Iridescent Shark isnt eating

[helptoall]

Hi ive rescued a small shark about 13 cm from a very bad comditions{10 L tank no WC and so..} 6 days ago.hes in a 50 L quarnteen with 1000L/h filter tmp 25 c. he isnt eating since i got him and i know that he ate just befor i took him.I did a very slow water adjustment adding water from the tank to the bucket for an hour and only then moved him to the new tank, but when i moved him he swam like crazy and flipped over . i trned off the light in the room and moved back. after a few minutes he flipped back and strated to swim normally again.Im not noticing any sighns on his body , anf he is active and swimming. the only thing i see is redness on his body which look to me coming from his color being thin and pale. i though that its beacuse hes a baby but noe i don konw..what do you think?

 

[Colin_T]

its head looks weird.
it is skinny.
the pink is from poor water quality, (ammonia nitrite or high nitrate). If it's in good water now it should clear up over the next week or so.

 

[helptoall]

he still isnt eating , its 10 days now.. water quality isnt the prob cuz i tested it and its good, also im doing WC every 3 days about 40%

 

[Colin_T]

What are you feeding it?

Try offering live food like brineshrimp. If you can't get that then try raw/ cooked prawn/ shrimp. Take a prawn and remove the head, shell and gut (thin black tube in the body). Discard these bits. Use a pr of scissors to cut the remaining prawn tail into small bite size pieces and offer 1 bit at a time. If the fish doesn't eat the food remove it and try again tomorrow.

You can get a length of cotton thread (for sewing material) and thread the cotton thru a needle. Pull the string/ thread down so it is 2 layers and tie the end together with a single knot. Trim the ends off the string so the ends are 1-2mm away from the knot. Push a piece of prawn onto the needle and feed it down along the string until it gets to the knot. Lower the prawn into the tank near the fish and gently jiggle it about near the fish's mouth. The knot will hold the prawn on to some degree but if the fish grabs the prawn it should pull the prawn off the knot.

 

[helptoall]

tried the shrimp thing.. he didnt ate..

 

[Colin_T]

You can try live brineshrimp or daphnia but they might be a bit small. Just keep trying different food and hope it takes something. If it doesn't eat in the next week it is probably going to die.

 

[helptoall]

He still hasnt ate.. today i saw him scratching himself a few times on the tank wall, its the first time ive seen it ,but im not sure its the first time hes doing it. im thinking of trying to medicate for gill flukes, what do you think?

 

[Colin_T]

I doubt the fish has gill flukes.

If the fish is rubbing on objects in the tank it is usually caused by protozoan parasites or poor water quality. However, if the fish has been alone for more than a month it is unlikely to be protozoans unless they have been introduced into the tank from another tank.

Where did you get the fish from and was it in a tank by itself?

Put a thin layer of sand or gravel on the bottom. Use a dark coloured substrate.
Add some plants (real or fake).
Keep doing water changes and offer a few different foods but don't leave uneaten food in the tank because it will cause ammonia problems.

 

[helptoall]

He came from a very bad tank, i dont understand why you want me to put garvel.. it will just stress him more, there are 2 plastic plants in the tank but this fish isnt the kind that want to hide..

 

[Demeter32]

I personally think it is the environment. You say they don't like to hide but I'd say otherwise. Every stressed fish will want a place to hide and your catfish is definitely stressed. Adding dark gravel will make it feel more comfortable and adding a place to hide will hopefully de-stress it enough for it to feed. Keep the tank dark and always remove uneaten food.

Basically, a stressed fish will not eat. It needs to feel comfortable enough to want to eat and a barren, bright tub of water won't make it feel comfortable. If it comes down to it and the fish seems healthy other than being thin, I'd probably try and place it in an actually aquarium. I assume you have one in mind for it to live in, should it recover?

 

[helptoall]

Do you have exp with those fish? i never saw them hiding. theyr indeed a very stressful fish but theyr stress behavior is very diffrent then other fish. when they bump into ornaments in the tank they freak. even the pastic plants caused him to freak and swim like crazy al over the tank.when those fish are stressed they swim away fast , they amost never hide. and the reccomended tank for those fish is a very big tank with no decoration at all to a few soft plastic plant max.im thinking on moving him to the tank with another 2 catfish beacause the size and the company can help him stresswise,however im worried that he is sick and that he can infect them.

 

[helptoall]

20 days without eating.. today ive noticed a red patch on his nose ive uploaded a video

 

[Colin_T]

Put him in a big tank asap. He is pacing in the tank (going back and forth along the same spot). This is stereotypical behaviour and he needs a bigger tank asap coz he is stressing out. It's the same psychological disorder bears and big cats get in zoos when you see them pacing back and forth along the front or side of the cage.

The red patch on its nose could be a graze or bacterial infection. I would say a graze but you need to monitor it in case it gets worse.

Apart from that the fish looks like it is in pretty good condition so I would move it into a big tank now and see how it goes.

 

[helptoall]

Update:The fish started to eat again! I started a treatment with Kanaplex,and after the scond dose he started to eat again! I dont know if its beacause of the med or if its just all the time he needed to get over the stress of the moving,anyway he is eaing and in a few days ill move him to the big tank