T-Gar broke his back...

[Polypterus]

He lives with a south american lungfish, a couple ornates, sengels, a few small convicts and a couple blue severums. I got him back in 05 and everyone has lived together since then (severums added about 6 months ago). All his fins are perfect, he was never nipped at or stress. Not really sure what spooked him to crash into the side of the tank.

The tank is a 125, I was getting his new tank ready but now I am not in as much of a rush.

I think you can just take this as a fluke incidence.. Gar are "funny" like this and unfortunately it is really just a part of keeping them that this occurs. It does not take much and you have on your hands a seriously wounded fish. For as tough as they look they are in reality quite fragile animals..

Unfortunately there is no real solution to this problem. Various methods have been proposed as ways of reducing it but in no case has any solution been found.

Again very sorry to here this and even more so now that I've learned it was an 05 fish.. these are really quite rare now with very very few around..

 

[BRYANT]

Sorry for your loss

 

[justink]

damnnn too sry to hear this... specially cause uve had him for so long...only thought was that he was probly too long for a 125... if its a standard then its probly only 18" wide n the gar was probly starting to get uncomfortable... just my 2 sense

 

[michael]

same happened to me with my 18"er not long ago. So sorry to hear. It hurts to look at them like this so bad

 

[gmczr2]

Thanks everyone.

-Brook he was one of the originals from the AP order through Shark Aquarium. Sucks big time. I tracked down some clove oil and today is the day. Took me a few days to find some.

 

[gmczr2]

Clove oil works well. It took under a minute. Here are a few pictures of the little guy.

A little while after I got him...

A newer picture....

And the broken back picture...

 

[Polypterus]

Not that I want to extend this misery....
What dilution of Clove oil did you use?

 

[gmczr2]

I think I made it to stronger than need be... About 1/3 of an ounce and 2 gallons of tank water. I dissolved the clove oil in a cup of hot water first.

 

[Polypterus]

I think I made it to stronger than need be... About 1/3 of an ounce and 2 gallons of tank water. I dissolved the clove oil in a cup of hot water first.

OK thanks.
Using clove oil was something we where experimenting with in field work.
Various dilutions with gars seem to sometimes work and other times not.

 

[gmczr2]

No problem, he splashed around at first, I used a net to steady him..after that it was another 30/40 seconds. I searched around but I did not find any info that specified the amount of clove oil I should have used.