Skinny Ray help

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Jesseliu13

Jesseliu13

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 27, 2012
1,129
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Holmdel, NJ
So recently about 3 weeks ago I got another marbled motoro. I got it from east coast zoo. They are generally trust worthy and do a good job with his rays. But what alarmed me was that he was fed love black worms and goldfish. So when I got him I noticed he was extremely skinny. I started feeding him earthworms which he happily took. He gain a little weight so then I tried training him for smelt/silversides. He didn't take then until last week. But since 3 days ago he stopped taking smelt AND earthworms. When I checked on him today he was a lot more pale than he usually is and he seems to lost a lot more weight than I first got him. His spine is showing. My female is perfectly fine. I checked the water and it's fine, but to be sure I did large water changes past 2 days. Any ideas why? I ordered prazipro from kens about 2 days ago so I don't know when that will come in. I feel like it may be internal parasites. Will api general cure work?! It's supposed to deal with internal parasites. Please help!
 
East Coast Zoo, as in John? Since all his rays are wild caught they will be skinny to start with. And very very seldom are his rays in house or in house long, unless he cant sell them right away. Most times they are sold and when they come in he turns right around repackage thems and ships back out. He always feeds goldfish. I would treat any wild caught ray for parasites and QT them before any introductions to an existing setup. Kens is usually pretty quick with his shipments depending on your location. I am a big believer in Tetras Parasite Guard.
 
jsodwi said:
Yup exactly what shadow said. Johns stuff is all wild caught. It comes in a goes right back out to buyer
Click to expand...
sometimes it doesnt even hit his tanks
 
Yep, sometimes he doesnt do anything but reship.
 
I find all this a little hard to stomach! It almost seems like selling rays in this way is acceptable, surely there has to be more to this than making a living from these amazing fish. Even if the ray is feeding which in most cases they probably aren't! goldfish in 90% of cases carry external parasites such as Trichodina, Gyrodactylus in some capacity, intestinal tapeworms are also common. Getting new imports to accept frozen/ dry foods before offering them for sale is a tedious job at best, you can see why they are sold in this manner, no work involved...easy money basically.
It beggars belief that anyone would buy rays that are sold in this way, these are highly intelligent fish that require a certain level of skill and experience from the aquarist to give them what they need to ensure they live as happily a life as possible, a life that can easily exceed 25 years.

I feel sorry for the fish here "not" the buyer, if anyone is silly enough to purchase any ray under these circumstances then they must be prepared to suffer the consequences .
 
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aquaman45 said:
I find all this a little hard to stomach! It almost seems like selling rays in this way is acceptable, surely there has to be more to this than making a living from these amazing fish. Even if the ray is feeding which in most cases they probably aren't! goldfish in 90% of cases carry external parasites such as Trichodina, Gyrodactylus in some capacity, intestinal tapeworms are also common. Getting new imports to accept frozen/ dry foods before offering them for sale is a tedious job at best, you can see why they are sold in this manner, no work involved...easy money basically.
It beggars belief that anyone would buy rays that are sold in this way, these are highly intelligent fish that require a certain level of skill and experience from the aquarist to give them what they need to ensure they live as happily a life as possible, a life that can easily exceed 25 years.

I feel sorry for the fish here "not" the buyer, if anyone is silly enough to purchase any ray under these circumstances then they must be prepared to suffer the consequences .
Click to expand...
Very well put Richard. I can only assume that people who buy rays in this manner are not fortunate enough to live near fellow hobbyists that are breeding rays. I would never consider buying a wild caught unless it had been quarantined and treated for parasites at the very least.
 
lol its great an all we care about the rays and what not but my ray is still not eating lol... is general cure safe for stingrays? and im just doing water changes out of pure anxiety lmfao.
 
Well I'd contact the firm sending the medication, ask them a couple of Q's -
When they shipped it, how the shipped it and when they expect delivery to you. If I was ordering treatment for my rays I'm dam sure I'd be asking those questions.

Whilst you wait for the meds to arrive, I'd up the feeding if possible, it can only help surely to give as much food as poss so that the ray can absorb the scraps the parasites aren't taking.

Good luck.
At least now if you buy WC rays again, you'll have the knowledge of how to treat ALL WC Rays you by as a matter of course.

Good luck mate
 
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