentally threw it out so I couldn't take the water parameters. I will buy a new kit and test this afternoon. I am also going to do another 350 gallon or so water change today.

In theory, if I had a problem with my water parameters, wouldn't both rays be acting more or less the same way?
Not if one ray was weak from not eating enough for a few months
The male maybe stronger that's why his not affected so fast


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burbon44s

Candiru
MFK Member
May 13, 2012
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milwaukee
Maybe its the meds from the ich. Or are you using anything else in the tank now?
Copper maybe? My rays quit eating if I add anything to their water.
Maybe it's the new fish.
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rlane

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 6, 2012
310
87
31
Morristown, NJ
I didn't do anything to treat the ich other than raise the water temp to 85 and added a little salt to the tank. I did not add any medication or copper due to not wanting to effect the rays in any way. Since then I have done three massive water changes so whatever salt may be left in the tank would be undetectable. I will be testing the water in the next couple hours and will post what the water parameters are as soon as I do. I will be doing another 350-400 gallon water change today regardless of the results. If it isn't the water I have no idea what it could be.
 
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