My 5 yr. old RTC has not been eating for about a month. Help!!

[superkai]

Hello.
I have a 5 yr. old RTC in 180 gal. tank. He is about 2 ft. long. I have no other fish in this tank and using two Eheim 2028 canister filter. The water condition is fine and he seems to be healthy, not loosing weight and acting normal. When I drop foods, he comes and smells, but does not want to eat. I was usually feeding him raw shrimps, frozen smelt, cooked chicken (skinless, boneless breast) etc. every other day. Since he was not interested in any of these lately, I have tried other food like pellets, krill, earthworm etc, but no luck.
Please give me advice. I'm afraid of him dieing from starvation.
Thank you.

 

[houie925]

Water condition is fine? please elaborate on this. ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, what kind of test is being used?

You said he hasn't lost weight, I wouldn't worry about starvation unless he loses quite a bit. A pic would be helpful but I think you need more posts before you can post pics.

A month isn't rare, they have been known to fast from time to time for no apparent reason. Sometimes for months.

As far as behavior is he acting differently than usual? Is he acting hungry? Mine sits around doing nothing until he gets hungry then he gets very active. Is this consistent with yours and is yours acting hungry?

Have you fed any live feeders? any reason to suspect internal parasites?

And the obvious, you have a 2' RTC in a 180g tank. This may be causing stress. If it's not enough stress on its own then any slight additional stress may be enough to make him go off feed. It may also be that the lack of space is finally becoming too stressful for your cat if nothing else has changed.


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[djaalix]

I agree that he may have reached the point where the tank is too small causing stress .... I wouldn't be worried about him starving though, especially if he doesn't look thin ... big cats can go a very long time without food

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[elisuwe]

Stunted stomach... Buy him a pond!

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