Well these past few weeks have been a trying time for my male Retic, Bruce.
He was acting funny for about 2 weeks..3 weeks ago. He kept acting like the sand was hurting him, wouldnt sit still for more than a few min's. But was eating good. I did water changes. I tested EVERYTHING. I even scooped up sand in the water and tested it. My water peramiters were PERFECT! Temp normal, no new tank mates, nothing I could figure out, and to top it off Squishy was acting FINE.
So that went on for 2 weeks...last week however I thought for sure I was going to LOSE him. I was soo depressed, and upset.
I noticed that the bottom of his disc and the base of his tail, were losing skin...he got very dark...breathing heavy....and of all things QUIT EATING!!
Pretty much everything I have seen on here that leads up to disc curl and death.
And low and behold the next day he starts curling. By now Ive bought a new big everything test kit, and guess what NOTHING is in the water.
At this point I thought for sure I was gonna lose my underwater buddy. So I turned off the lights, covered the tank with towels, I cranked up the heat to 86, threw in ALL that was left of my salt, and pretty much hit him with EVERYthing I had left in the house. I figured if he was going to die on me I was going to throw everything at him.
Everyday I checked under the towels with my flash light, thinking today was going to be the day I find him dead. And everyday he got thinner and thinner. (I no longer can be judgemental of some of those skinny ray pics we see, where the person says but they were just eating. He got to the point that I could see both hip bones, skinny tail base, and he had 2 divits in his head. He only went 5 days not eating.)
But everyday he was still alive...barely...Thursday night he did this thing where he moved and shivered..like it was way to hard.
Sat morning I look under the towel, flash the light on him...and he pounces Squishy like hes looking for food. I couldnt believe it!
So I cut up very small earthworms. And he ate them all!!!
He is now doing great again...eats like a horse...his skin is healing..and his activity and color are GREAT!
My point to this story is that I think some people give up on the Retics too soon if they get sick. I dont think they are as fragile as they seem.
They can sure hold their own!!!
He was acting funny for about 2 weeks..3 weeks ago. He kept acting like the sand was hurting him, wouldnt sit still for more than a few min's. But was eating good. I did water changes. I tested EVERYTHING. I even scooped up sand in the water and tested it. My water peramiters were PERFECT! Temp normal, no new tank mates, nothing I could figure out, and to top it off Squishy was acting FINE.
So that went on for 2 weeks...last week however I thought for sure I was going to LOSE him. I was soo depressed, and upset.
I noticed that the bottom of his disc and the base of his tail, were losing skin...he got very dark...breathing heavy....and of all things QUIT EATING!!
Pretty much everything I have seen on here that leads up to disc curl and death.
And low and behold the next day he starts curling. By now Ive bought a new big everything test kit, and guess what NOTHING is in the water.
At this point I thought for sure I was gonna lose my underwater buddy. So I turned off the lights, covered the tank with towels, I cranked up the heat to 86, threw in ALL that was left of my salt, and pretty much hit him with EVERYthing I had left in the house. I figured if he was going to die on me I was going to throw everything at him.
Everyday I checked under the towels with my flash light, thinking today was going to be the day I find him dead. And everyday he got thinner and thinner. (I no longer can be judgemental of some of those skinny ray pics we see, where the person says but they were just eating. He got to the point that I could see both hip bones, skinny tail base, and he had 2 divits in his head. He only went 5 days not eating.)
But everyday he was still alive...barely...Thursday night he did this thing where he moved and shivered..like it was way to hard.
Sat morning I look under the towel, flash the light on him...and he pounces Squishy like hes looking for food. I couldnt believe it!
So I cut up very small earthworms. And he ate them all!!!
He is now doing great again...eats like a horse...his skin is healing..and his activity and color are GREAT!
My point to this story is that I think some people give up on the Retics too soon if they get sick. I dont think they are as fragile as they seem.
They can sure hold their own!!!
