Unacceptable losses

[MadRussian79]

My current ray has death curl. The tank is cycled and the chemistry is clear, pH 6.8-7.0 (depending on which test kit), Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0 (tested with 2 kits), Phosphate indeterminate (test went cloudy). The ray was eating and overly active but just kept getting skinnier. Finally found him resting on the bottom with curl. Prior to that he was swimming constantly but avoiding the bottom.

I read in several places that my sand bed was too deep. While siphoning it out I got a wiff of hydrogen sulfide even though I vacuum the sand thoroughly twice a week. Could the deep sand bed kill the ray? No one else seemed affected. I feel stupid and guilty so flaming me would be deserved but pointless.

 

[keepinfish]

what kind of ray, it is possible that the sand was too deep. How deep was it and what kind of sand?

 

[MadRussian79]

Not sure what kind but here is the picture, this is when I just got the ray. The sand was about 2 inches deep.

 

[keepinfish]

looks motoro or motoro hybrid

looks pretty skinny, may have had internal parasites. Did you treat for parasites?

 

[jwong1024]

Looks like flint sand from any LFS. By the looks of your ray it seem to be skinny from the get go. How long did you have him before it past? It could've had a probelm before you even took it home. Sorry for your loss, looked like a beauty.

I have had my own bad experiences with newly imported rays. I fine that even a proper acclimation does not help with dosing with parasite and bacterial meds. Rays can dy a few weeks later and you don't even know that anything is wrong. My guess is that even with good clear water, the rays is so stress from being captured it is very difficult for them to be acclimated at all.

Now I only purchase rays that have been imported and qurantined for a few months. that way you know that ray is most likely healthy.

 

[MadRussian79]

It's 3M colored quartz and I have had the ray for 2 weeks. The ray was a recent import I knew this but took a chance.

 

[D-WALT]

i think it was internal parasite but sorry for your loss!!

 

[pmac523]

Sorry to hear about your loss, i recently lost a ray that seemed otherwise healthy and active. Never stopped eating or got skinny. Truly lost as to what happened to the little guy, as i had him over a year.

 

[gaz025]

did you see it eat anything ?

sometimes they eat and spit it out so are you sure it was eating ? if so what ?

if you were taking some sand out have you been doing large water changes to replace the water you took out ?

i think parasites are often blamed when its not imediatly obvious but i think more often its just something to do with water.

most of the threads with a poorly ray on here mention parasites. i dont put any of the problems ive had down to parasites and i lost a couple of the first rays i ever owned about 10 yrs ago

that was before i even had proper internet access and due to lack of knowledge and basically trying too hard to acomodate them they eventually died .

i think most ray owners have lost rays so dont flame me . but i think parasites are all too easily blamed and usually treated for incorectly .

just my opinion . but i think its more likley somethign to do with the water . specially if you only had the ray two weeks.

 

[skynoch]

Could have been internal parasites if you where feeding it and it kept getting skinnier. How big was the ray and how much and often would you feed it. Sorry to hear it died hopefully we can figure out why.