Very Long Gar Fasting Period

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
B

bmm172

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 8, 2009
15
0
0
St. Louis, MO
I have posted once before about a similar topic when my Florida Gar stopped eating for 10-12 days and refused all types of food. Well she finally ate following that fasting but now has gone on an extremely long period without any interest in food.

It has been probably 8-9 weeks without her wanting any food. I offer her food every day but she continues to refuse. She even goes as far as biting the silversides off a skewer with disgust and spitting them out...almost like she is saying I DO NOT WANT ANY!

Is there anything that could be wrong with her? She swims around like everything is ok and nudges the other Florida Gar quite a bit. She is active and moves around fine but appears a little skinny. She is about 5 yrs old and has always been a picky eater but I am getting very worried. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Could she have an illness?...parasites?
 
u can never rule out internal parasite. ive learned my lesson the hard way with the loss of my 3 scombs that i think was due to parasites also. they also refused to eat for a few weeks then died.

i would treat the tank with jungle parasite clear. worst case senario it wont help but it cant hurt your fish in any way. then if he isnt eating after a week of treatment at least u know that parasites werent the cause.

if i treated my scombs in time i might have saved them.
 
Be careful if you medicate, gars and meds don't mix ;/
 
bmm172;4122227; said:
I have posted once before about a similar topic when my Florida Gar stopped eating for 10-12 days and refused all types of food. Well she finally ate following that fasting but now has gone on an extremely long period without any interest in food.

It has been probably 8-9 weeks without her wanting any food. I offer her food every day but she continues to refuse. She even goes as far as biting the silversides off a skewer with disgust and spitting them out...almost like she is saying I DO NOT WANT ANY!

Is there anything that could be wrong with her? She swims around like everything is ok and nudges the other Florida Gar quite a bit. She is active and moves around fine but appears a little skinny. She is about 5 yrs old and has always been a picky eater but I am getting very worried. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Could she have an illness?...parasites?
Click to expand...

the first thing you should know, is that gars can and do go for extended periods of time without food, sometimes for no reason. all in all, if it's a 5 year old fish, 8-9 weeks without food should not result in any harm to the fish (i would really wait for someone with more experience to confirm this).

to figure out if there really is an issue, and not that the gar is just 'fasting', i would start by measuring the water parameters. the portion of your post that is highlighten in red is a common sign that there is something fishy (pun not intended) going on with your water.

also, from your post, am i right in saying you have another gar in your tank? is it feeding well? posting your tank specs (dimensions), water parameters & tankmates will also help in telling if you have a problem.

finally, there was a thread posted not too long ago regarding the same subject, it might help to dig it up & take some of the advise there.

ps: "not too long ago", turned out to be just one thread down;)
-- http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=327566

mos90;4122284; said:
u can never rule out internal parasite. ive learned my lesson the hard way with the loss of my 3 scombs that i think was due to parasites also. they also refused to eat for a few weeks then died.

i would treat the tank with jungle parasite clear. worst case senario it wont help but it cant hurt your fish in any way. then if he isnt eating after a week of treatment at least u know that parasites werent the cause.

if i treated my scombs in time i might have saved them.
Click to expand...

i'm far from an expert on this, but common sense would suggest that characins have a very different biology from lepisosteids. hence i really would think twice before generalising an experience with characins to a current issue with gar. for example, the highlighted part of your post is untrue, gars almost never react well to medication (unless applied correctly). a lot of the time, sick or injured gars are lost because their owners medicate them with "regular" store bought fish medication.
 
I didn't know that gars don't like meds. I apologise if I gave bad advise. Glad I didn't treat my new gar. So what your saying is preventive med dozing for a gar is A no.
 
mos90;4122543; said:
I didn't know that gars don't like meds. I apologise if I gave bad advise. Glad I didn't treat my new gar. So what your saying is preventive med dozing for a gar is A no.
Click to expand...

in almost all cases i wouldn't medicate my gars, increasng the temperature, water changes & adding salt usually does the trick. under certain circumstances you may need to medicate, in which case you must know exactly how to do it & the dosage required, as gars are quite different in terms of medication from 'general' fish, i'd suggest going to e_americanus or perun for advise in the area.

incidentally, what's the case with your new gar that you felt the need to medicate it?
 
The other Florida Gar in the tank is eating fine and always hungry. The tank mates include: 2 motoros (9 & 11 inches), the other Florida Gar, and a Lima Shovelnose. None of the inhabitants ever have any issues with one another. The tank is a 180 gallon (6'x2'x2') and is filtered by a 45 gallon sump. The temp is about 78 degrees. Turnover is roughly 10x per hour. Water parameters are always normal (0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, 25-30 nitrate). All other fish are eating fine. I would think that the most sensitive tankmates would be the stingrays and if there were water parameter issues that they would be affected as well.
 
Do NOT use melaflex or metaflex or pimaflex or whatever the hell that stuff is with Gar.

I don't use it so that's why I don't know what it is exactly, I just know not to use it.
The only things that go in my Gar tanks are Water, prime, a little salt, food and a whole lotta love.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom