limitedslip
New member
Well, First off, Id like to thank one of my local fish stores (Southwest Reef Co.) for helping me through my internal parasite problem w/ my shark. For reference, she is a banded bamboo shark, approxmaietly 16 inches
Ill start with the symptoms I noticed. For the first 3 days, she stopped eating. Since she is a predator, I figured she was just being picky, as she can go 2 weeks without food and still be ok. On the 4th day, I noticed she became really sluggish. Later on the 4th day, She began to sit in the corner with her nose against the glass and sway at a casual pace, and she didnt stop till day 6, on day 6, she swam to the other side of the tank, and did the same, so all the substrate was pushed to the middle of the tank. The swaying and sluggish threw me off, and thats when I knew I had a problem, I immediately checked all the lvls, perfect across the board. Temp was fluxing between 76 (at nite) and 78 (peak day temp). No external signs, and not twitching or loosing equilibrium (so no copper or any other heavy metals). I assumed she had gotten sick by eating somthing out of my overflow, since that was the only thing that changed in her normal daily habits.
Here is how I fixed the problem. After talking with a guy at the LFS about shark metabolism and temperature, He told me I should drop the temp a few degrees for a few days, raise it up high for a few days after that, and put it back a few degree colder than normal. That would jumpstart the sharks digestive track, and give a shark a chance to pass whatever is causing its problem. I figured, whats the worst that could happen, because if I didnt try anything, I was afraid she was going to die. Well, today is day 10, temp of tank is a cool 73 degrees flat (aiming for a low of 72 tomorrow) and she is already showing great sign of improvement. She no longer sways as of day 9, and today (day 10) he ate 3 pieces of silverside). She also returned to her normal side of the tank (less lighting, less waterflow), and only comes the other side for food again (when she was sick, she wouldnt move no matter what, so thats a great improvment). Since she is doing great at this new temp, im gonna try and keep it a bit cooler now, as the fish dont even seem to notice the change. If she still needs improvment, I will do the temp bump and stabalize in 3 days. She is still not 100%, but I'm so happy with the improvement.
Ill keep an update on how shes doing. Hope this helps anyone who runs into the same problem w/ their bamboo.
Ill start with the symptoms I noticed. For the first 3 days, she stopped eating. Since she is a predator, I figured she was just being picky, as she can go 2 weeks without food and still be ok. On the 4th day, I noticed she became really sluggish. Later on the 4th day, She began to sit in the corner with her nose against the glass and sway at a casual pace, and she didnt stop till day 6, on day 6, she swam to the other side of the tank, and did the same, so all the substrate was pushed to the middle of the tank. The swaying and sluggish threw me off, and thats when I knew I had a problem, I immediately checked all the lvls, perfect across the board. Temp was fluxing between 76 (at nite) and 78 (peak day temp). No external signs, and not twitching or loosing equilibrium (so no copper or any other heavy metals). I assumed she had gotten sick by eating somthing out of my overflow, since that was the only thing that changed in her normal daily habits.
Here is how I fixed the problem. After talking with a guy at the LFS about shark metabolism and temperature, He told me I should drop the temp a few degrees for a few days, raise it up high for a few days after that, and put it back a few degree colder than normal. That would jumpstart the sharks digestive track, and give a shark a chance to pass whatever is causing its problem. I figured, whats the worst that could happen, because if I didnt try anything, I was afraid she was going to die. Well, today is day 10, temp of tank is a cool 73 degrees flat (aiming for a low of 72 tomorrow) and she is already showing great sign of improvement. She no longer sways as of day 9, and today (day 10) he ate 3 pieces of silverside). She also returned to her normal side of the tank (less lighting, less waterflow), and only comes the other side for food again (when she was sick, she wouldnt move no matter what, so thats a great improvment). Since she is doing great at this new temp, im gonna try and keep it a bit cooler now, as the fish dont even seem to notice the change. If she still needs improvment, I will do the temp bump and stabalize in 3 days. She is still not 100%, but I'm so happy with the improvement.
Ill keep an update on how shes doing. Hope this helps anyone who runs into the same problem w/ their bamboo.
