Stingray suddenly stopped eating

[StingrayObsession]

Hi all, before I go diving into the problem I wanted to give some reference to what might have cause it her to stop eating.

Yesterday I woke up and found one of my Florida Gar Jumped out of his tank, he was dry when I found him but was still alive, so I rushed and put him into the Stingray tank (cause it has a lit), and I wouldn't think that this would be a problem since the Florida Gar has been in the smaller tank with a small RTC and Peacock bass for about a month or two and did not have any problem/illness at all.

In the evening after the incident I noticed that one of my stingray did not have interest in the shrimps I usually give her, and I also tried pellets (which she usually jumped into), which she did react, but did not eat it.

The next morning (today) I thought that my Florida Gar got cotton fungus after jumping out of the tank, I quickly prepped a tank with around 2 ppm salt, acriflavine, and heater set to 31 C. But as I picked him out of the tank I realized it was not fungus, it was just the dead tissue because he was out of the water for quite some time, but I still put him on the treatment just in case of any infections. I also put in heater in the stingray tank and set it to 30 C cause I am afraid of fungal infection in the tank.

Now... for the stingray, she is acting a bit off, she lifts her frontal disc quite often (pic 1 & 3), but there is no redness beneath her disc, no scars, nothing seems wrong physically. I also think that she just stopped eating recently as she still looks fat and chonky. Additionally , the two other stingrays in the tank is eating fine, they're still very aggressive on the food I give them, and doesn't show any sign of stress.

In terms of water change, I used a semi-drip system, I set up a system where there is new water added twice a day and approximately 15-20% water changes daily. I have never really test my water parameter ever since I install this system since the water parameter is really stable, and had no problem with any fish for the last 7-8 months of running this system. I really doubt she stopped eating cause of the water quality... but since I really have no clue what is wrong, I am buying a testing kit will do tests once I get it.

While I wait for the testing kit, do you guys have any idea what might have caused this? I have read in another forum somewhere that 9 times out of 10, if a stingray stopped eating its from the water quality?

 

[Jojo w]

From personal experience. Something must of stressed them out. I've had my pair of rays with my huge 4 bar datnoids for few years with no issues, then out of nowhere the female stopped eating. Divided the tank within a few days back to normal. Sometimes better off just keeping rays by themselves man. Not worth the headache

 

[StingrayObsession]

From personal experience. Something must of stressed them out. I've had my pair of rays with my huge 4 bar datnoids for few years with no issues, then out of nowhere the female stopped eating. Divided the tank within a few days back to normal. Sometimes better off just keeping rays by themselves man. Not worth the headache

Hello, I was kinda expecting a quicker respond from the forum members .

I am aware that sometimes the male can be aggressive and stress out other rays... but in the tank that I had her in, it was female only tank, and they never had any aggression issue. I did actually take the ray in a separate tank with no lights, but it did not help...

Unfortunately, she died about 4-5 days after I posted. I asked a local stingray breeder for advice and he suggested to use Seachem products as follows:

1. Use Seachem StressGuard, and see if the ray improved (she did not)
2. Use Seachem ParaGuard, (did not work as well)
3. If none of the above works, use an internal medicine (for internal parasites & infections)

The StressGuard didn't seem to be working as she still refuse to eat and barely swims. So I switched to Paraguard, and initially she did eat one tiny chunk of shrimp, and so I thought something is better than nothing right? But then the next day I found her tank filled with what looks like a white diarrhea... and she looked like she's struggling to breathe and was panting. And so I thought, this must be some internal infections cause physically I couldn't find anything wrong with her. But I think the internal medicine was too strong for her weaken state . She died the next morning with the classic death curl look...

For your reference:
StreessGuard - helps to reduce stress and ammonia toxicity, as well as promote healing of injured fish and to reduce the likelihood of primary and secondary infections.
ParaGuard - eradicates many ectoparasites (e.g. ich, etc.) and external fungal/bacterial/viral lesions (e.g., fin rot).

I obviously do not have much experience dealing with fish sickness and I would still love to hear out other opinions

 

[Jojo w]

How big was the tank she was in? White poop definitely sounds like internal parasites. Probably why she died so quick, I've had some rays go a month without eating for unknown reasons and just start eating. Be careful when dosing meds with rays especially if you are using different meds at the same time they could make things worse than better. You can also use prazi pro which works great for internal parasites. Unfortunately with meds unless you get the fish examined you don't really know what you could be fighting disease wise. My 400 gallon pup tank when I got in a wild caught black diamond pair, wouldn't eat anything did 50% water changes every 4 days and dosed prazi luckily they turned for the better for me. Sometimes with rays no matter what you do some won't make it which sucks..

 

[StingrayObsession]

Sorry I barely open this site anymore.... She was in a 300L/79 Gal aquarium, I know its sounds kinda small but is a shallow tank only about 35cm/1 foot deep. So quite a lot of space for her. During the treatment I moved her to a 180L/48Gal tank, and I dosed her pretty carefully (I used a syringe to make sure I get the proper dose.

I know that I shouldn't be switching meds too fast, but StressGuard is a pretty safe med, and I did wait for a day or two before switching to other meds. Its a shame that I didn't use an internal parasite meds earlier . Thank you for your recommendation I'll keep that in mind for future reference.

It was quite sad that she was my favorite and I had her for months. But all of the sudden she stopped eating and went downhill from there.

Thankfully the other rays are doing just fine tho.