Please Help, my Florida Gar seems really sick!

F

FSUphitau85

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Aug 28, 2007
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So I was at my LFS the other day taking a look at some more cichlids to add to my 72G bow when I saw a Gar that was begging for me to take him home. Against my better judgement, I decided to and put him in my established 72 bow with the cichlids to see how he would fair. Unfortunately, as I was hoping he would not do if I keep him fed well, he started catching my cichlids for dinner :lipssealedsmilie: After a little bit of this, I moved him into a 20G high until I figured out what I want to do (BTW: no cichlids were killed).

Since, the tank wasn't setup, I siphoned about 18G off the 72 bow and put him in the in the 20G tall with a whisper power filter (not established). At first, he seemed to be doing fine, eating goldfish and swimming around. Now he just lays on the bottom. He has developed a spot about the size of a quarter on his back which I can only describe as like a bruise/depression which is darker than the rest of his body. The scales there almost seem to be pushed down. Also, his fins are fraying more and more and he seems to have labored breathing.

My water parameters are:

pH 7.8
KH 120-180
GH 150 Hard
Nitrite just under .5
Nitrate between 40-80 which is a little high

Yes I know it was stupid to put him in the cichlid tank and yes I am planning on moving him out of the 20G tall into most likely a 55G. Please just help me figure out what is ailing him.

Thanks,
 
The water from the 72 will do the new tank no good. The filter is what cycles and the filter on that tank isn't cycled. What type of filter is on the 72? If you can transfer some of the media from it to the filter on the 20 that will help. I would say the gar is suffering from ammonia poisoning. You need to do a water change and test for ammonia. Keep doing water changes until the ammonia is below .25 and the closer to 0 the better. If you have prime, dose with it as it will make the ammonia non toxic.
 
I would do lots of water changes. One good thing is that gars can heal exceptionally fast if the water quality is good. Nitrite readings of any level say uncycled tank. Can you move some media from your other tank to the filter on the gar tank?
 
what species/kind of gar is this?
 
msjinkzd said:
I would do lots of water changes. One good thing is that gars can heal exceptionally fast if the water quality is good. Nitrite readings of any level say uncycled tank. Can you move some media from your other tank to the filter on the gar tank?
Click to expand...

beblondie said:
what species/kind of gar is this?
Click to expand...

The gar is a spotted Florida Gar. I ended up moving him to a really large bucket because the water in the tank smelled exceptionally horrible. The gravel that had been sitting in the bottom of the tank with no water may have been really bad. I'm gonna try to get some media out of another tank to get into it and keep measuring it. The filter is a Whisper power filter.


Thanks for the help!
 
hope you're planning on a way bigger tank than you have.Watch for any further worsening of its conditon-anne
 
for how long, a florida gar can reach 2-3feet in length in captivity-Anne
 
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