Advice needed

[kdinkel]

I had two retic (4") pups shipped to me. They can in wednesday. They seemed healthy and fat. They were active and ate ghost shrimp. When I turned the lights on this morning one is doing fine the other was on its back. I was sure it was dead, but I flipped it over and it is still breathing but very labored. It also has some white on the edge of its disk (like the color is fading). Any help would be great.

So far I have pulled it out of the tank and put it in a QT tank and am in the process of doing a water change for the other ray.

Specs on the tank:
80 degrees
treated with half dose of prazipro yesterday morning
120 bowfront (5' x 2" x 2')
Tank has been up and running for over a year
XP3 filter with additional power heads for circulation
Tank mates: 4 nickle sized angels

any advice would be great!

 

[ICHIBAN TROPICAL FISH]

dont ever get retic most die easy when it arrival , is not hard ray to keep , next time try motoro better care and nice spot

 

[turkeyboy85]

Do you have a pleco in the tank? How thick is your sand?

 

[kdinkel]

No pleco, just the 5 angels and some ghost shrimp. Sand is about 2", but neither one has buried itself yet that I have seen.

 

[kdinkel]

Update on the ray, color is slowly coming back to the edge, and breathing has slowed some. Still very unresponsive if I touch it.

 

[kdinkel]

Additional info that I just noticed - Eyes are red.

 

[turkeyboy85]

I would make sure your sand is clean. Lots of really bad things can be hiding in your sand. IE bacteria and everything

 

[grapedinox]

and see if you can get your hands on some black worms....rays generally love ghost strip only problem is they have to eat a TON of them to do anything there is very little of anything in them of nutritional value.

 

[kdinkel]

Just lost it. Thanks for the help! It went from swimming and healthy to dead in less than a day! Fortunately the other one is doing fine so far.

 

[grapedinox]

That sucks....however pretty par for the course on WC retic pups. I would like to comment to Ichiban that retch's are not a hard ray they just are mistreated and not taken care of properly from when caught. I have only had retics and have had nothing but awesome luck with them but I treat them like the wonderful animals that they are and not just a cheap run of the mill ugly brown ray. I am also lucky enough to say that I have breeding retch's and on occasion I offer CB retic pups that are incredibly resilient and healthy.