2rays death in 2 weeks WHAT IS WRONG :'(

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I think some people warned you about changing the sand before you did it, hopefully the rays will pull through and you have certainly learned your leasson on how sensative rays are. Good luck Bobbie!
 
Your problem may be that you do not have enough disolved oxygen in the tank for your biomass... you did not describe the filtration, but different species of rays have different oxygen requirements. I have seen tiger rays die slowly in a tank with black rays and motoros that were not affected due to inadequate aeration. There is NO sign except death.....except, sometimes the rays affected by low oxygen may be quieter than the others. You should add a power head or be sure that there is adequate water turnover especially if you do not use a wet-dry type of filtration system. I do not think it is the substrate, the nitrates, water changes, or pH..those parameters sound OK. The only other thing to consider is an air intake leak in your pump that may be causing air embolisms in the fish. If your pump is powerful enough and there is a leak in the intake side [not the outflow] it will suck in air and then pressurize the air which becomes disolved in the water, is picked up by the blood as it pases through the gills, and then deposits in various organs in the fish....depending on where the air bubbles are deposited, it can be fatal [in the brain, for example] and there are no outward signs. As in inadequate aeration, some species are more sensitive to air emboli than others....good luck.
 
BTW, I don't believe it is a bacterial problem, because that would almost certainly affect all rays equally....also, I do not find that rays are sensitive to ammonia or nitrates, unless they are newly imported specimens. The nitrate level in my holding tanks is sometimes up to 200 with no effect on the rays, although this is not good for breeding. I think the problem is inadequate oxygen...
 
i have yesterday removed 2 parasite's by the rays (argulus)
maybe that's the problem ?

my filtration is a eheim professional 3 (1700L P/U)
the tank is 500L but next month the new tank is ready (450gal)
i have also enough oxygen in my tank with (720 p/u) with 4 airstones
also a powerhead AC802

bobbie!
 
It does look like you have enough air, but that is still a small tank for a big biomass. Argulus are not usually harmful- I have had rays with hundreds of Argulus, without a loss. The danger from Argulus is secondary infection because of the damage to the skin caused by the parasite. The parasites are irritating but not harmful. Do you have any fine air bubbles on the inside of the tank walls? That is a sign of air embolism... another possibility is maybe the substrate is too fine.... then the rays generally get fungal infections on skin, which you can see easily. If your ammonia and other parameters are OK, then you are doing enough water changes... no need to do more.... does your water have chlorine or chloramine? Maybe with so many water changes the chlorine or chloramine is not being fully removed.....chloramine is harder to remove and some rays are more sensitive than others. I did this one time, and two black rays died and the other rays and fish were not affected.
 
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