Please help me i am having some problems with my motoro ray, i will try and give you guys as many details as i can, i have had him for about 10 months
and have never had a problem, he has always eaten, always gotten along with everyone in the tank, he has had some different tank mates over the last 10 month but still no problems, when I bought him he was about 6-8 inches, now he is about 10 inches, i have fed him a steady diet of raw shrimp, with the occasional worms (for fishing, i think earth worms? (big juicy suckers)), and the odd time i throw in some random live stock (ie platys, danios, small tropical fish), i used to have a silver aro, which he grew up with him from 4" till the aro was about 20", then he broke his back and died (got spooked, hit the wall, he was outgrowing the tank, and i was right about to buy a bigger one), so after my aro died i tried a few different tank mates, first i put in a 9ish" gold clown knife (which i still have), they got along fine, so i added a same size royal clown knife the 2 clown knife fought like crazy i could tell one was gonna kill the other so i got rid of one (the royal), after that i got a 12" fire eel (which i still have), they get along good so far, at first the ray would pounce on him, but not hurt him, so i figured it was just the ray declaring his dominance in the tank, now they dont bother each other, so i added a 3" peacock bass, i have never seen the pbass bother the ray, or the ray bother the pbass, so far this is in a 110gallon (48*18*30) tank which i know is on the small side, i wanna buy a 300g but cant afford it due to my furnace recently dying, i was thinking about buying a 220g for now, but would much rather wait and buy the 300g, currently i have 1 eheim 2217, and one magnum 350, my ammonia and nitrite, have always remained 0, but my nitrate is about 20 ppm, i know they should be 0, and they continue to get better since i got rid of the aro, so now you know the background of my tank...
this morning when i got up i went to put out the garbage, and my girlfriend came running outside telling me the ray was freaking out, so i ran inside, and he was aiming face down, (disc vertical) spinning, then he stopped and sat on the bottom, as i looked at him i saw him retracting his eye's (sucking them into his head), which Ive seen before but in a normal matter (swimming under something, etc...), so at first i thought, maybe the pbass went after him, (pbass being the newest in the tank (2 weeks)), he rarly buries himself these days but i thought he would, being in an abnormal state, (he seems all freaked out), so i had to go to work and asked my girlfriend to keep an eye on him and call me if anything happened, so she called me during the day saying he's going nuts, just swimming around abnormally, which i know what she meant once i got home, when i got home he seemed fine, but she said just wait he'll do it in a bit, so i sat there watching him, and he has been breathing really heavy the whole time, then he did it, he just went nuts, it looks like he cant even control his disc, he lifts up and starts swimming around backwards frantically, and all over the tank, but it looks like he is not even in control, so once he stopped that like a min later he's just been sitting on the bottom breathing heavily, not moving much at all, and still retracting his eye's, Im really worried about him, but i dunno what to do, i did a water change about 2 days ago and he seemed fine until today, today i added more water conditioner because i didnt 2 days ago, and i added about 1.5 lbs of salt like an hours ago, he's still sitting on the bottom, occasionally retracting his eyes, and an occasional jerk of his disc, which looks involuntarily, i last fed him 2 days ago, and i havent tried to feed him today, i dont really want to with all this commotion, plus i can see he still has a big belly, which is surprising for the amount of feces i saw yesterday, and normally it doesnt take him long to digest his food.my substrate is pool filter sand, which he has always seemed fine on, there is a powerhead 402 in the tank, and 2 fake plants, and a moss ball, and a 14" piece of 1.5" pvc (for the fire eel), sorry for my bad grammar, i just wanna solve this asap, if i am forgetting anything please ask, all help is
welcome, im gonna try and attach some pics so you guys can see him
Quick summery
1 10ish" motoro ray
1 9 " gold clown knife
1 12" fire eel
1 3" pbass
110gallon (48*18*30), yes i know i feel bad as it is)
2 filters
Ammonia and nitrite always 0
Nitrate around 20ppm, sometime up to 40ppm
ray freaking out and swimming what looks like uncontrollably, and heavy breathing, while retracting his eyes
Thanks guys, hope you can help
