# Help needed with stingray !



## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Hello I have a stingray new In my tank and eating so far but acting weird swimming up the tank and doing some weird floating! Please let me know what it could be , only thing weird in my tank is high nitrate ??she swims up and down up and down and then hovers and floats for well until i come closer then she spooks back down sometimes hitting glass ...
Thank you

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View attachment 14078


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

Well... What are your nitrates at? Anything 10ppm or over is a cause for concern.


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

*Need help with my stingray!*

My stingray is acting all weird ! Swimming up and like hovering floating near the too and when I get close she spooks and goes down sometimes hitting the glass !


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Well i used test strips and all came out good except nitrate was pink not sure but 30-50 It looks like! How could that be I did water change yesterday ?also my filters canister is cleaned


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

What's the cause for high nitrates since its only spiked past few days ! Also I Lost a filter it broke down so running on one filter , could that cause the nitrate to spike?


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

Did you clean your filter to well?I only clean filters and pads you must of caused it to cycle (mini cycle) I would do 50% water change right away!! and add prime after or other water conditioner!! with prime you can add 5x the amount to help with the high nitrate is the nitrite and ammonia high to?
do water change hope that helps keep checking water perimeters until you back on track! do w/c every other day if you have to, to get water under control!! stability will also help if its cycling! good luck!


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Chassan, you are only permitted to post a thread in one section. The hospital section is the correct place for this problem. The duplicate threads in the other sections have been removed so you know.


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Dear bob
I did a water change before yday and AGIAN yday! And added prime both times so I don't know what would cause it , I cleaned my filter pad throughly but ceramic rings and bio balls just dip in water from tank nothing severe but I added some matrix carbon and purigen to help combat this and still high nitrates ! No ammonia no nitrite but high nitrates I don't understand this this is the first time in a year the tank been set up ! One of my filters did fail few days ago making me use only one canister and one hang on! Could that have caused nitrate bloom ? Too much load on one filter ?


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

That happened to me once, but it was nitrite that spiked! 


1 - If your aquarium is fully cycled, then the rise in nitrates is likely from the faucet. In many places the nitrates and nitrites in tap water can increase during the later winter and spring especially if you are on well water.
2 - You overfeed your fish. You should only feed enough so that ALL the food is gone in less than 3 minutes (yes you should actually time it until you know how much to feed).
3 - You washed your filter media under tap water. Doing this will kill all the beneficial bacteria in your filter. The result is a tank that has to cycle again (and thus the raised nitrates).
4 - You don't use a gravel vacuum during water changes. The build up of detritus is overwhelming the beneficial bacteria.
5 - There is a dead fish somewhere in the tank.

Now I am not saying that everything above you have done...but based on the limited information you gave I would GUESS it is one of the above things.

With a properly cycled tank the nitrites will be 0ppm. In the absence of a "denitrator" (a special filter used to remove nitrates from the water) the most common way to remove nitrates is through water changes (dilution).

Ideally your nitrates should be kept below 10ppm. Knowing that...if you check your nitrate levels and it reads 20ppm then you should do a 50% water change in order to bring the nitrates down to 10ppm. Now it may take 2 weeks to go from 10ppm to 20ppm or it my take 5 days. In either case 20ppm is the signal to do a water change.


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Sorry ditz' new to the forum will take note
Thanks


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

For sure thats what happened imo! this exact thing happened to me! bacteria is finicky! you disturb to much and it cant keep up and you get a mini cycle! keep the prime at 5x after w/c I wouldnt do more then 1 w/c every other dat using prime in between! I'm no expert here but been there done that!! you mentioned tank was just set back up how long before adding fish?



Chassan said:


> Dear bob
> I did a water change before yday and AGIAN yday! And added prime both times so I don't know what would cause it , I cleaned my filter pad throughly but ceramic rings and bio balls just dip in water from tank nothing severe but I added some matrix carbon and purigen to help combat this and still high nitrates ! No ammonia no nitrite but high nitrates I don't understand this this is the first time in a year the tank been set up ! One of my filters did fail few days ago making me use only one canister and one hang on! Could that have caused nitrate bloom ? Too much load on one filter ?


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

It's fine to wash your filter media under tap water, just alternate your filter cleaning days with your water change days

In my pleco tank I change ~30% of the water every second week and I change out my filter media every week I'm not doing water changes

I've never done a gravel vac (not suggesting you don't) and my tanks are perfectly healthy


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Well I added two new fish and same time added matrix carbon and purigen and then my nitrates have been high' I don't undertand how the carbon and purigen won't remove the nitrates?the only thing I can think off is that either too much carbon and purigen might have disturbed my tank? Or adding the new fish is too much bioload for my tank to handle but wouldn't that also show an increase of other paramters ,its only showing nitrate is high ?


