Florida not doing good...

[Mercury2234]

Have my gar for about 2-3 weeks; about 8 inches in a 75g with a 6"Ck, 7" Fire Eel, 6" Senegal, 5" Delhezi...he will be moved to 220g in a couple of months.

Ever since I got him he keeps rubbing his nose up and down all day; today I noticed his nose is kind of bloodied up and its getting bad...in fact, its been the worse since ive got him.

Water parameters are perfect; zero across the board, 5 nitrates. 80 temp with UV sterilizer.

He still eats handily...taught him to eat shrimp off stick.

I am just afraid if he continues, he could possibly get an infection. I tried putting a red sweater in front of the place he usually does this, and voila, he stopped for 5 min then proceeded to go onto another place.

Heres the old forum with pics and tank pics...

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293400

i understand is better to have no medicine when it comes to dealing with gars...I also noticed it is not the water parameters as once I change the water (large or small change) he continues to do so afterwards.

 

[bansheenoy]

like idk it may sound stupid but maybe there is something by the tank that is bothering him that he can c...

 

[Mercury2234]

like idk it may sound stupid but maybe there is something by the tank that is bothering him that he can c...

No, of course it doesnt sound stupid; this is precisely the reason why I put the red sweater to cover the place he was rubbing his nose.

Unfortunately, as previously mentioned he just went to move to another place.

 

[xander]

this usually occurs when the gar is stressed, i'll offer my limited experience here.

am i correct in assuming the tank is a 4'x1.5'x1.5'?

are there any other tankmates?

by the looks of the pics there is not much cover in the tank, decor wise. you might want to try adding some floating plants or wood work as the gar does seem a little small for the tank. and reduce the lighting on that tank/room for the time being till the gar settles down. 2-3weeks is still a relativly short period of time, and new gars tend to stress out and rub their snouts against the glass. also, does the knife bother the gar at night?

good luck, you might also want to try looking at demjor's old threads, he had a florida do this for the longest time as well.

 

[Mercury2234]

The knife is relatively tame when it comes with the Gar...I also thought it could have been an issue, but the gar is substantially bigger than the CK.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

xander is right. this is most likly a stress issue. floridas are tame when it comes to this but they do do it. give hime time. took mine for ever to calm down. give him time. try leavin the light off for awhile.