Coral cat shark help

tommy6030

New member
Hi, I have a '10 coral cat shark in a tank by itself. I've had it for about 9 months and it has been awesome. I feed it twice a week and it normally goes nuts when the food is in the tank. However, over the past week, I've had trouble getting it to comsume its food. It still gets excited when the food is in the tank, but instead of eating it, the shark carries it around in its' mouth and then spits it out. It acts like its struggling to get the food down, but the pieces are small. I've tried frozen prawn, scallops, shrimp, and shark formula with no luck at all. I was wondering if anyone on here has experienced this before or if anyone know what it could be. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks, Tommy
 
hello ,sorry to hear of your problem,my banded cat shark would do the same thing at times if i fed squid and a piece would hang out side his gills he would hold it in his mouth then spit the food out would not eat until day later doubt this will help but good luck let us know
 
Longshot...does your shark have any swelling under the chin between the jaw bones? I have seen an epaulette react as you are describing, normally an energetic eater then struggle to eat at all. Turned out to be a condition called "goiter", caused by an iodine deficiency. You would need some additional reading before treatment if this is the case, but you may want to give him a close look. The epaulette was cured and is doing well.

Let me know if this might be the case, and I'll try to dig up some additional info for treatment.
 
Could you please give us some specifics of your tank perameters. DO you have the tank water grounded with a ground probe ? That will cause the shark to not have an appatite , goiter is also a posibility too


:wildone:
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I don't see any swelling anywhere. Also, the tank is a 180 gallon with no ground probe. Water parameters are spot on.
 
Try testingthe water for stray voltage. Even the smallest amount will effect your shark. I would get a probe in there to help remove any stray voltage
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6992172#post6992172 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mitzel
Try testingthe water for stray voltage. Even the smallest amount will effect your shark. I would get a probe in there to help remove any stray voltage

Good idea
 
UPDATE: the lfs said to try ghost shrimp, so I did. The shark definately has an appetite and is trying to eat, but it just can't bite anything or get anything down. I really don't know what to do at this point. Can someone give me more info on goiter and how to cure it. I don't see any swelling, but that sounds like it could be it.
 
How long has it been going on ? Sharks do lose teeth and when that happens there jaws are very sore hard to eat may take a week or so just like when we get our teeth pulled hard to eat swallow and chew
 
Tommy you really need to check for stray volatge .
even a few volts will cause your shark to stop eatting , and it will eventualy kill it .
 
i jsut got a banded cat shark, and imreally new to keeping them, any advice, hes about 6 inches long and in a 55gal withasuger sand bottem and a few rocks to hide under
 
yes they will suck it in and spit it out they are confused stray voltage messes with their brains and they don't think right . they will feed but spit it out no mater what you try . and then they will swim funny and they will eventually starve them selves to death .
 
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