- Have you tested your water?
- Yes
- If I did not test my water...
- ...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.
- Do you do water changes?
- Yes
- If I do not change my water...
- ...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.
Hey all. Not my first post on this however my first time with a young ray having this issue.
Before I go into things, please be aware. I'm not new to keeping rays. I'm just looking for some more info/experience as we all learn and as I said, this is rather new to me. Please don't start debates/fights over this as this doesn't help anything. Just recommendations/ideas.
With that being said I recently acquired two more smaller rays. One Pearl stingray one black diamond stingray. They came from the same gentleman and they were kept together since shipped. He had them in the same tank with other black diamond hybrids and pearl stingrays.
Both stingrays are about the same size ranging from 5 to 6 in when they were received. Since February when I got them they put on a lot of weight and they grew about half inch to an inch haven't gotten an official measurement yet. But know that they have grown right now they're about six to seven inches. These are rough eye measurements but the fact is as they have grown.
The Black diamond stingray on the other hand has recently started to show signs of getting skinny since June 16th. I've also noticed that she is not as active anymore over the past week. She is still eating and practically a voracious eater. However it concerns me because she is losing weight. Hip bones did start to show and between her eyes the forehead is starting to concave.
Over the past week I have increased the number of water changes that I normally do. Generally I did a 30% water change weekly. Which in the past has done great for my tank I've never really had any issues I will get into water parameters in a little bit. I am currently doing over the last week a 25% water change daily. And I have noticed her getting more active and eating more. She has however slowed down eating so it takes her a little bit longer to eat now but she is eating and she is eating more as I said.
She was getting fed once a day a mixture of red wigglers, squid, and chopped up shrimp. With the occasional treat once a month or twice a month of blood worms and live black worms. I generally don't feed live black worms however due to parasites and everything not sure if that's a myth or it does happen I'm assuming it does. And I've been trying to wean them off of the red wigglers but that has been a staple part of their diet since they were given to me and I know they always eat the red wigglers occasionally the squid and shrimp the black diamond refuses those and she just mouths them.
She is currently getting fed twice a day, offered squid chopped up shrimp and the red wigglers. Currently she is primarily eating squid and red wigglers consistently, two to three red wigglers each feeding or three to four large pieces of squid regularly and sometimes a mix.
Going back into water parameters as I said I am doing daily 25% water changes just to ensure that water parameters are good now that I'm seeing signs of illness. I have tested the water with the two different kits that I have. My API Master test kit shows that there is 0 ammonia, zero nitrates, and the coloration to me looks like Trace amounts of nitrite. The other test kit that I have is a nutrafin master test kit which has a lot more steps to it and a little bit longer of a test kit. It's showing 0 ammonia, trace nitrates according to my eye, and 0 nitrates. That is why I started doing steadier water changes to ensure that there are no issues with the tank. I will be going to the store and probably picking up another test kit just to ensure and get more information on the water parameters.
As I've stated the sizes of the rays are about 6 to 7 in. They are currently in my 120 gallon tank that has been set up for 15 years. I have a aquatop sterilization Forza f27 canister filter with four stages mixed into the canister filter, first stage being a sponge and filter floss. I used the chemi-pure elite in the second stage of the filter. And the other two baskets are full of extra biological media such as the bio beads and the plastic bio beads. I was running the tank at 79 to 80°, however I noticed that she was not as active kind of like pouting underneath the sand all the time or pouting in the back of the tank and just not being very active. With it getting into summertime and us having a heat wave I noticed that my tank was starting to get a little warmer because my basement that the tank is in does get hot so all the tanks do have chiller systems on them due to the summertime and the tanks getting closer to 90 degrees so I did start the chiller system on and it is set to 76°. Since I have turned the chiller system on she has become more active much happier it looks like. the Pearl stingray has not been affected at all she is quite active still voracious eater and very very chunky.
As far as feeding them goes I've already stated what they eat and just so everybody is aware I do tweeze her feed the rays and I quite closely monitor them as they are eating making sure that each Ray eats. So what I said that she is eating she is actually eating after 30 to 40 minutes of me watching her very closely to make sure she doesn't spit up any food and making sure that she actually ingests the food.
Now that I've given all the background information her hip bones are no longer as bad as they were a week ago. However her forehead is still concaved and seems to be getting worse little bit by the day. Is there any recommendations or ideas for me to do to ensure that she starts gaining the weight back. I'm doing this post as more of a crossing the eyes and dotting the t's type thing in case anybody has any other ideas that I'm not aware of.
And again please do not start pointing fingers and getting competitive on this post. I've read many forms and threads where people start to argue about things and the solutions / experiences are not helpful due to people arguing about the logistics of where the rays come from so on and so forth. Also PS if there is anything spelled wrong I am using voice to text so some of the names may be misspelled. I apologize for any confusion and I'm more than happy to post pictures of anybody wants to see something.
