Stingray Help

dankolle

dankolle

Reefing newb
Hey guys, I have had this sting ray for about 6 months now and just in the last month it went from a sandy white w/ dark spots to a dark brown with light spots. He always has been up in the morning for a feeding of frozen squid and eats it with no problem.

Today I noticed he is in the corne of the tank not moving much but his hills are still moving. He wouldn't take any food and actually didn't want to be around my hand...which is different because it normally doesn't mind my hand feedings.

I do 2 water changes a week, have a canister and protein skimmer and lots of live rock, live sand, and algea to keep the natural filters going. Any ideas what is going on with it? It's in a 125 gallon with an anemone and 2 clown fish.
 
I don't know anything about sting rays, but don't they need 180g or more? In liveaquaria, a blue dot stingray needs 150g. What kind do you have?

Have you checked any of your parameters? Could it have been injured by the nem? Canisters can cause high nitrates if you don't maintain it enough. I dont' know how sensitive they are to nitrates.
 
My LFS said it was a pygmy and it's only about 4" in diameter - I'm going to do a check when I do my scheduled water change tonight.
 
I dug up the old post you had on when you first got the ray and I guess Sharkie said it might be a Mottled stingray, correct? When did you upgrade to the 125g? In your post you said you would upgrade in 6 months, would be right about now. Maybe your 125g wasn't cycled enough? Even if you use live rock/live sand, there's still a chance for a mini cycle. At least you've been doing frequent water changes. Definitely post your parameters.
 
That old post was a different ray I had at my office...it died when I was over in europe in January. I upgraded in Feb and got a new ray about 2 months ago.
 
I thought you said you had him 6 months? But like I said, canister filters are nitrate traps unless you do proper maintenance on it. Basically you've left your gunk sit in there. It needs to be rinsed out on a regular basis in salt water. At this point, you risk causing a cycle if you remove the canister. Just rinse it out in the water you siphon out so you don't kill necessary bacteria.

Your nitrates are high, but not detrimental to your other fish, but it's possible rays are sensitive to high nitrates. Not sure though. I don't know anything about them.
 
Canister filters just don't do a good job for saltwater tanks. It's freshwater technology that someone thought would transfer over, but it doesn't.

High nitrates may be what's doing it. If you have live rock and sand, I would remove the canister filter. Get a protein skimmer instead.
 
I killed the canister...I have seen people replace the contents of the canister with live rock...is that beneficial?

Also, I have to ask this question and I know it's a doozie. My LFS (who is out of business now) said that my bio balls are ok. I have had them since the beginning of the tank at my office and that has a canister filter on it too. Should I dump the bio balls as well at the office?
 
The bioballs tend to lead to high nitrates as well. If you can keep them clean, then they are fine, but they need to be thoroughly cleaned about once every week or two. If they are just left in there, nitrates tend to creep up.
 
Yes...the key to canisters and bioballs is regular maintenance. There are reefers here who have used them successfully in their system, but will tell you that it requires regular maintenance -- they rinse them out in the oid siphoned water with their water changes. For me, it's just added work.
 
Rays require pristine water conditions.Unlike other fish,rays cant handle nitrates that high.
They also need a lot bigger tank than what most web sites say.A 6" ray really needs a tank thats at least 6ft X 3ft with ONLY fine grain sand.They'll injure themselves on rock.
 
:*( - It passed away. I will continue to improve my nitrate attack. My LFS told me that 20 ppm was ok to keep the ray. I'm wondering now if he was just trying to get my money instead of the well being of the fish
 

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