WORRIED! Sick Ray?? HELP?!

[hmoobvwj]

As some of you guys may know, I ordered my female "royal" henlei online about 3 months ago. BUT I have questions I just can't seem to put an answer to....Here is the deal with her, she will crazily eat A LOT of food for a couple of days straight, gain a lot of weight, and then go back to day 1. Eats little to nothing at all, loses her weight like it was an overnight weight loss magic thingy, and then show little to no interest in food. So I got to thinking, maybe she fasts a lot?? But I also thought it could be internal parasites, but never accepted the answer as I don't see any white stringy poo, UNLESS green stringy poo is also another sign of internal parasites. IDK what the heck is going on with this ray....she shares the 180 with my male LeoXHen, and my hystrix along with a 15" black arowana. But none of them shows any sign of sickness and all have a very nice appetite.

My water parameters are:
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:20-25PPM
PH:around 6.7-7

Temp:86 degrees Fahrenheit

Should I prazi her?? I guess I'm guilty of not doing so in the beginning but if she was internally affected, I would think she be dead by now but WHAT SHOULD I DO! ARGH!

 

[vamptrev]

what is your water change schedule?

im wondering if slight ph fluctuations are stressing her

also why keep the water sooooo hot?

 

[hmoobvwj]

WC schedule is around 25% weekly, but I run 2 AC110, 1 Emperor 400, and 2 Fluval FX5.
This will still happen even before WC are done that week, but that is a possibility. Wouldn't my other two ray get affected too? But I guess that could also depend on the ray itself. I've always kept my temperature in all my tanks like that. LOL. I don't think that high of a temp will bother my rays/arowana??

I'll test my PH before and after WC to see if that is the problem. I also don't know why she isn't packing on a lot of weight...seems to disappear the night after she eats a lot.

 

[jeffers]

that is some hot water lol. but really the poo does not have to be white and stringy but the stringy part is a pretty good tell even if its not white. i would still take a poo sample into a vet or your own microscope and check it out for starters just so you can check something else off on the list.

also with the temp that hot how much air do you run on the tank? and if it is parasites then the reason being the others arent acting up is because they dont have as bad of infestation as that particular ray has. parasites also are not an overnight killer the longer they keep the host alive the better they live

hopefully its not parasites but if it isnt then im not sure what is causing this either.
good luck.

 

[hmoobvwj]

I just ran some testings on my water in the 180 gallon. Could not believe the results:

Ammonia:8.0PPM (highest level there is on my scale!!!)
Nitrite:0PPM
Nitrate:40PPM

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!!!!!!

For feeding I feed as much as fish will eat, and then remove any uneaten food. I feed once a day, almost every day, once in a while every other day. Food consist of: Raw Shrimp & Scallops, occasionally night crawlers.

WC schedule is what I mentioned above, I also ran tests on the water coming out of the HOB filters and all are the same readings as what I mentioned. I then ran tests on my tap water and surprisingly it had traces of ammonia (around 1-2PPM). Not nearly as high as my tank's water! When I do WC, I do it on all 3 of my tanks, so I then also ran tests on my 40B gallon loach tank and my 55gallon black piranha, discus (divided) tank, and they had:

Ammonia:0PPM
Nitrite:0PPM
Nitrate:40PPM

So HOW IN THE WORLD is my ray tank the ONLY tank affected?? I'm assuming this is what's stressing my female henlei out. IDK what to do.....I need help.....I also added the dosage of stress zyme to my ray tank. The tank is also aerated by 3 HOB filters, along with a powerhead. All fish in there are doing fine, except the fact that my female ray won't eat.....

HELP!!!!!

 

[skynoch]

What are you using for a test kit? And are you using prime? Some water conditioners will give you a flase reading on some test kits for ammonia, so if you just finished a water change it might read high for ammonia. Your temp is pretty high and if not airated properly a full ray will have lots of problems with breathing. Was your new ray a wildcaught ray? Also possible if WC that a hook could be passing thru it but not as likely as water problems.

 

[vamptrev]

did u check your ph again too?

your bacteria in your filters is dying somehow...

also do u check your tap for chlorine and chloramine?

 

[johno27]

I would search for something rotting in the tank or filter maybe out of sight?

I do find that ammonia reading a little fishy though as I think everything would be very dead at 8 ppm

I would dump some prime in there if you can and then grab some ammo/carb to put into filter bags and hang in the tank

Maybe someone else has better ideas just my 2 cents

 

[PeteLockwood]

did u check your ph again too?
your bacteria in your filters is dying somehow...

Yup, I got a dollar says pH thru the floor, bacteria going dormant. Ray bioloads will do that to ya if you don't keep an eye on it.

Super huge water change time regardless but while you're taking water out, get a pH reading.

 

[turkeyboy85]

When did it start happening? I have a theory..... If this has just started happening in the last couple of weeks pretty bad. with the flooding in our areas .... I bet your local water company is adding more chlorine/ other chemicals into the water to make sure that it is treated. Which in turn is killing your BB.
I havent seen the same thing however I am doing daily 50% water changes because of all my drywall dust in the air.