Sick Ray

[ygrimes]

I have a 300 gallon tank with 200 gallon wet/dry filter- 8" freshwater ray (Betty Boop) s not eating have tried shrimp, redworms etc.. Have checked water PH Nitrates, Nitrites etc...PH is 5.2 NItrates, Nitrites 0
She has not eaten this week. I am afraid I will lose her. Please advise Thank you Y

 

[keepinfish]

What is your ph out of the tap? That is pretty low, maybe your ph crashed.

Also with a nitrate reading at 0 your tank cannot be cycled yet and not ready for fish. I would bet you have ammonia reading

 

[motoro magic]

Your ph is way to low, it needs to be 6.5/7 and you should have some sort of nitrate reading as you even get traces in tap water unless you are using well water but im not familiar with that.

 

[johno27]

Yup BB go dormant at a ph any lower than 6. I would double check your test kit to make sure it is not expired and try shaking the Nitrate test harder if you haven't already. I am 99.9% sure your Nitrates are not 0.
Also check your ammonia ASAP.
I would also start doing 20% water changes at least once a day until things get straightened out

 

[scott s]

Yup BB go dormant at a ph any lower than 6. I would double check your test kit to make sure it is not expired and try shaking the Nitrate test harder if you haven't already. I am 99.9% sure your Nitrates are not 0.
Also check your ammonia ASAP.
I would also start doing 20% water changes at least once a day until things get straightened out

Agreed...water change quick.

 

[dhjr0915]

Yeh I would do some bigger water changes and more often then what ur doing them and hopefully that will help...

 

[Rotaryp04s]

5.2 ph is way to soft 6.0- 6.5 depending on the types of Ray. To low ph and Ray will stop swimming or even stop eating. Is your Ray trying to eat then throwing it back up?

 

[Raymann88]

Any other fish in the tank? How long has the tank been up and running? Are you using an RO system? I had the same problem a few years back when I moved to an acreage and was using RO water as I was not sure of the well water parameters. My ph was too low, my beneficial bacteria would not colonize (it can survive in that low of ph but will not reproduce) and my rays stopped eating and then began to swim up side down banging into the glass. I was doing massive water changes each day to no avail. An elderly man overheard me telling my situation to the guy at the fish store and told me to stop using the RO unit and do small waterchanges each day with the well water. Within a week, my rays were settled down and eating again. Never had the problem since (never used RO water again). My rays are breeding in straight well water.