Stressed male after very long transport

[Brandon Beck]

When your fish arrived struggling in dirty water, that was the best time to temp acclimate and quickly dump them into clean water. A slow acclimation would be better suited for fish that came in healthier.

That also goes for medication. It’s taxing on the kidneys and liver so unless absolutely necessary, i would not have caused extra stress on an already struggling fish by medicating in that state.

I would just do constant and consistent water changes and maybe try bloodworms until it starts to recover and eat other foods

Yeah I would drop and plop if I ever do imports like this again. Live and you learn I suppose.

Ive stopped medication after 1 full day. He is much more relaxed today after a water change and carbon added to canisters.

Working on another water change this evening right now.

I hope he will recover, hes been in my tank 7 days now. I offered a small piece of earthworm again this evening but hes not interested in eating. Bloodworms might be worth a try but hes not a little pup hes about 10"... they were eating freshwater shrimps over in vietnam. I haven't tried shrimp since day 2 because I've always had great success with dew worms on picky eaters but every fish is different

 

[phreeflow]

Yeah I would drop and plop if I ever do imports like this again. Live and you learn I suppose.

Ive stopped medication after 1 full day. He is much more relaxed today after a water change and carbon added to canisters.

Working on another water change this evening right now.

I hope he will recover, hes been in my tank 7 days now. I offered a small piece of earthworm again this evening but hes not interested in eating. Bloodworms might be worth a try but hes not a little pup hes about 10"... they were eating freshwater shrimps over in vietnam. I haven't tried shrimp since day 2 because I've always had great success with dew worms on picky eaters but every fish is different

Hope he recovers. I know he’s not a pup but even at that size, it may have a hard time resisting bloodworms and it’s easily digested, which is good for fish that are recovering. It may not be up to eating and digesting a large chunk of food. Good luck

 

[Brandon Beck]

When your fish arrived struggling in dirty water, that was the best time to temp acclimate and quickly dump them into clean water. A slow acclimation would be better suited for fish that came in healthier.

That also goes for medication. It’s taxing on the kidneys and liver so unless absolutely necessary, i would not have caused extra stress on an already struggling fish by medicating in that state.

I would just do constant and consistent water changes and maybe try bloodworms until it starts to recover and eat other foods

Appreciate all the knowledge. Ill definitely be taking a different approach if I do some more importing.

I figured medication right now is not the time being hes so stressed out. I held off all week until day 5 and decided to follow the sellers instruction.

Hes not doing any better this morning. Maybe a bit worse. Frantically moving around the floating tub trying to swim up the sides. Maybe I should get a divider installed in the tank. It would give him a little more space.

Not sure if it would help or hurt him more to give him a little more space

 

[danotaylor]

More space certainly won’t hurt. Wanting to move around is a good sign I would think. Unless the females harrass him, the social aspect might not be a bad thing either. May rays would lay all over each other and play around. Perhaps release him back into the main tank, watch how they react to him, and divide if necessary

 

[Brandon Beck]

More space certainly won’t hurt. Wanting to move around is a good sign I would think. Unless the females harrass him, the social aspect might not be a bad thing either. May rays would lay all over each other and play around. Perhaps release him back into the main tank, watch how they react to him, and divide if necessary

Man this is so hard to watch
I let him swim out of the tub by himself. Flipped upside down again. Obviously quite unstable. Helped him back up. Will be watching closely

 

[danotaylor]

Man this is so hard to watch
I let him swim out of the tub by himself. Flipped upside down again. Obviously quite unstable. Helped him back up. Will be watching closely

Sorry bloke, that’s rough. When the transhipper did water change when they arrived in Canada, were there any issues at that time? Is the seller or shipper willing to work with you on a replacement?

 

[Brandon Beck]

Sorry bloke, that’s rough. When the transhipper did water change when they arrived in Canada, were there any issues at that time? Is the seller or shipper willing to work with you on a replacement?

Yeah its pretty heartbreaking. He never mentioned anything. I dont have proof of water being changed just said.

I haven't discussed with the seller about replacing the fish. He offered doa to vancouver. Its far past that point but I have video evidence of this same ray in distress after the small flight from vietnam to thailand. And he has been in distress since the first second in my care. The fact the females are doing fine this is definitely not my fault (at least I dont think) Im hoping he will work with me but his communication has been getting less and less with me everyday.

I wanted to follow his recommendations as much as I could this past week in the case that he doesnt recover.

We will see how today goes. Hes been fighting for so long. Hes a real trooper lol

 

[Brandon Beck]

Well its been a day lol. I got him out of the floating tub. Let him swim out naturally, he ended up flipping over. Helped him up again.

He's been doing the best I have ever seen him for most of the day. Controlled movements. Disc staying fully flat most of the time.

He has been swimming up the glass lots. The females do it to. He ended up flipping over when he was playing in the bubble wall and he flipped himself back over. Hes still calm. I hope this this guy is turning the corner. Just need the guy to start eating and regain all his strength

 

[danotaylor]

Yeah its pretty heartbreaking. He never mentioned anything. I dont have proof of water being changed just said.

I haven't discussed with the seller about replacing the fish. He offered doa to vancouver. Its far past that point but I have video evidence of this same ray in distress after the small flight from vietnam to thailand. And he has been in distress since the first second in my care.

Can you identify & compare the bag and banding he was in from the Thailand video to what he arrived to you in? Perhaps there’s evidence of the water change or not to be discovered there? Though if he was already stressed in Thailand the water change in Vancouver may or may not have made a difference overall.

 

[danotaylor]

Well its been a day lol. I got him out of the floating tub. Let him swim out naturally, he ended up flipping over. Helped him up again.

He's been doing the best I have ever seen him for most of the day. Controlled movements. Disc staying fully flat most of the time.

He has been swimming up the glass lots. The females do it to. He ended up flipping over when he was playing in the bubble wall and he flipped himself back over. Hes still calm. I hope this this guy is turning the corner. Just need the guy to start eating and regain all his strength

View attachment 1574893

The fact that he righted himself when he flipped over is a very promising sign mate. That together with the flat does, and exploring his environment are super encouraging signs!
C’mon lil’ mate, you can do it!