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HELP HELP please

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Post by Sandman1969 Mon Jun 29, 2020 4:05 am

Got an issue with my one ID shark after several years. He broke his Ehiem heater as in shattered the bottom of it and he was having issues staying upright and kept pointing upward. I was holding him in place for awhile and he seems to be coming back to but not sure if he got zapped or not. The other shark seems fine. The bigger shark has no physical injuries.
Any ideas?

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Post by alexmtl Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:44 pm

Not sure Sandman. You may want to go with a stainless steel heater or one without glass, hindsight is 20/20. I am unsure what the effects of an electrocution would be, but both sharks would be subject to that. If the other is okay then it may be your weaker shark may be fine as well. Usually a heater will fry everything in the tank when it goes.
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Post by Sandman1969 Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:21 pm

alexmtl wrote:Not sure Sandman. You may want to go with a stainless steel heater or one without glass, hindsight is 20/20. I am unsure what the effects of an electrocution would be, but both sharks would be subject to that. If the other is okay then it may be your weaker shark may be fine as well. Usually a heater will fry everything in the tank when it goes.

The smaller shark swimming normal. But the big boy is still laying on the bottom. I just came in early from work as the wife has had to flip him over. He is breathing a bit hard though. Still no injuries that I can see. We've had him a good 7 years or so.

If he had somehow broke something towards his tail, would that be visible? His tail is "closed" whereas the other has it wide open. He didn't hit the heater with his tail though.
HELP HELP please 20200610

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Post by Sandman1969 Wed Jul 01, 2020 2:12 am

So there's no one left here that may know something or know someone that knows something? He's still not better & he won't eat. He opens and closes his mouth so much that I can't get any food in it. @alexmtl

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Post by Sandman1969 Thu Jul 02, 2020 1:07 am

Ok, this is my last attempt at help as it seems this place is pretty dead. @alexmtl, it seems to be a swim bladder issue and we have tried an Epsom salt bath & have aquarium salt in his tank. Is there ANY other fixes for swim bladder issues???

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Post by sucker4plecos Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:04 pm

The only "remedy" I know for swim bladder issues is feeding peeled peas - if you have some frozen peas take a few, thaw them and peel the skin and try feeding. Now if the fish isn't eating that is going to be hard to do and sharks might not go after the peas anyways - it works well for goldfish and many cichlids.

ID sharks tend to bang away on things in tanks quite often. They are a bit hyper and I've seen them put a lot of damage on their nose/mouth area banging into the end panel of a tank. They are not good fish to keep in a home aquarium and I try to talk people out of keeping them - for these reasons and that they grow to 3 feet and need LOTS of space.
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Post by Sandman1969 Fri Jul 03, 2020 1:06 am

sucker4plecos wrote:The only "remedy" I know for swim bladder issues is feeding peeled peas - if you have some frozen peas take a few, thaw them and peel the skin and try feeding. Now if the fish isn't eating that is going to be hard to do and sharks might not go after the peas anyways - it works well for goldfish and many cichlids.

ID sharks tend to bang away on things in tanks quite often. They are a bit hyper and I've seen them put a lot of damage on their nose/mouth area banging into the end panel of a tank. They are not good fish to keep in a home aquarium and I try to talk people out of keeping them - for these reasons and that they grow to 3 feet and need LOTS of space.

We have had this shark for going on 8 years now. He won't eat as water is goin back & forth through his mouth/gills so even if I tried to put something in there, it won't stay. But they say they can got for long periods without eating. I just now got a dose of Melafix in his tank. That stuff is getting hard to get now. Both my wife & I have been sitting up with him & helping him when he needs it while goin through the issue. She stays up til I get home from work at 3am, then I stay up til 6am or so. He's about 1.5 feet in length & lives in a 130 gallon tank. He turns around with ease.

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Post by alexmtl Fri Jul 03, 2020 11:11 am

@Sandman1969

Not sure what the issue is, but your cat is in distress. I'm not even sure Epsom salts are the answer. To me, it sounds like whatever has happened will have to take its course. Treating fish is not a science and the remedies are based upon experience. Like S4P has mentioned, if this is a bladder issue then maybe the peas may work.

Aside from that, this is not a typical fish, and not a typical ailment. Very few of us, on any site, can give you the precise advice that you may need for ID sharks. ID sharks grow large and thus few aquarists are able to keep them long enough, but you have and you are amongst the few. Aside from public aquaria, where they have veterinarians on staff and full time keepers, it is going to come down to trying different remedies that you may uncover on the internet sites, but I could never be sure about these remedies.

S4P mentioned that these are not only large, but skittish. I tend to think he is right, and your shark needs a huge tank (>300g), larger than most aquarists can manage. So I can believe that they hit the sides of the tank quite a bit. Seven years is a long time and apparently these cats live over 20. You are certainly one of the few with experience in this, and perhaps may find others who have faced the same issue. Aside from what you describe, with there being no outwards signs of disease, nor physical evidence of injury, we are guessing for what to do to assist you.

It seems strange that the smaller tank mate shark has not suffered the same ailment, so if there was an issue with water, heater, food or environment, they would both be similarly stressed. So I tend to think physical injury, but how to treat, is anyone's logic.
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Post by Sandman1969 Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:13 pm

@alexmtl, it's kinda like his bladder won't inflate to help him balance as swim normally. If we can find out how to get it to inflate as it should, we'd be golden again. When he hit his other heater, he apparently hit it hard enough to knock himself out for the first time ever. As for being skittish, ya he is but doesn't hit the ends all too hard. We do have his breathing slowed from where it was when I first posted as he seems calmer now after a dose or 2 of melafix. Epsom salts help with stuff like constipation and helps them to relax. Had to give the koi a bath as he had actually swallowed a bunch of gravel & this helped him poop them out.

As for the shark currently, he's just settled on his belly on the rocks. I want him to relax for awhile as he was stressed for most of the week as this is the 5th day. His breathing seems normal so may try later today to feed him his pellets.

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Post by Sandman1969 Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:24 pm

UPDATE:
For anyone that may be following along, the shark has finally eaten a few pellets just now after not eating for 6 days. Have not had to help him with his falling over all day. So I think he is slowly recovering.

The wife had the crazy idea of getting rid of that 130 gallon tank & getting him a big blow up pool down here for him to live in. LOL

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Post by Sandman1969 Sat Jul 11, 2020 5:10 pm

UPDATE: ok so yesterday, my wife was talkin to her bro and he said to airate the hell out of the tank after we made the decision to pts him. I now have 2 air lines running.
I did a water change early early yesterday and did water tests today. For the first time ever since getting these sharks, the ammonia level was in the dark green. Shocked That has never happened before. So I did another 50%+ water change and added Ammo Lock. It's now in the very slight green level. Nitrates are yellow & nitrites are blue. HELP HELP please 20200711

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