Sturgeon at Fish Story
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
I thought I'd summarize our journey so far with the 3 cool-water-loving white sturgeon here in hot FL. They had been acclimated slowly from 65F to 82F over 6 months in an oval tub while feeding adequately on pellets and fish pieces. Then, they have been in their first tank, rectangle 240 gal since several months ago, where they had started at 80F in May and lately have been at 84F (the tank is cooled by a fan, otherwise it'd be around 90F).
They had really hated the rectangle tank and the current pattern, it seemed, trying to bail out of the tank, swimming often at the surface and poking head out of water and occasionally trying to jump, but after 1-2 months they calmed down and accepted the tank. They did feed all this time okay though, especially two of them, so I was not too worried.
One of them had been a more finicky and poorer feeder even still in the oval tub at low temps and remained such in the new tank. It looks like it has a wasting disease. It's gotten very thin by now, having been with us 9 months, I'd say deathly thin, on his last legs. It does go for the feed, grabs a lot and eagerly, consistently but seems to spit it all or almost all out. The other two also spit out a lot of pellets but since their body weight is more or less healthy, they must be taking enough of the pellets and fish pieces.
I treated the whole tank with a praziquantel+metronidazole medicated feed for 10 days. There was no change in the feeding response, everyone fed as usual but there was no improvement whatsoever in the thin sturgeon, or the others. It will go soon. The other two are promising, I'd guess at around 18 inches right now.
One of them is the 1-eyed one that we almost lost at the beginning that was bobbing vertically at the surface for a month. It was actually the one who began to feed first in the tub, go figure. I even tried to suck air out of its swimming bladder via syringe (which didn't seem to do anything / didn't work). The struggler is the other one of the original two. So the 1-eyed one and the replacement (for the 1-eyed one) do adequately right now.
They had really hated the rectangle tank and the current pattern, it seemed, trying to bail out of the tank, swimming often at the surface and poking head out of water and occasionally trying to jump, but after 1-2 months they calmed down and accepted the tank. They did feed all this time okay though, especially two of them, so I was not too worried.
One of them had been a more finicky and poorer feeder even still in the oval tub at low temps and remained such in the new tank. It looks like it has a wasting disease. It's gotten very thin by now, having been with us 9 months, I'd say deathly thin, on his last legs. It does go for the feed, grabs a lot and eagerly, consistently but seems to spit it all or almost all out. The other two also spit out a lot of pellets but since their body weight is more or less healthy, they must be taking enough of the pellets and fish pieces.
I treated the whole tank with a praziquantel+metronidazole medicated feed for 10 days. There was no change in the feeding response, everyone fed as usual but there was no improvement whatsoever in the thin sturgeon, or the others. It will go soon. The other two are promising, I'd guess at around 18 inches right now.
One of them is the 1-eyed one that we almost lost at the beginning that was bobbing vertically at the surface for a month. It was actually the one who began to feed first in the tub, go figure. I even tried to suck air out of its swimming bladder via syringe (which didn't seem to do anything / didn't work). The struggler is the other one of the original two. So the 1-eyed one and the replacement (for the 1-eyed one) do adequately right now.
minus 1 white sturgeon, 14 inches, the one that has been feeding the worse since the bad beginning:
Spoke with the most excellent vendor of our white sturgeons to pick his brain. It was helpful and it looks like the wasting disease is not uncommon for these guys.
New message from: jplenterprises (1,714 ) | |
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Too bad we can't get shovelnose sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus, they are far more suited to captivity than white sturgeon!Spoke with the most excellent vendor of our white sturgeons to pick his brain. It was helpful and it looks like the wasting disease is not uncommon for these guys.
New message from: jplenterprises (1,714
The two whites survive their first warm-water FL summer for 6 months at 82-84F:
Helpful input from YT:
Gil334 Just think, the time you have with the white sturgeon will be a tiny fraction of their hundred + year lifespan. I doubt they will flourish in your warm water though. Thanks for the mention. They love tiny shrimps, clams, worms, so the small bite preference is natural. No hurry to grow.. They have plenty of time. B.T.W. They also thrive in Alaska. COLD water not cool.
Gil334 Just think, the time you have with the white sturgeon will be a tiny fraction of their hundred + year lifespan. I doubt they will flourish in your warm water though. Thanks for the mention. They love tiny shrimps, clams, worms, so the small bite preference is natural. No hurry to grow.. They have plenty of time. B.T.W. They also thrive in Alaska. COLD water not cool.
That is why I promote shovelnose sturgeon as pond/aquarium fishes, they do not get huge, they do well in warm water, adapt easily to a more confined space than larger sturgeon, and are bred in captivity, not to mention being native to the Mississippi river system.
