Marbled Motoro Stingray Not eating

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Jesseliu13

Jesseliu13

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 27, 2012
1,129
141
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Holmdel, NJ
Its been quite a while since ive had problems with my rays, but recently my oldest female wont eat. Its been about 5 days now since ive actually seen it eat. All the other rays seem to eat fine, some even are in breeding mode. thinking i have a pregnant female. Since then Ive done water Changes of about 70-80% every 2 days. got about 0.5 Ammonia (possibly from tap water/chloromines), 0 Nitrite, about 20-40 Nitrate. No matter how many water changes i do, nitrate seems to stay along that range. been like that for years. but now im worried because she started getting extremely skinny. Symptoms seem to be Rapid Weight loss, loss of appetite, and skittish. I just treated the tank for parasites (prazipro) with its last feeding. She still wont eat, she used to be my biggest eater. She is probably about 20 Inches in Diameter now... Any Ideas?
 
Just out of curiosity, what are you feeding? Do you dose vitamins, or are you using pellets? Also wondering about filtration....k1? Have you tried nightcrawlers? You've been at this a while, so this is probably gonna be a tough one. Way easier talking a new ray keeper through some simple problem...lol
 
Any idea as to how old she is?
 
spotfin said:
Any idea as to how old she is?
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Age wise, i'd say probably close to 10 years? maybe more. ive never seen such a large female. Ive had it about 2 years now. Sandnukka had it for a while as well (got it from him), And he got it from someone else.

UnstoppableJayD said:
Are the males stressing her from breeding attempts?
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She was beat up for a bit, so i turned down the temperature a little to keep the males on a halt... but i cant be sure, but everyone else seems fine. other females dont seem skittish. she had old wounds from long ago.
 
Bigfishnut said:
Just out of curiosity, what are you feeding? Do you dose vitamins, or are you using pellets? Also wondering about filtration....k1? Have you tried nightcrawlers? You've been at this a while, so this is probably gonna be a tough one. Way easier talking a new ray keeper through some simple problem...lol
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Filtration is a 55 gallon drum of k1, then about 30 lbs of lava rock, and about 20 lbs of ceramic media. As for foodwise, Ive been feeding Shrimp, Tilapia, Swai, and pellets. Ive been feeding Tilapia probably 75%... pellets i feed prob 2 times a week.
 
Was wondering about a possible vitamin B deficiency. From what I understand, it will generally show up in an older fish. Not a lot of info out there on B deficiencies in rays. Just a thought I guess...probably way off. Lol .Hope she gets better, I'm pretty sure she's the mom to my beautiful female that SandNukka15 SandNukka15 had a couple years ago
 
Jesseliu13 Jesseliu13 - I ask because my big female stops eating when the males are overly aggressive. I usually split them up and then give her some nightcrawlers to get her going, FYI lowering the temp will also lower appetite so that may be compounding the issue.
 
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UnstoppableJayD said:
Jesseliu13 Jesseliu13 - I ask because my big female stops eating when the males are overly aggressive. I usually split them up and then give her some nightcrawlers to get her going, FYI lowering the temp will also lower appetite so that may be compounding the issue.
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this could be the issue. I'll see how it goes tonight. if its still not any better i'll take out a male and put it in isolation.
 
Jesseliu13 said:
this could be the issue. I'll see how it goes tonight. if its still not any better i'll take out a male and put it in isolation.
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Good luck- also vitamin b1 is an appetite stimulant for rays
 
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