Something is wrong with my flower

[DB junkie]

I lost "Zero" a very special ray to what I believe was Nematodes. He ate a couple days before dying.

I Prazi'd and Prazi'd. He still ate, just very little and very slowly. The food going in just couldn't counterbalance what was going on inside him. You could tell by the hindquarters he ate but within 6 hours you couldn't tell. The weight wouldn't stay on.

I suspected something wrong prior but continuing to eat threw me off.

That ray dying changed my views on medicating as I feel it was my fault for watching it happen instead of taking action.

Hopefully your thread ends much better......

 

[wilken1016]

many things could be going on. It could be just growing its stinger back and not eat as much

 

[DB junkie]

many things could be going on. It could be just growing its stinger back and not eat as much

Welcome grass hopper.....

That's not the case here.

 

[COOL MBU]

Welcome grass hopper.....

That's not the case here.

Al...I know you could'nt help yourself:}}}

 

[DB junkie]

Al...I know you could'nt help yourself:}}}

I actually did refrain myself for Keepin's sake.

 

[DavidW]

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. There is nothing so deceptive as an obvious fact"

 

[longislandfish]

I have the same problem with my Flower Ray, in fact It has been going on for some time and I feel so bad for him. In my opinion it is not Parasites as I have treated for this with no resolve. These are the conditions i see and i am sure you will agree it is the same:
Flower ray will aggressively jump on food (shrimp, worms ect..)
Flower ray will chew until a piece of food is mashed into what i would view as a easily swallowed piece and then just spit it out and move on to the next.
Tankmate Motoro will out eat the Flower ray every time because Flower does not eat fast enough.
The only success I have had is to break medium thawed shrimp into tiny pieces and sometimes with luck the flower will be able to eat a piece.
The Flower goes into the umbrella position constantly and never seems calm at all. I never see him bury himself and he will throw his body around the tank without any grace or control.
The Flower is wasting at an alarming rate and now has a dented head and skinny tail with hips showing. I fear I will not be able to save him.
I dont think it is Parasites but I am starting to think the more mature Motoro and onther tankmates are stressing the flower to the point where he is not comfortable eating food.

Sadly i dont see this ending well.

 

[keepinfish]

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. There is nothing so deceptive as an obvious fact"

David, what exactly are you saying .... start treating with shotgun approach?

I have the same problem with my Flower Ray, in fact It has been going on for some time and I feel so bad for him. In my opinion it is not Parasites as I have treated for this with no resolve. These are the conditions i see and i am sure you will agree it is the same:
Flower ray will aggressively jump on food (shrimp, worms ect..)
Flower ray will chew until a piece of food is mashed into what i would view as a easily swallowed piece and then just spit it out and move on to the next.
Tankmate Motoro will out eat the Flower ray every time because Flower does not eat fast enough.
The only success I have had is to break medium thawed shrimp into tiny pieces and sometimes with luck the flower will be able to eat a piece.
The Flower goes into the umbrella position constantly and never seems calm at all. I never see him bury himself and he will throw his body around the tank without any grace or control.
The Flower is wasting at an alarming rate and now has a dented head and skinny tail with hips showing. I fear I will not be able to save him.
I dont think it is Parasites but I am starting to think the more mature Motoro and onther tankmates are stressing the flower to the point where he is not comfortable eating food.

Sadly i dont see this ending well.

interesting, can you give more details
size of ray
how long have you had him?
Is he on substrate?
What have you treated with/for
How long has this been going on?
PH?


Mine actually ate a decent amount last night, i watched it actually go in his mouth.. But not as much as he would normally eat. But i had to wait until he calmed down to feed otherwise he pays no attention...

 

[DavidW]

David, what exactly are you saying .... start treating with shotgun approach?

I think you have very hard water and high pH? If so, this can ,over the long term, affect and stress a ray evolved to live in very soft water and low pH.
If you fix the possible problem causes then either you will get a better result or at least know enough to eliminate that factor as a possible cause of the problems.
If you think other rays are stressing out the flower then change the situation to remove that cause....
If you think there are parasites but Prazi does nothing then maybe there is a parasite that isn't affected by Prazi. Prazi, Metro etc have specific limited ranges of actions that don't treat all parasites.
Its not easy is it!

 

[keepinfish]

I think you have very hard water and high pH? If so, this can ,over the long term, affect and stress a ray evolved to live in very soft water and low pH.
If you fix the possible problem causes then either you will get a better result or at least know enough to eliminate that factor as a possible cause of the problems.
If you think other rays are stressing out the flower then change the situation to remove that cause....
If you think there are parasites but Prazi does nothing then maybe there is a parasite that isn't affected by Prazi. Prazi, Metro etc have specific limited ranges of actions that don't treat all parasites.
Its not easy is it!

you are correct, i will start somewhere and monitor the results.

It has always been pretty easy up until now i have been pretty fortunate.