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

What size tank
What filter
What fish and how many
How long has it been set up


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Well I thought it was the filter but I cleaned that yesterday so it can't be dirty filter causing this:s


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

180-200 gall not filled to top, eheim pro 3 and AQ 110 and 7 fish big bioloads though


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

spit.fire said:


> It's fine to wash your filter media under tap water, just alternate your filter cleaning days with your water change days
> 
> In my pleco tank I change ~30% of the water every second week and I change out my filter media every week I'm not doing water changes
> 
> I've never done a gravel vac (not suggesting you don't) and my tanks are perfectly healthy


Aren't you on well water out there? it's the chlorine in the tap water that kills the beneficiary bacteria! this fellow did it right rinsed in tank water why take a chance? imo I agree with staggering filter cleaning and water changes you don't want to do to much! even thou your bacteria is in the filter!


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

I didn't wash my media In tap water it was with tank water so its not that either...


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

let spit fire know he is the man he can help you good luck with your rays hope all works for you good night!


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Mr bob in reply to wc I have done one every day now three time wouldn't that be too much and shock my fish or filter or bio more ? Four days four wc in a row


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

probably the filter that went down it was full of bacteria talk to spit fire he can help good luck!


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

I switch my media out for new media so no bacteria in it


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

like i said earlier I wouldn't do more than once every other day imo! but please talk to spit fire he is more experienced hes the one you want to talk to i'm glad hes here to help! good luck!


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

IMO stop doing so many water changes lol, let the tank establish itself and then do a 25-30% water change every 2-3 weeks


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Okay thanks .... So any ideas s fire ?


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Okay so no wc but how can I decrease nitrate levels then?..


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

What are you running for filter media and what are your ammonia levels at


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

Bacteria isn't the problem, if it was then nitrite and ammonia wouldn't be 0. Water changes of 20% aren't nearly enough for your ray unless you want to do them every 24 hours or less, without days off. There is no such thing as over feeding a ray, especially a motoro or any largemouthed species. If you want to nip the nitrate in the butt, do at least a 50% waterchange, or preferably a 60-80% change. Bob brought up a good point about tap water, specifically about nitrate levels out of the tap. You may want to check and see what you get. My guess is that the nitrates are coming from the fish, and their metabolism, which is astronomically higher in rays. I'm repeating myself from your earlier thread, but I can't stress enough: do your background research! The rules of community fish tank keeping generally don't apply to stingrays. There's plenty of websites that present reliable information on keeping rays. The MFK and AP forums have great resources for rays too, besides hundreds of threads dealing with stingray related talk. 

As an aside, you can wash filter media without killing all the bacteria on it. Just use lukewarm water. You'll rinse off excess bacteria, but if you don't try to get it 100% clean, you'll leave plenty on there to keep things in balance.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

Wow I totally confused nitrate and nitrite sorry


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Okay thank you I was expecting the nitrates were from adding the ray and indo and a excessive bioload correct ?


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

DBam said:


> Bacteria isn't the problem, if it was then nitrite and ammonia wouldn't be 0. Water changes of 20% aren't nearly enough for your ray unless you want to do them every 24 hours or less, without days off. There is no such thing as over feeding a ray, especially a motoro or any largemouthed species. If you want to nip the nitrate in the butt, do at least a 50% waterchange, or preferably a 60-80% change. Bob brought up a good point about tap water, specifically about nitrate levels out of the tap. You may want to check and see what you get. My guess is that the nitrates are coming from the fish, and their metabolism, which is astronomically higher in rays. I'm repeating myself from your earlier thread, but I can't stress enough: do your background research! The rules of community fish tank keeping generally don't apply to stingrays. There's plenty of websites that present reliable information on keeping rays. The MFK and AP forums have great resources for rays too, besides hundreds of threads dealing with stingray related talk.
> 
> As an aside, you can wash filter media without killing all the bacteria on it. Just use lukewarm water. You'll rinse off excess bacteria, but if you don't try to get it 100% clean, you'll leave plenty on there to keep things in balance.


Also so how come the purigen and added carbon are not removing nitrates ?? What is the sollution I just did three days of water changing shall I do another with maybe 50 percent isn't that too much to change in four days each day and also I cleaned my filter yesterday ?


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

And also what if I just water change AGIAN now and nitrates just increase AGIAN what's the long term sollution I do weeky wc and add an extra filter or how can I keep them down


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Also I notice a funky smell from aquarium which is not normal?! Just checked nitrate and is low I don't understand is it my test now?' Can nitrate spike and then disappear ?! My fish still acting funny and heavy breathing but ammonia and nitrite and nitrate all tested low... Close to nothing... Now I'm really confused ... Help anyone


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Help please anyone ?'


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## mdwflyer (Jan 11, 2011)

You should try reading all 4 pages of posts here...


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

if in doubt, do a water testing for all the parameter.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

Try adding some air stones possibly?


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Hello all
I added airstones three in tank, I checked all water , everything is fine .. Nitrate spiked and went down but today the ph went really low and is now fine :s so now all water is good I don't understand ..the stingray is eating fine!? But swimming and acting weird today it basically tried jumping out and did few backflips! I don't think it's for fun as he smacks her head in glass on way down ?what causes rays to act funny and hover and jumping and flip if all water is good .. Is it stress of new tank?


