This is definitely a strange situation for me, considering RBP usually have a voracious appetite. So here's the full situation: Number one, my pacu is a rescue, a friend of mine who didn't exactly care about what happened to the fish had raised it from a little pet store 1-incher in a 29-gal w/ one other RBP and 2 red-eared sliders. yeah. not exactly a nice thing to do. The other RBP was actually eaten by the turtles at some point, but this one managed to survive for about a year now. Recently I was helping him with a cleaning and after putting everyone back into the tank one of the turtles managed to trap the pacu under some wood in the tank and proceeded to nom on the poor fish. I managed to get to the fish in time to save most of its fins, but it was is bad shape. We separated it into a 20-gal bucket I use for water changes on my 55-gal and I told him the fish might not survive. We went out to lunch and lo and behold the poor thing was belly up on the surface of the bucket. I managed to revive it by holding it upright and in the path of some circulating water to force water through the gills, after about an hour the fish was finally supporting itself upright and had full gill movement. I told him I couldn't let him keep this fish with turtles anymore. It's a beautiful ~8-inch yearling, and so I moved it to my mostly new 55-gal tank with some young cichlids I'm starting. Long story longer, it's been over a week now and the poor guy hasn't eaten a thing. I've tried the same flake he used to eat, same turtle sticks, and tried cat food, cichlid pellets, and he won't even eat the plants I have in the tank. I was getting worried and even tried hand feeding it tonight (EXTREMELY people oriented fish) but is just spit everything out. It's fins are healing, but it's beginning to dull in color, it's ribs are sticking out, and I'm seeing what almost look like cataracts in it's eyes. I've been using a Stress-coat additive and some "Melafix" from API to treat any infections it might have, but my biggest worry is the lack of appetite. Sorry for the long post, but I figure the more info the better advice. Any suggestions?
My Red Bellied Pacu won't eat!
- Thread starter dardan1287
- Start date
From my experience wit pacu's they like veggies alot get some lettuce or green veggies and put them to the bottom of the tank and leave it B over night or get some blood worm cubes and stir it around in the tank while everyone else is eating them in a frenzy he might join.. If he still doesnt then it is still very stressed and need some more settle time seeing that he was almost lunch to 1 of fishes top predator and the turtle was probably harrassing him 4 a while.. Also i noticed wit my fish when then get in a big fight and get fin damage they are usually real temid and scared easly throughout there whole timw healing until they are fully recovered just in my experience tho hope it helps
make sure there is a good water circulation in your tank and my rbp did the same thing, i added a little aquarium salt and i increased the temperature of the water and seemed to do better, and i
feed him fresh dead goldfish...
feed him fresh dead goldfish...
Sadly it's looking even worse now. The fish still won't eat, all color is gone, and the wounds are not healing. The eyes have begun to cloud badly and the swimming is labored. I am thinking I may need to cull the fish, it's probably the most humane thing to do at this point.
As for my tank specs: 55 gal, 48x13x21, (Not big enough for full grown pacu, I know) 77 deg F, ~7.3 pH, Dual Fluval U4s rated at 65 gal each, good oxygenation from 3 bubble bars at back of tank and 6 plants (2 bamboo, Egeria Densa, Anubias barteri, and 2 medium moss balls). I use Seachem Prime and Clarity with each water change and Melafix by API every two or three days for fin care.
As for my tank specs: 55 gal, 48x13x21, (Not big enough for full grown pacu, I know) 77 deg F, ~7.3 pH, Dual Fluval U4s rated at 65 gal each, good oxygenation from 3 bubble bars at back of tank and 6 plants (2 bamboo, Egeria Densa, Anubias barteri, and 2 medium moss balls). I use Seachem Prime and Clarity with each water change and Melafix by API every two or three days for fin care.