sick fresh water sting ray .. please help!!!?

Question

he hasnt eatin for about a week and ribs are sticking out and 2 divits in his back and the edges of his fins are slowly rotting away ... just a little bit ... and they are not curling up and iv tried small worms and brine shrimp and krill wich are his favorite foods and he just will not eat at all ... please help ... even his eye look tike they are bulging ou hes so hungrey... its a 50 gallon tang with a a flter with 2 cartredges and a power head with a filter attatchment and fine gravel

thanx for any help

and hes about 5.5in in disk size

Answer 1

If there are other fish in the tank, that may be the start of the problem. They might be nipping and biting which would cause wounds and stress. If not, you need to be sure you have a protective cage around your heater as this will very easily burn a ray and cause serious damage very quickly.

Water quality, including metals are of particular importance in keeping rays. Check all that you can and replace water as needed to make sure the water quality is as high as possible.

I have no doubt your ray is suffering from an external infection and may also have an internal infection. Considering the value of such an fish and the speed at which these type of things can go from bad to worse, I strongly recommend you contact a vet and ask him to work with you on a proper antibiotic treatment for your ray. Keep calling, one will no doubt be willing to help. Cipro has proven very effective in treating a number of both internal and external infections and would be an excellent place to start in this case.

Here's two related pages concerning freshwater rays and specifically diseases of these rays. Print them and take them with you to the vets office.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwraydisfaqs.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwstingrays.htm

Best of luck with it

MM

Answer 2

There has been shops in my country selling salt water ray (found in estuaries) as freshwater rays. These rays are not meant for pure fresh water and will usually deteriorate after a couple of months and die. They probably able to survive in medium to low salinity brackish water but not in fresh water. Such ray usually have a a pointed front and about 10" across.

I notice fresh water ray aquarium are usually with a rounded front but I know these is not a good gauge as there are dish shape salt water rays, one which is the electric ray which I was most unfortunate to encounter.

If you do indeed have a freshwater ray, you really have to check all your water parameters. These ray have relatively low tolerance for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.

.

Answer 3

This fish will most likely die.

If it has not eaten for a week, then it will probably not eat and die.

You probably did not take the time to acclimate the fish properly and shocked it when moving it to the new tank.

Next time, make sure the fish is eating at the local fish store before purchasing it, and be sure to take the time to properly acclimate the fish.

It could have been sick and not eating before you even bought it.

Answer 4

this wouldn't by anychance be a reticulated or teacup ray would it?
is this your first ray?
teacups and retics are very poorly suited for capivity, they often don't feed well and are very finicky about water quality.
what are the parameters of the tank? (pH, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, dK, hardness, etc...)?