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

She continues to swim weird and jump until I head to tank and she spookes back down


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Have you tried leaving the lights off for a day ? Maybe just needs to settle in....though it does seem like more than that.


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

The lights are usually always off except room lights and day.keeping them off for the ray, she seems to continue to jump and flip and hover up and down... I don't think it's right fish behavior does not seem like it.. I just wanna know what is bothering her to fix it... My ph is 7+ now and nitrates and nitrite and ammonia nothing so I'm lost...


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Has anyone every experienced rays swimming funny ??


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

If you can take a video, why don't you do that and post it? That would be a straight forward way to show the problem. If anyone here has seen the exact behavior, then we may be able to offer an opinion. Help us help you. At the risk of sounding too preachy, one reason you may not be receiving elaborate answers is the double/triple posting. A single post with details of the problem/questions and relevant information will suffice. Just be patient and let people read and get back to you, we do, after all, volunteer our time to read, consider, and reply to you.


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

yes i wanted to but was out and was using my iphone . i am posting the video up soon from pc sorry for video quality as only got iphone, thank you for your help i apologise but i have been tripping cuz worried about the ray, i dont want anything to happen to her so been posting alot from my iPhone.


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

the video is on here. thats pretty much the movement she does alot but the flipping i could not get as its random........ Stingray acting weird..MOV - YouTube
Stingray acting weird..MOV - YouTube


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

It looks like its playing in the current, at least to my eyes. I can't speak to the flipping you're worried about, but I had a ray that would climb the sides of the tank and get half it's disk out of the water before sliding back down. If it's eating and eating lots, pooping constantly, and is putting on weight it is in good health. Do you know about rays and where they store fat?


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Yeah it does that too almost jumping out well yeah she is eating , never see poop I guess the filter ... So this kind of hovering and swimming is normal? I hope so but she's doing it like so much:s .. No I don't where do they ? 
Thanks for the help, hope she just playing


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

The ray looks skinny. can you show a photo of the hip bone? And you have a puffer in there? It is not the best of idea to keep a puffer with the ray.


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Dear all!
Sorry been DC busy with college , well the ray looks to be doing fine! I added an extra power head in the direction she was acting funny around and she stopped and eating well kind of bulging fat at the hip ' so I hope that's healthy and yes the mbu is troublesome well I had her for my gf and basically my gf stopped caring for it and it Stayed in tank I feel bad the tank will get small for her but It looks happy and never bothers anyone so far even tank mates steal the food from her while eating and she don't mind .. Is it possible for her from day one when young was friendly and nothing eee happened can she flip and be aggressive as matures ? I really would like to keep her though


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Are you sure your nitrate test kit is correct? Is it an API test? They sometimes have challenges when reading them. The key is to Really, REALLY mix the reagents well.

Respectfully,

Stuart


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Yeah it is tricky but so far so good doing daily almost daily changes  so I'm happy so far the ray is settling in great 
Thanks for all the help


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

That's the reality of keeping rays, or any monster fish, lots of water changes. Good luck, hope things continue to go well!


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Yes thank you ! Once FW rays get used to tank setup would that MANY water changes that important can I hold it up weekly or bi?


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

Well.... How quickly do your nitrates build up? What levels have you found to be acceptable for rays from the reading you've (probably not) done about general ray keeping? Have you found yourself an anatomical diagram or a picture outlining where the hips on your ray are? Or maybe pictures differentiating between skinny and starving? I know I've seen them before but I really don't want to start searching and retrieving links for you but I will say they're out there and not hard to find. It's a lot easier to do some background research and do things according to successful methods or as close to natural as possible. I'm repeating myself from earlier, but read the stickies on the Monster Fish Keepers subforum for stingrays. You can continue to ask questions and start more threads, but all the answers to what's been asked so far can be derived from MFK's stingray forum, and I don't see the point in copying it all out here. What medications can you use if it gets sick/infected? Are you going to run a wound under cold water if you get wounded by a stinger? You're the one who just bought a relatively expensive fish, you may care to know these things, you know, before you dose your tank with any number of common aquarium medications that happens to be toxic to rays....


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## Chassan (Apr 2, 2012)

Well yes I have done extensive reasesrch before purchasing but never had rays so in that sense behavior is unknown to me , well my nitrate nitrite is zero my ph between 7-8 and I check weekly to see if paramters are correct or not and yeah about being stung was a fear to me read about hot water and all that but I don't put my hand in except for tank cleaning so hopefully I'm no threat to her , yes I agree most info is on their it's just first hand experience and how a ray would act is better first hand info I guess . I appreciate your time and help .
Well that's the thing if my paramters check out does that mean no water change is needed or is their anything else besides nitrite nitrate and ph that water changes help with or really is needed ? I'm runnin two eheim pro 3 and AC110 on 185 gallon of water I find the paramters r fine for more than a week but still do weekly changes so was just wondering 
Thanks


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