Can't get this issue to go away. Water has been perfect for well over a month and the fish is not getting any better. They still eat and are very active but can't get the deteriorating to go away!
Anybody know what could be wrong with my gar?
- Thread starter michael
- Start date
what have you been feeding the gars thus far? sometimes a change (such as more variety) in diet can help with degenerative conditions such as this (it often works with lungfishes). how often do you do your water changes, and what kind of filtration do you have on the tank?
since tropical gars will eat virtually anything, i would suggest getting some vegetable matter into their diet and see if this helps (may take some time to tell). the two tropicals in my biggest tank consistently eat algae wafers and vegetable sticks; this added variety and extra vitamins/nutrients may help combat the condition. please keep us posted, and good luck--
--solomon
since tropical gars will eat virtually anything, i would suggest getting some vegetable matter into their diet and see if this helps (may take some time to tell). the two tropicals in my biggest tank consistently eat algae wafers and vegetable sticks; this added variety and extra vitamins/nutrients may help combat the condition. please keep us posted, and good luck--
--solomon
I used to only feed the gars feeders at first but in the last 2-3 months or so since I got them eating floating foods they seem to lazy to even go after the feeders. If a feeder goes by them they will definitely eat it but usually wait for other stuff. Now they're mostly eating large krill. they also eat hikari and tetra carnivore sticks, and fresh raw shrimp. never tried algae wafers, although I have 2 kinds but they both sink and they wont do that. What kind of "vegetable sticks"?
DUDE, CHILL, my gar did that too, i think they grow in spurts, when hes growing his skin splits, also adds to his camaflauge, im no garologist, but almost posotive its normal and healthy for them
actually this is not normal and not necessarily healthy for them. i have kept many individual gars of all the species and have never experienced this. i have only seen this condition in either very old gars in public aquaria or occasionally smaller ones that definitely have some sort of degenerative problem. a healthy gar will not be exhibiting this condition, even though it may not seem to actually cause any severe problems for them AND they can probably survive normally for quite some time.
as for the vegetable sticks, i would check out www.kensfishfood.com (that should be the site, or something similar to it). they have vegetable sticks and also algae bits which contain garlic. although gars, especially the smaller t-gars like to feed from the surface, they will eventually learn to feed from all levels, provided they don't have a dominant competitor on the bottom (and even then they may be able to effectively eat off the bottom). my two larger t-gars in my largest gar tank (and this goes for all the gars in that tank) all feed off the bottom as i generally only feed them chopped raw/cooked shrimp and chopped smelt/tilapia. they will feed mid-water column as well, but seem to mainly get to the food when it sinks to the bottom.
you may want to try some sinking food (like the shrimp or fish) and mix in the algae food with that and see how they do. these t-gars are farm raised and seem able to readily eat any kind of food they are presented with. myself and brooklamprey (other big gar fanatic here) have found little to no food items that they will not eventually take.
hope that helps, please let us know how they are doing. again, i would keep up with consistent water changes for a long period of time...also perhaps increase filtration, water movement and perhaps biomedia. good luck--
--solomon
as for the vegetable sticks, i would check out www.kensfishfood.com (that should be the site, or something similar to it). they have vegetable sticks and also algae bits which contain garlic. although gars, especially the smaller t-gars like to feed from the surface, they will eventually learn to feed from all levels, provided they don't have a dominant competitor on the bottom (and even then they may be able to effectively eat off the bottom). my two larger t-gars in my largest gar tank (and this goes for all the gars in that tank) all feed off the bottom as i generally only feed them chopped raw/cooked shrimp and chopped smelt/tilapia. they will feed mid-water column as well, but seem to mainly get to the food when it sinks to the bottom.
you may want to try some sinking food (like the shrimp or fish) and mix in the algae food with that and see how they do. these t-gars are farm raised and seem able to readily eat any kind of food they are presented with. myself and brooklamprey (other big gar fanatic here) have found little to no food items that they will not eventually take.
hope that helps, please let us know how they are doing. again, i would keep up with consistent water changes for a long period of time...also perhaps increase filtration, water movement and perhaps biomedia. good luck--
--solomon
Michael
Do you have a more recent current photo?
One taken from above and the side?
Also please list feeding frequency and approximately how much each fish recieves per feeding. It would also be of a lot of help if you can post water parameters,
pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Natrate, KH buffering, GH hardness, salinity....Etc...
As E_americanus stated this type degeneritve disorder is sometimes seen in older public aquarium fish. The cause has been largely determined to be dietary.
I personally have not seen this ever in a gar this young, so suspect water conditions more than diet.
Richard (Widely known as Brooklamprey also)
Do you have a more recent current photo?
One taken from above and the side?
Also please list feeding frequency and approximately how much each fish recieves per feeding. It would also be of a lot of help if you can post water parameters,
pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Natrate, KH buffering, GH hardness, salinity....Etc...
As E_americanus stated this type degeneritve disorder is sometimes seen in older public aquarium fish. The cause has been largely determined to be dietary.
I personally have not seen this ever in a gar this young, so suspect water conditions more than diet.
Richard (Widely known as Brooklamprey also)
My ph is right about 7.0, ammonia and nitrites has sat at 0 for over 2 months now. I do feed everyday and one gar is more aggressive than the other. I'd say, though, that they eat till they're plump looking but not gorged. Something like 10 krill each or so. Haven't tried any veggies yet which is my next step. as for KH buffering, GH hardness, salinity I do not test these so....I guess maybe I should??
If you have access to a microscope do a swab and make a slide to see if the lines are sources for either bacteria or protozoans. If what you see looks like this try metrodanizole.
Might be this oneGar keeper;3007460; said:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232512
