Ideas?

[Thekid]

I have a 10" male motoro alone in a 3'x3'x2' tank. The tank is filtered with a marineland c-360 and an aquaclear hob. I have the temp set to 80 degrees and have an airpump with a three inch disc providing air. He gets biweekly 75% waterchanges usually coming on a Tuesday and Friday although it varies sometimes with my schedule.

He usually will eat silversides, squid, tilapia, and shrimp with the occasional night crawler treat leftovers from fishing.

Now for the back story.

I was gone camping this past week and had my dad do a waterchange on Monday after he got home as well as feed him. I got a text saying he fed him two and a half shrimp and that he was very active swimming around looking "happy". I got home on Wednesday afternoon and noticed that he was shedding some of his slime coat but was otherwise fine. I dropped in a chopped up shrimp and left for work. When I came back I noticed he hadn't touched the shrimp and was sluggish but still swam over to me when I walked into the room. I shrugged it off and netted out the old shrimp and decided to skip feeding that night if he wasn't hungry.

The next morning when I left the house at 5 am to workout I saw him sitting facing a corner breathing heavily but otherwise ok. Then when I returned at noon he was still in the same spot but breathing a little easier. I offered him another shrimp and he went over it but didn't mouth it or anything.

On Friday I wasn't home during the day but decided to pick up night crawlers for him and he ate 4 and then called it a meal.

Yesterday I was out of town for a swim meet but he refused crawlers both yesterday and today. I also picked up some garlic extract and soaked shrimp in it for close to two hours and he still refused them.

He's getting very skinny as his last proper meal was a week ago from yesterday.

Anyone got any ideas on how to get him eating again?

 

[Jez1992]

How long have you had him and where is he from?

Could be internal parasites they cause loss of appetite? Use prazi.

Although shouldn't be looking skinny after a week? I've left mine week before with no food whilst abroad and we're just as fat when came back!

 

[Thekid]

How long have you had him and where is he from?

Could be internal parasites they cause loss of appetite? Use prazi.

Although shouldn't be looking skinny after a week? I've left mine week before with no food whilst abroad and we're just as fat when came back!

I've had him since December 20th or so. He came from DB junkie who got him from E Energy who got him from a breeder in Minneapolis.

Before last week he had a big meal(6 shrimp) on Thursday and Saturday but only ate one or two shrimp on Friday as well as Monday and Tuesday.

 

[Ihsnshaik]

Maybe your dad didn't add the proper water conditioner in the tank and ammonia burn causes slimcoat to burn off and lack of appetite. Do another water change as so

 

[Ihsnshaik]

ASAP

 

[Thekid]

Maybe your dad didn't add the proper water conditioner in the tank and ammonia burn causes slimcoat to burn off and lack of appetite. Do another water change as so

He texted me halfway through and told me he ran out of prime and asked if I wanted him to go get more prime or if he could use some of another brand I had laying around. I've checked params and they're fine all around.

I should add I did do a waterchange on late Wednesday/early Thursday.

 

[Frank Castle]

He texted me halfway through and told me he ran out of prime and asked if I wanted him to go get more prime or if he could use some of another brand I had laying around. I've checked params and they're fine all around.

I should add I did do a waterchange on late Wednesday/early Thursday.

I would imagine looking for anything out-of-the-ordinary would be the best bet......another WC is a good start, and dose w/ the Prime only this time and see if it makes a difference. I can't imagine water treatments being too different, but one could have ingredients that counteract each other. I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head

 

[Thekid]

I would imagine looking for anything out-of-the-ordinary would be the best bet......another WC is a good start, and dose w/ the Prime only this time and see if it makes a difference. I can't imagine water treatments being too different, but one could have ingredients that counteract each other. I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head

His slime coat is back and he's eaten a worm but he's not moving very fast or is being his usual self. I'm trying to find what the difference is between prime and the tetra conditioner but still can't find a full ingredient list.

Maybe RD. Or Oddball would know.

 

[Raynado]

You doing 75% wc twice a week and your Dad doing a wc once while you're away. Do you know at what rate he did the wc? Perhaps the water flow was too fast and caused a PH swing and at the same time the clorine killing most of your BB. This could explain the shedding, lost of appetite and odd behavior. Your params are good, but probably there was an ammonia spike sometime before you tested. Is your PH stable? Just my 2 cents

 

[Thekid]

You doing 75% wc twice a week and your Dad doing a wc once while you're away. Do you know at what rate he did the wc? Perhaps the water flow was too fast and caused a PH swing and at the same time the clorine killing most of your BB. This could explain the shedding, lost of appetite and odd behavior. Your params are good, but probably there was an ammonia spike sometime before you tested. Is your PH stable? Just my 2 cents

I'm guessing he did somewhere around 50% because he doesn't know how to restart the canister. I don't know if he used buckets or if he used the python however.

As far as ph goes it could have swung given that there were storms that caused some flash flooding the weekend of the fourth.