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SubscribeUnhappy shark =(
worley
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Hobbyist
Posts: 147
Kudos: 67
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Registered: 12-Jan-2004
male uk
Just posted this to wetwebmedia for advice, if anyone else can help, pleeeeaasssee do!
I've now had a brown banded bamboo shark for nearly 3 months (hatched him early June), and has been feeding very well since about 5 days after hatching (could see no sign of umbilical cord etc). He's in a 60x20x20 tank (for another 2 months until we can build a 10ft x 5ft x 2ft high tank) at the moment with a few fish and inverts. He's not touched anything in the tank other than his food that he's given. The tank has a red sea prizim pro deluxe skimmer (for 1k litres), UV, carbon, ozone, several canister filters (wet/dry ehiem and standard), small refugium and nitrate reductor, and two powerheads.
Anyhow, about 10 days ago I noticed one of the fish had ich, ugh.... So I decided I would try Kent Marine Rxp. Yes, I know sharks don't do well with meds, but it was a natural product, and I only half dosed it. However, the
shark stopped eating that day, for the first time ever. He has not eaten since (10 days now). He really didn't seem to like it, and tried jumping out of the water at least twice. I've done a 25% water changed (buffered and
temp/sal the same etc), put in new carbon etc to get rid of the meds. The water quality is pretty good, the salinity is a little high though (1.024 to 1.025), but I try to keep it from changing.
The only thing I could ever get him to eat is frozen octopus cubes (the dutch stuff), but haven't found any shark food yet (until today, about to go out and get a load of shark food and vitamins that the local shop just got in). I also started to dose and test iodide, yes a little late maybe. The readings were 0.0 as far as I could see, so it can't have helped.
The shark is still moving around a little, however this morning he's laying on his back (wasn't an hour ago when I last checked, but is now). I can't see any external problems, no redness or lumps.
What should I do? I presume it's important to keep the iodide (I've heard iodine itself is as toxic as chlorine?) levels up (and at what level should they be? the test kit says 0.06 to 0.08ppm). Is it a bad idea to drop a few
drops of the iodide booster to the shark's food, or should I just use the shark food alone?
Is there anything you can suggest to help to get him eating again? I've literally put a cube of octopus under his mouth with tongs and he's just ignored it, he seems much more docile than normal, and is very worrying
seeing him on his back. Is there anything you can suggest? As I write this he's just swam around, "flashed" and turned upside down again on the sand.
He's breathing fairly deeply about once every 1.5 seconds, is his breathing normal?
Until today, it was just not eating and slightly odd behaviour, but now it's got a little more serious, I've heard isn't not uncommon for them to stop eating, so I ordered in that shark food, I'm going to nip out and get it and try him on it, but I don't see him suddenly wanting to eat.
Lastly, I've just put a grounding rod that I made (from titanium bike spokes - cleaned thoroughly first, connected to ground, and sealed so no copper from the cable will touch the tank water) yesterday as there was a shocking (excuse the pun) 50V AC between the tank water and ground. I'm sure this hasn't helped the poor shark, and I think it's been like that for some time (possibily months before I realised it). The voltage difference has dropped to 0.3V AC which seems much more acceptable.
Thanks for the help
Tom.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:40Profile Homepage ICQ AIM MSN Yahoo PM Edit Report 
worley
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Hobbyist
Posts: 147
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Votes: 31
Registered: 12-Jan-2004
male uk
Never mind, the poor sharky is dead =(
We tried to force feed him, using a syringe into his mouth, but we couldn't get his mouth open and he was barely breathing or moving anyhow. He hadn't been eating for 10+ days now and he was a little thin. *sniff* He had been swimming in circles just after I posted the last post and it looks like it was just too late, maybe if we'd managed to get him to eat a week ago....
oh well, farewell Snoopy (if you've seen banded sharks you'll know why he was called that ).
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:40Profile Homepage ICQ AIM MSN Yahoo PM Edit Report 
Oleta
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You can\'t rollerskate in a buffalo herd
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I'm really sorry to hear it, worley.. When you get the reply from WWM maybe you could post it here in this thread so everyone can see what the folks there had to say..
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:40Profile MSN PM Edit Report 
worley
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Hobbyist
Posts: 147
Kudos: 67
Votes: 31
Registered: 12-Jan-2004
male uk
Bits snipped out, but here's their reply:
<Hi, MikeD here]...
<Congrats...mine hatched a year ago August and is nearing 3']...
Anyhow, about 10 days ago I noticed one of the fish had ich, ugh.... So I decided I would try Kent Marine Rxp.<Oh, NO!] Yes, I know sharks don't do well with
meds, but it was a natural product, and I only half dosed it.<thre's no such thing as a "natural product", and my first suggestion is to NEVER treat your main tank proper!] However, the shark stopped eating that day, for the first time ever. He has not eaten since (10 days now)<Can't say that I'm surprised]. He really didn't seem to like it, and tried jumping out of the water at least twice. I've done a 25% water changed (buffered and temp/sal the same etc), put in new carbon etc to get rid of the meds. The
water quality is pretty good, the salinity is a little high though (1.024 to 1.025), but I try to keep it from changing.<Your specific gravity is fine, but you need to boost partial water changes ASAP. The jumping is a REALLY bad sign]
The only thing I could ever get him to eat is frozen octopus cubes (the dutch stuff), but haven't found any shark food yet (until today, about to go out and get a load of shark food and vitamins that the local shop just got in).<Mine is a bottomless pit, with its FAVORITE food being well rinsed moist cat food!(seafood variety**grin**) It also eats raw shrimp, fish and squid]
I presume it's important to keep the iodide (I've heard
iodine itself is as toxic as chlorine?)<Very true, but use great care.....a good reef supplement at MINIMUM dosages is all that's needed] levels up (and at what level should
they be? the test kit says 0.06 to 0.08ppm). Is it a bad idea to drop a few drops of the iodide booster to the shark's food, or should I just use the shark food alone?<DO NOT put iodine or iodide on the food. This can be immediately FATAL!]
.....[bit about ground probe/voltage]...<I held off until here because all of this is vital. Sharks are EXTREMELY sensitive to electricity, and you need to find the source of the problem and eliminate it COMPLETELY! Check for a deteriorating pump, heater or electrical cords against the tank frame, including those of the lights. Any trace current can result in RIP! I suspect the diet prolem and hesitating to feed is actually a symptom of a larger problem. Likewise, NEVER treat your main tank. I'd start doing VERY frequent water changes (don't worry about % but rather wathcing the reaction of your animals, possibly to the amount of 5 gal/day until they show improvement.)
If you improve water quality, remove medication and eliminate electicty you ought to see a MAJOR improvement unless the shark is too far gone!]
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:40Profile Homepage ICQ AIM MSN Yahoo PM Edit Report 
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