Sean
and have never had a problem, he has always eaten, always gotten along with everyone in the tank, he has had some different tank mates over the last 10 month but still no problems, when I bought him he was about 6-8 inches, now he is about 10 inches, i have fed him a steady diet of raw shrimp, with the occasional worms (for fishing, i think earth worms? (big juicy suckers)), and the odd time i throw in some random live stock (ie platys, danios, small tropical fish), i used to have a silver aro, which he grew up with him from 4" till the aro was about 20", then he broke his back and died (got spooked, hit the wall, he was outgrowing the tank, and i was right about to buy a bigger one), so after my aro died i tried a few different tank mates, first i put in a 9ish" gold clown knife (which i still have), they got along fine, so i added a same size royal clown knife the 2 clown knife fought like crazy i could tell one was gonna kill the other so i got rid of one (the royal), after that i got a 12" fire eel (which i still have), they get along good so far, at first the ray would pounce on him, but not hurt him, so i figured it was just the ray declaring his dominance in the tank, now they dont bother each other, so i added a 3" peacock bass, i have never seen the pbass bother the ray, or the ray bother the pbass, so far this is in a 110gallon (48*18*30) tank which i know is on the small side, i wanna buy a 300g but cant afford it due to my furnace recently dying, i was thinking about buying a 220g for now, but would much rather wait and buy the 300g, currently i have 1 eheim 2217, and one magnum 350, my ammonia and nitrite, have always remained 0, but my nitrate is about 20 ppm, i know they should be 0, and they continue to get better since i got rid of the aro, so now you know the background of my tank...
this morning when i got up i went to put out the garbage, and my girlfriend came running outside telling me the ray was freaking out, so i ran inside, and he was aiming face down, (disc vertical) spinning, then he stopped and sat on the bottom, as i looked at him i saw him retracting his eye's (sucking them into his head), which Ive seen before but in a normal matter (swimming under something, etc...), so at first i thought, maybe the pbass went after him, (pbass being the newest in the tank (2 weeks)), he rarly buries himself these days but i thought he would, being in an abnormal state, (he seems all freaked out), so i had to go to work and asked my girlfriend to keep an eye on him and call me if anything happened, so she called me during the day saying he's going nuts, just swimming around abnormally, which i know what she meant once i got home, when i got home he seemed fine, but she said just wait he'll do it in a bit, so i sat there watching him, and he has been breathing really heavy the whole time, then he did it, he just went nuts, it looks like he cant even control his disc, he lifts up and starts swimming around backwards frantically, and all over the tank, but it looks like he is not even in control, so once he stopped that like a min later he's just been sitting on the bottom breathing heavily, not moving much at all, and still retracting his eye's, Im really worried about him, but i dunno what to do, i did a water change about 2 days ago and he seemed fine until today, today i added more water conditioner because i didnt 2 days ago, and i added about 1.5 lbs of salt like an hours ago, he's still sitting on the bottom, occasionally retracting his eyes, and an occasional jerk of his disc, which looks involuntarily, i last fed him 2 days ago, and i havent tried to feed him today, i dont really want to with all this commotion, plus i can see he still has a big belly, which is surprising for the amount of feces i saw yesterday, and normally it doesnt take him long to digest his food.my substrate is pool filter sand, which he has always seemed fine on, there is a powerhead 402 in the tank, and 2 fake plants, and a moss ball, and a 14" piece of 1.5" pvc (for the fire eel), sorry for my bad grammar, i just wanna solve this asap, if i am forgetting anything please ask, all help is
welcome, im gonna try and attach some pics so you guys can see him
Quick summery
1 10ish" motoro ray
1 9 " gold clown knife
1 12" fire eel
1 3" pbass
110gallon (48*18*30), yes i know i feel bad as it is)
2 filters
Ammonia and nitrite always 0
Nitrate around 20ppm, sometime up to 40ppm
ray freaking out and swimming what looks like uncontrollably, and heavy breathing, while retracting his eyes
Thanks guys, hope you can help
Sean
seriously? I thought theyd be dead at around 50. Ive always had a nitrate level of 0. Seems better to have it low than risk it.