Sick or stressed Gar??

[PoppaBear]

I just recently went on vacation for 3 weeks and had some friends looking after my gar for me, they were droppping in feeders regularly for me. which I go to the same place always for me and the feeders were quarenteened. When I returned I found that my gar has lost most of its color and is still losing more its turning to a milky white.

Despite this he is still swimming and acting normally, when I asked my roommate he said he hadn't turned the aquarium lights on very much while I was gone. the only other thing I could think of was the water temperature, which I don't regulate because where I'm from in Indiana we find these regularly in the ponds and streams and the water will be extremely cold with these fish living healthily. but I do live in florida so the tank is room temperature which is close about 70.

Other than this all I can think of is that he ate a crayfish and a got the soft part of a snail out of its shell while I was gone, its eaten crayfish before this is the first time with a snail though. If you have any information please help!!!

 

[RedDwarf]

I would just keep an eye on him and do a water change to be on the safe side. Other people tend to overfeed fish when they are taking care of them. The color thing could just be from being with no light for 3 weeks. If you put a heater in there you should see changes more quickly, and the stable temp will only help things.

 

[Mercury2234]

You might want to contact Solomon on the Gar Forum, he is BY FAR the most knowledgeable when dealing with gars.

My personal experience is this...I special ordered my gar and when I got him, he was still in the bag ALONG WITH FEEDERS! The water was very murky and he looked to be pealing.

Anyhoo, he was complete bland, almost no spots at all or very very light colored...

I am assuming your gar is a bit stressed out... once he got more settled, his spots were more showing.

 

[E_americanus]

if you can post a pic that would help greatly. however, it sounds like it was just because of the lights being off, which would be expected. gars will actually lose most of their color and pattern when they are in the dark, this is natural. if you look at your gars during the night with a flashlight you will notice this is how they look (usually no/minimal stripes/pattern).
once you get it back to a normal photoperiod the fish should look normal. hope that helps--
--solomon

 

[PoppaBear]

He was given 2 dozen feeders on the 24th. He still has a dozen left which I find strange, also one of his eyes has also glassed over. He has been on a diet of feeders with ghost shrimp mixed in so it wasn't over eating and he has been in the tank fine with no problems for about 5 months now,

I hope you are right about the light diagnosis, I went ahead and added a bacteria medicine to the water and salted it. I also checked the water temperature and it is at 73, I will prob end up getting a heater,
He went from looking like this

To looking like this.

 

[E_americanus]

ok yeah that's definitely not just a "night/day" pattern difference, that's definitely a problem of another sort (although my original description of what happens to gars at night still applies). glad you were able to post a pic.

what kind of antibiotic did you add? these are usually not recommended for gars except in extreme cases, and even then specific kinds work, most others harm.

i would HIGHLY recommend getting the temp up with this fish. basic procedure should go as follows:

- remove ALL feeders and discontinue use/feeding for now
- do a 50% or larger water change
- increase temp to about 82F
- add 1tbsp of kosher salt for every 10 gallons of water
- continue to do 50% water changes every other day (maintain salt concentration as well)

let us know if you see any improvement in the next few days, i would discontinue the antibiotics for now, although if you let us know what you are using we can better advise as to whether or not it will help. this looks like a pretty serious bacterial infection.

oh yeah, what are the other tankmates? a lot of it looks like slime coat loss potentially caused by slime-sucking fishes, the results of which can often lead to bacterial infections like we see here--
--solomon

 

[PoppaBear]

The only fish he shares the tank with is a large pleco, and his feeders. This is the salt I added: Api Aquarium Pharmaceuticals: Natural Fish Tonic Aquarium Salt. Because I wasn't sure what the problem could be I used Aquarium Products: Fast Relief For Ick & Protozoan Parasites Quick Cure. I'll def go and get a heater today, are there any brands of antibiotic that I could use that is good, or do products like stress coat help? Thank you very much for all of your help!!

 

[xander]

the pleco is sucking its slime coat. remove it at once or you'll lose your gar.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

still might......
ditch the pleco. few of us have done that combo with success and it is defenatly not suggested.

 

[E_americanus]

The only fish he shares the tank with is a large pleco, and his feeders. This is the salt I added: Api Aquarium Pharmaceuticals: Natural Fish Tonic Aquarium Salt. Because I wasn't sure what the problem could be I used Aquarium Products: Fast Relief For Ick & Protozoan Parasites Quick Cure. I'll def go and get a heater today, are there any brands of antibiotic that I could use that is good, or do products like stress coat help? Thank you very much for all of your help!!

this is most definitely your problem. this is the first thing i thought when looking at your pics, but since tankmates weren't mentioned in detail i thought this gar may be on his own other than the shrimp/crayfish.

you will need to remove the pleco and permanently separate them or this will continue. the pleco has removed a lot of the slime coat, it's led to a massive bacterial infection, and although it's possible to save the gar, you may very well lose it. this is why there are many threads indicating that plecos are not suitable tankmates for gars.

follow the directions i posted previously, but also remove the pleco (more or less immediately). keep us posted as to any changes (positive or negative) you see with the gar over the next two days. i should mention that most gars i have kept/seen that were in this condition were lost, but there's always a chance. good luck--
--solomon