Ray female curling up - HELP!

[Miles]

I think the combination of juvenile age, poor shipping weight, and shipping stress are all playing a factor.. You live in a pretty strange place to be keeping rays, and although a larger specimen might travel well to a location such as yours, a juvenile malnourished ray is alot more likely to succumb to shipping stress and permanent ammonia damage.

It was probably damaged goods before you got it, and there isn't much else you can do for it.. It's pretty common with that species because they are very cheap on export lists, and it's enticing for importers (no matter the shipping distance) to import these little 'teacup' rays like they are any other common fish.. add it all up, and this is the end product.

You're doing a great job it sounds. just keep feeding it, add salt for osmosis relief, and pray that it quits acting odd..

I also agree with the water conditioner statements.. try to find one that detoxifies heavy metals. I like NovAqua for that.

 

[kev82]

Thanks Miles for the clearly thought out reply

You're probably right with alot of these points. F.e. the female has never put on much weight, even if she's eaten well since I got her.

I'm not 100% sure about the shipping tho, because the distance might be far (3000 miles or so), but the amount of time in the container probably isn't much longer than your average overnight shipping in the states. However the shipping to the exporter in netherlands, maybe all the way from peru may have taken a much longer time, damaging the fish beyond salvation. Iceland is a weird place to keep stingrays tho, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the country keeping them.

They're not dead yet, so I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing and see if they'll bounce back. And even if they die on me, I'll probably just get bigger rays next time, and some hardier rays, like motoros perhaps. Only problem is that motoro juveniles go for around $700 or so.

I did manage to find some tetra aquaclear in a store here, and dosed the water with it. It's advertised to remove heavy metals, so I figure it can't hurt.

 

[tank125]

if she is eating and not putting on weight you should consider treating her with Metrodonizole. If there are clear stringy feces I would say that the treatment is a must.

 

[kev82]

if she is eating and not putting on weight you should consider treating her with Metrodonizole. If there are clear stringy feces I would say that the treatment is a must.

Metrodonizole - Is that the correct spelling?

It so happens that I have a box of 400mg flagyl (metronidazol) here, which I assume I can use, if it's the same thing, just a typo on your behalf perhaps?

How do I dose it? Do I add it in the water or do the rays have to eat it?

I have a cycled 100g system up and running with a drip system, split into 5 20g tanks. I could transfer the rays to there to medicate if that would help - otherwise I'd have a hard time monitoring if rays eat the medication or not.

All info on this treatment greatly appreciated.

 

[turkeyboy85]

be very careful with medicating your rays... and make sure its exactly what people suscribe... rays are very finiky with that and can die if u put the wrong stuff in

 

[tank125]

yup, wrong spelling, and Metro is RAY SAFE. I used 1/4 tsp per 20 gallons, everyday with a heavy water change before dose. 5 days.

 

[kev82]

So what do I do - just add it to the water? How many mg in 150g?

I assume I have do dissolve it first... how? And how heavy is a heavy water change?

 

[tank125]

put him in one of your 20 gallon isolation tanks with its own filter. water change is 30-40% daily before dose. temp of 84F. metro will dissolve in water, just stir it a little. I do not know how many mg to dose, does your package have a dose? is it pure metro?

 

[kev82]

put him in one of your 20 gallon isolation tanks with its own filter. water change is 30-40% daily before dose. temp of 84F. metro will dissolve in water, just stir it a little. I do not know how many mg to dose, does your package have a dose? is it pure metro?

Yes, it's pure metro (flagyl), I got it prescribed for myself a few months back, just happened to still have it

It's 400mg tablets.

 

[tank125]

do you have mortar & pestle to grind it?