Florida alligator gar

[Bjorn Borg]

Hello to all,
I would like to request some assistance please.
I have a small Florida gar (around 10 cm) in size and it keeps on breathing heavily, sometimes twitches sideways and losing a bit the colouration.
I have put it alone in a hospital aquarium (clean water, air pump stone) and added some aquarium salt as well. It’s been like this for like 72 hours now, improving slightly yet still very lethargic.
Any suggestions and help would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[tlindsey]

Hello to all,
I would like to request some assistance please.
I have a small Florida gar (around 10 cm) in size and it keeps on breathing heavily, sometimes twitches sideways and losing a bit the colouration.
I have put it alone in a hospital aquarium (clean water, air pump stone) and added some aquarium salt as well. It’s been like this for like 72 hours now, improving slightly yet still very lethargic.
Any suggestions and help would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

How long have you had the gar?
What are your water( parameters Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH) in the main aquarium?
How often do you change water in the aquarium?
Are you adding dechlorinator during water changes?
What other tankmates did the gar have?

 

[Bjorn Borg]

How long have you had the gar?
What are your water( parameters Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH) in the main aquarium?
How often do you change water in the aquarium?
Are you adding dechlorinator during water changes?
What other tankmates did the gar have?

I have had the gar for around 9 months now.
Water parameters are good, just made a water change this morning.
Normally I change the water of the aquarium every 3 to 4 weeks and I do not add any chemicals.
It had another same size gar but now, during the past 72 hours I put it alone in a smaller hospital aquarium.
It keeps on sitting sideways and it’s worrying.

 

[Americancichlidsaredabest]

I would do a water change once a week instead of once a month. You don’t add any chemicals? (Declorinator?)

 

[Bjorn Borg]

I would do a water change once a week instead of once a month. You don’t add any chemicals? (Declorinator?)

Fair enough, I will start changing it every week from now on.
No, I don’t add declorinator with the water (it’s from a well that people can drink from as well). I never had any problems so far.
What I am suspecting is that the past couple of weeks, we had heat waves on the island and I am presuming it had a toll on it.

 

[Fishyboy🐟🐟🐟]

Fair enough, I will start changing it every week from now on.
No, I don’t add declorinator with the water (it’s from a well that people can drink from as well). I never had any problems so far.
What I am suspecting is that the past couple of weeks, we had heat waves on the island and I am presuming it had a toll on it.

Maybe heat stroke/ internal damage from heat also test your well water for chloramines

 

[Bjorn Borg]

I understand. Will check the water parameters to make sure.
It makes sense, and if it was a heat stroke/internal damage, I don’t think that it will recover I guess, correct?

 

[Fishyboy🐟🐟🐟]

I understand. Will check the water parameters to make sure.
It makes sense, and if it was a heat stroke/internal damage, I don’t think that it will recover I guess, correct?

It’s likely that it won’t, but if it was heat stroke and was only for a small amount of time it may get better, all really u can do is provide clean water and wait

 

[Bjorn Borg]

It’s likely that it won’t, but if it was heat stroke and was only for a small amount of time it may get better, all really u can do is provide clean water and wait

Thank you. Hopefully, fingers crossed. I will do my very best to save it.

 

[jjohnwm]

I'm a bit astonished that at an age of at least 9 months, the fish is only 10cm in length. Is it eating? There may be something missing from its diet...might be food...

What kind of temperatures has it been exposed to?