what would cause this... ?

[NorthernMonkey]

over the last few weeks my MM has developed these "dents" in his disk (see pics),

the "skin" just kinda falls off and leaves these gaps
the ray is in seemingly good health, eating well, no signs of disease or fungus as you can see in the pics
..... he doesn't appear to be stressed in any way and is acting normally

the water is spot on and he gets a weekly water change of 40-50%

anyone got an idea what could be causing this??

 

[sebarau]

any other fish with the MM? a nice one as well..the disc seem bitten off by something,,

 

[SovietFireExtinguisher]

My thoughts exactly.

 

[NorthernMonkey]

sorry should have mentioned this in my first post but there are no other fish in with the ray

 

[carolines100]

As this just happened over night or slowly getting worse . It looks like my female ray after shes gone a few round with my male ray same size chunks out of disc. have u just bought the ray or add it a while. Says in your signature u have a xingu rhom now if he as been in with him for a short time hes your man lol

 

[aquaman45]

Hi Alex,
check out all the decor in the pond,ie wood,substrate etc,its interesting that the damage is localised around the lower half of the disc on both sides.I know from your previous posts that this ray is very active.For a start active rays that feed like mad are "not" poorly fish,im almost certain this is an injury caused by a certain repetative action within the environment,again look for any sharp edges.
All the best mate,
Richard.

 

[NorthernMonkey]

As this just happened over night or slowly getting worse . It looks like my female ray after shes gone a few round with my male ray same size chunks out of disc. have u just bought the ray or add it a while. Says in your signature u have a xingu rhom now if he as been in with him for a short time hes your man lol

i first noticed it about 2 weeks ago and its got progressively worse since,
ive had the ray a good few months now without any issues at all.

and no of course i haven't had my rhom in with my ray
... that would just be stupid

the ray is in a 225+ gallon pond, alone, with no tank mates

Hi Alex,
check out all the decor in the pond,ie wood,substrate etc,its interesting that the damage is localised around the lower half of the disc on both sides.I know from your previous posts that this ray is very active.For a start active rays that feed like mad are "not" poorly fish,im almost certain this is an injury caused by a certain repetative action within the environment,again look for any sharp edges.
All the best mate,
Richard.

hi richard , thanks for the reply

thats whats confusing me, there is no decor in the pond at all,
its got the pond liner, no wood, no rocks and literally a couple of handfuls of sand and pea gravel in one corner

there are a few heaters (with guards), a power head, one water pump and the intake to an fx5
and non of these things appear to have the ability to do this sort of damage

 

[aquaman45]

Section all this equipment off using some smooth plastic mesh across one area of the pond, this will eliminate pipes heater guards etc at least,are there any sharp pieces amongst the pea gravel?

 

[NorthernMonkey]

Section all this equipment off using some smooth plastic mesh across one area of the pond, this will eliminate pipes heater guards etc at least,are there any sharp pieces amongst the pea gravel?

no ive checked it all richard

i have to make sure there's nothing sharp in the pond at all cos it has a rubber liner so i dont take any risks in it puncturing .

the pump has rounded edges and nothing sharp sticking out of it
...it was the first thing i checked

ive checked the heater guards, nothing sharp on them... all rounded edges
i just dont understand it

he's still really active and eating like crazy so what ever it is obviously isn't bothering him but id like to know whats causing it

 

[aquaman45]

Just checked out your pictures again,the small pieces of gravel scattered around the disc of the ray look very irregular in shape,most have sharpish edges to them.As the ray grows its movements become more powerful,it could well be cutting the edge of the delicate disc as it makes sudden dashes when viewed from above,move the gravel Alex,its too big anyway,use some 2mm round stuff if you choose to use gravel,i use 2mm and it works well for me,remember dont have it too deep,just a scattering will do.