My Motoro had a parasite and I treated it. He started to eat again and eating well. Yesterday all of the sudden he stopped eating and i noticed a small hole that developed in his fin or umbrella, not sure of the correct word for it. Now to day I tried to feed him and he wouldnt move. He let pick him up and even pull him out of the water and turn him upside down. When he was upside down i noticed his belly was real dark, so when I lightly massaged his belly crap started coming out of his anus. I assume he is about to die. Can anyone give me good advise so this problem dont happen in the future. I do plan on getting another one because the are amazing fish. Please give me any and all advise possible.
Sick and dieing Motoro
- Thread starter Mike Henthorn
- Start date
what is he being fed?
water parameters?
water change schedule and amount?
tank size and filtration?
what med did you treat it with? was it a ray safe med?
all of the questions can help determine what is wrong. please answer them honestly. don't say "water params are good", give exact numbers.
dark red belly usually means ammonia poisoning, or irritation from the wrong substrate.
i was going to say constipation but it honestly doesn't sound like it if you could massage it out. it seems like poisoning to me.
if fed things like live food, you're increasing the chances of parasites. if being fed goldfish, the thiamine in them leads to renal failure in rays.
water parameters?
water change schedule and amount?
tank size and filtration?
what med did you treat it with? was it a ray safe med?
all of the questions can help determine what is wrong. please answer them honestly. don't say "water params are good", give exact numbers.
dark red belly usually means ammonia poisoning, or irritation from the wrong substrate.
i was going to say constipation but it honestly doesn't sound like it if you could massage it out. it seems like poisoning to me.
if fed things like live food, you're increasing the chances of parasites. if being fed goldfish, the thiamine in them leads to renal failure in rays.
He has just died. And I decide to disect him. I think it may be my fault. I ran out of wiggle worms and fed him a super worm. I found the exoskelaton from the super worm in his intestines. I fed him that over a week ago. i think he couldnt digest it and it got lodge in him. I had him in a 58 gallon tank with a rena 3 and a fuval 204 filter. I did a 5 gallon change every week. The amonia, nitrite, and nitrates are all at 0 ppm. The ph is 6.8. I treated his parasite with prazipro. He is a small only about 4 inches. My plan was to put him in my 240 gl tank once I built a tank for the catfish that are in there now.
Once again i am sorry for you loss over the next few days i post some pics of dora for you, in hopes that it may help you feel a little better. I 100 % agree with you that they are very fascinating fish, been in the hobby 20 + years and this fish for me has really sparked the 5 year old in me.
sorry to hear.
sounds like it was ammonia poisoning though. for a fish that puts out such a heavy bioload, that is a small tank and not enough filtration.
no way there were 0 ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in that tank with a 5 gal weekly water change.
you should never see 0 nitrate in a tank, unless it is massively planted and only a few small fish, and even then, you'll still see some nitrate. sounds like your tank spiked and crashed.
on a tank that size, you would be needing to do 75% water changes 2-3 times a week, basically every other day, to keep up with the rays bioload.
for instance, i started with a tank nearly twice your size, with more filtration and i had to do 50-75% changes 3x a week to keep up with two 3 inch rays.
Really a Rena 3 is rated for up to 175 gallons and a fuval 205 is rated up i think 30 gallons. So thats over 200 rated gallons of filtration on a 58 gallon tank. My Arowana that is in the same tank is not acting any different. He is only 4 inches long. The ray and the arowana are the only two fish I had in that tank. And you are right I just double checked my water levels and the ammonia was at .50 ppm but the nitrites and nitrate were still showing 0 ppm. the numbers a gave you yesterday were from three days ago when he was eating well and acting good. It is unfortunate but I learned a pricey lesson. Know I know next time that rays have a big bio load, which I had no idea it was that bad from them.
yeah, sounds like your bacteria colony crashed and is recycling, hence the 0 nitrate and the presence of ammonia. pH dropping could be why, since it's soft, maybe unstable, but the more likely reason is the rays massive bioload overloading your tank, creating more ammonia than the bacteria could handle.
i would keep water changing until the tank re-stabilizes or you could lose the aro too.
i would keep water changing until the tank re-stabilizes or you could lose the aro too.
My tank evaporates a gallon a day thus 7 gal per week. Seems to me like u never siphoned water and replaced it, just topped it off every week or so.
Your filtration is adequate for a 58gal but w/ no water changes it doesnt matter.
#1 S. Vettel
Your filtration is adequate for a 58gal but w/ no water changes it doesnt matter.
#1 S. Vettel
I have 4 rays at 4 inches in a 60 gallon tank, filtered over fluval 404 and fluval 4 internal, 50% waterchange every week, no problem at all?
