Dead Alligator Gar

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A

AlanMurphy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 25, 2012
19
0
0
Ireland
Hi all

Came home from work tonight to unfortunaly find my Alligator Gar dead,

For the past day or two he hasnt been eating and was much less active as he usually is,

Also he was very skittish, But i woke up this morning and the water temp was only 19, it was 27 could the change of killed him?

There is two little tetras (food fish) still alive without any problems, Can anyone help me here and try find out what killed him

Thanks
 
sorry to hear that alan, as far as i know gator gars can withstand a low temp in Celsius.... did ye do any water tests?
ian's gettin more in tuesday if ye fancy trying again??.... he's gettin in a number of different gars.
 
davey_c said:
sorry to hear that alan, as far as i know gator gars can withstand a low temp in Celsius.... did ye do any water tests?
ian's gettin more in tuesday if ye fancy trying again??.... he's gettin in a number of different gars.
Click to expand...

I was meaning to buy a water testing kit but i got caught up with work, Only a new job and im working mad hours, I actually got the job the morning i got the fish, talk about bad timing. Im going to give it another go and get a water test, Id say maybe the PH or Ammonia levels spiked, He wasnt as active the past 2 days and just sat there at the top of the water more or less lifeless. He lost a bit of weight too, I am going to try it with the spotted gar this time i seen on ians list he is getting them, and ill have to make time to maintain the levels
 
AlanMurphy said:
Hi all

Came home from work tonight to unfortunaly find my Alligator Gar dead,

For the past day or two he hasnt been eating and was much less active as he usually is,

Also he was very skittish, But i woke up this morning and the water temp was only 19, it was 27 could the change of killed him?

There is two little tetras (food fish) still alive without any problems, Can anyone help me here and try find out what killed him

Thanks
Click to expand...

sorry to hear about the gar...had he been eating for you at all? if he hadn't been eating the past few days AND there was the temp drop that could have been a major factor in killing the fish, however, that temp drop alone should not kill it as gars are resilient (even small ones) and that wasn't a massive temp switch in a matter of an hour or two, it was overnight over several hours...66F is still within a survivable range for young of the year gars. the lack of food may have added to the temp stressor, and it sounds like something else was probably up too. what were the tankmates? i haven't read the other thread, but i saw you were asking about snakehead tankmates? definitely would not recommend those with young of the year gars (or really at any size for private aquarists). if you try again, be sure to keep the gar on its own and closely monitor temps and water quality. good luck--
--solomon
 
AlanMurphy said:
Hi all

Came home from work tonight to unfortunaly find my Alligator Gar dead,

For the past day or two he hasnt been eating and was much less active as he usually is,

Also he was very skittish, But i woke up this morning and the water temp was only 19, it was 27 could the change of killed him?

There is two little tetras (food fish) still alive without any problems, Can anyone help me here and try find out what killed him

Thanks
Click to expand...

Sad to hear that bro :(
if you can post a pic of dead body...
 
E_americanus said:
sorry to hear about the gar...had he been eating for you at all? if he hadn't been eating the past few days AND there was the temp drop that could have been a major factor in killing the fish, however, that temp drop alone should not kill it as gars are resilient (even small ones) and that wasn't a massive temp switch in a matter of an hour or two, it was overnight over several hours...66F is still within a survivable range for young of the year gars. the lack of food may have added to the temp stressor, and it sounds like something else was probably up too. what were the tankmates? i haven't read the other thread, but i saw you were asking about snakehead tankmates? definitely would not recommend those with young of the year gars (or really at any size for private aquarists). if you try again, be sure to keep the gar on its own and closely monitor temps and water quality. good luck--
--solomon
Click to expand...

He had been eating quite alot but not too much, He was eating prawn mostly, But when i fist bought him i bought 10 other small harlequins as feeder fish he ate 9 of them and theres still 1 left, Then i bought him 6 neon tetras and theres only 1 left, There was a bit of prawn with bacteria on it, Maybe he could of ate one of them? I dont know i only had it 3 weeks, Im thinking maybe a spike in Ammonia or something?
 
Gator gars are so resilient to diseases, bad water quality, starvation ...etc. I could hardly think of anything that can kill it beside someone deliberately kill it :) A sudden drop of 8 degree C is a bit extreme though and I would guess it is the most likely suspect.
 
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