bend in gar

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T

Timpon

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Apr 28, 2006
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Sydney
Hi all. Bought 2 alligator gars 3 weeks ago at 6inches. Growing nicely until 2 days ago when one started to develope a bend in his profile. Its body is now in a slight inverted u shape, as well as curving into an s shape on a horizontal plain. The other fish is fine. Both still eat like pigs.

At first i thought he might have dashed himself against the tank or rocks, thus causing the bend, but the seems to be no external damages.

Any body ever had this problem with gars, what causes it and how to treat it?

(Been feeding on Shrimp,pellets, and whitebait/silversides. Temp-84 ph-7.5
 
Welcome to MFK!!!

Spinal injuries are common among captive gars. He could have been injured during shipping or thrashed himself against the tank glass. External symptoms are rarely evident. If he can move his tail and keep himself upright, he could pull through. Although, he'll more than likely retain the deformity. If paralysis is noted, euthanasia is your only recourse. Good Luck.
 
thanks oddball for the welcome and reply. he's still eating and swimming ok, looks abit unsightly though
 
Reason the temp. a bit high is that I had Peacock bass in the same tank, and I thought I had a case of ich. Wanted to follow advice and leave it there for a couple of weeks. Do you think it will affect the gars too much?
 
The gars will be OK at the higher temp. Keep in mind increasing the temp lowers your DO. The gars won't care since they can draw O2 from air. I'd recommend boosting aeration for your pbass though. I'd also add about a teaspoon of salt to the tank. It'll help rid the tank of fungus. The salt won't bother pbass or gars at all.
 
Maybe $1000 for the rare humpbacks since they were $500 bucks each anyway:D (And thats cheap for around here!). Yep, def $1000.
 
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