Stressed male after very long transport

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The fact that he righted himself when he flipped over is a very promising sign mate. That together with the flat does, and exploring his environment are super encouraging signs!
C’mon lil’ mate, you can do it! 🙏🏼
Definitely agree I was pretty happy to see that. I wonder if I should hold off on trying to feed him this evening to not cause any pressure on him
 
Definitely agree I was pretty happy to see that. I wonder if I should hold off on trying to feed him this evening to not cause any pressure on him
Hmm 🤔 I mean if he’s not ready he probably just won’t eat 🤷🏻‍♂️ I don’t know that it would pressure him tbh
 
Can you identify & compare the bag and banding he was in from the Thailand video to what he arrived to you in? Perhaps there’s evidence of the water change or not to be discovered there? Though if he was already stressed in Thailand the water change in Vancouver may or may not have made a difference overall.
Yeah the bags definitely had more air in them before leaving vancouver to come to me. so id assume the water was changed as well.
 
Hmm 🤔 I mean if he’s not ready he probably just won’t eat 🤷🏻‍♂️ I don’t know that it would pressure him tbh
Yeah he didnt eat. But he didnt get stressed out over it so thats a win.

We will see how he is doing tomorrow. Try feeding again in the morning. I picked up some jumbo bloodworms so might give those a go in the morning. 🤞
 
Yeah he didnt eat. But he didnt get stressed out over it so thats a win.

We will see how he is doing tomorrow. Try feeding again in the morning. I picked up some jumbo bloodworms so might give those a go in the morning. 🤞
Jumbo blood worms sounds promising! 🙏🏼
 
Jumbo blood worms sounds promising! 🙏🏼
Well still no go. He had 0 interest in blood worms. Tried shrimp and dew worm as well. No interest.

He will gently suck it under his disc if I put it right in front of him but just pushes it out the rear of him.

Any other ideas to try and entice him? He will even sit there and watch the females eat its so sad. I think the rest of his recovery is gonna come from eating just need to get him to
 
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Okies. He looks be be in good condition. Can’t see pelvic bones or anything. I had a stubborn BD male hunger strike. He ate 1 small cube of shrimp in 6 weeks. Obviously he deconditioned some over that period of time, but he eventually started to eat.
Be patient. Keep the water clean. Try to feed him every other day. If you notice the gals harrassing him, put the divider in so he has peace. You have plenty of time.
 
Sounds like ammonia poisoning. Individual fish can have different responses. In a closed environment, like a bag of water traveling thousands of mile with a big waste producing fish in it, the stress level of each individual fish could produce more or less ammonia.

The temp acclimation w plop & drop method which was suggested by numerous folks when you asked about acclimation is the best way to avoid ammonia poisoning with fish that have travelled from half the earth away. The toxicity of ammonia is less at lower pH. When you expose the water to O2 the pH suddenly rises rapidly increasing the toxicity of ammonia.

Did you do the 5x dosing of prime? Prime does turn ammonia into ammonium until it can be cleared by a biofilter, but the best method is to remove the fish from an ammonia rich environment as quickly as possible.

Any change/increase in your tanks bioload could also result in nitrites in your water, even if undetectable on test, so I would add salt at 1tbsp/5gal to prevent nitrite poisoning.

Glad the other female is doing better. Unfortunately, as far as the male goes, this remains a watch and wait scenario now. He definitely looks better in the last pic. Keep the water pristine. Replace the salt w water changes for the next 2 weeks.

Keep us posted 🤙🏼
Spot on. But rays produce urea,more potent than ammonia. Good luck bud hell of a nice couple of pick ups
 
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