Before I go into things, please be aware. I'm not new to keeping rays. I'm just looking for some more info/experience as we all learn and as I said, this is rather new to me. Please don't start debates/fights over this as this doesn't help anything. Just recommendations/ideas.
With that being said I recently acquired two more smaller rays. One Pearl stingray one black diamond stingray. They came from the same gentleman and they were kept together since shipped. He had them in the same tank with other black diamond hybrids and pearl stingrays.
Both stingrays are about the same size ranging from 5 to 6 in when they were received. Since February when I got them they put on a lot of weight and they grew about half inch to an inch haven't gotten an official measurement yet. But know that they have grown right now they're about six to seven inches. These are rough eye measurements but the fact is as they have grown.
The Black diamond stingray on the other hand has recently started to show signs of getting skinny since June 16th. I've also noticed that she is not as active anymore over the past week. She is still eating and practically a voracious eater. However it concerns me because she is losing weight. Hip bones did start to show and between her eyes the forehead is starting to concave.
Over the past week I have increased the number of water changes that I normally do. Generally I did a 30% water change weekly. Which in the past has done great for my tank I've never really had any issues I will get into water parameters in a little bit. I am currently doing over the last week a 25% water change daily. And I have noticed her getting more active and eating more. She has however slowed down eating so it takes her a little bit longer to eat now but she is eating and she is eating more as I said.
She was getting fed once a day a mixture of red wigglers, squid, and chopped up shrimp. With the occasional treat once a month or twice a month of blood worms and live black worms. I generally don't feed live black worms however due to parasites and everything not sure if that's a myth or it does happen I'm assuming it does. And I've been trying to wean them off of the red wigglers but that has been a staple part of their diet since they were given to me and I know they always eat the red wigglers occasionally the squid and shrimp the black diamond refuses those and she just mouths them.
She is currently getting fed twice a day, offered squid chopped up shrimp and the red wigglers. Currently she is primarily eating squid and red wigglers consistently, two to three red wigglers each feeding or three to four large pieces of squid regularly and sometimes a mix.
Going back into water parameters as I said I am doing daily 25% water changes just to ensure that water parameters are good now that I'm seeing signs of illness. I have tested the water with the two different kits that I have. My API Master test kit shows that there is 0 ammonia, zero nitrates, and the coloration to me looks like Trace amounts of nitrite. The other test kit that I have is a nutrafin master test kit which has a lot more steps to it and a little bit longer of a test kit. It's showing 0 ammonia, trace nitrates according to my eye, and 0 nitrates. That is why I started doing steadier water changes to ensure that there are no issues with the tank. I will be going to the store and probably picking up another test kit just to ensure and get more information on the water parameters.
As I've stated the sizes of the rays are about 6 to 7 in. They are currently in my 120 gallon tank that has been set up for 15 years. I have a aquatop sterilization Forza f27 canister filter with four stages mixed into the canister filter, first stage being a sponge and filter floss. I used the chemi-pure elite in the second stage of the filter. And the other two baskets are full of extra biological media such as the bio beads and the plastic bio beads. I was running the tank at 79 to 80°, however I noticed that she was not as active kind of like pouting underneath the sand all the time or pouting in the back of the tank and just not being very active. With it getting into summertime and us having a heat wave I noticed that my tank was starting to get a little warmer because my basement that the tank is in does get hot so all the tanks do have chiller systems on them due to the summertime and the tanks getting closer to 90 degrees so I did start the chiller system on and it is set to 76°. Since I have turned the chiller system on she has become more active much happier it looks like. the Pearl stingray has not been affected at all she is quite active still voracious eater and very very chunky.
As far as feeding them goes I've already stated what they eat and just so everybody is aware I do tweeze her feed the rays and I quite closely monitor them as they are eating making sure that each Ray eats. So what I said that she is eating she is actually eating after 30 to 40 minutes of me watching her very closely to make sure she doesn't spit up any food and making sure that she actually ingests the food.
Now that I've given all the background information her hip bones are no longer as bad as they were a week ago. However her forehead is still concaved and seems to be getting worse little bit by the day. Is there any recommendations or ideas for me to do to ensure that she starts gaining the weight back. I'm doing this post as more of a crossing the eyes and dotting the t's type thing in case anybody has any other ideas that I'm not aware of.
And again please do not start pointing fingers and getting competitive on this post. I've read many forms and threads where people start to argue about things and the solutions / experiences are not helpful due to people arguing about the logistics of where the rays come from so on and so forth. Also PS if there is anything spelled wrong I am using voice to text so some of the names may be misspelled. I apologize for any confusion and I'm more than happy to post pictures of anybody wants to see something.
