Need help Pacu sick

magicvega · 02-10-2007, 02:52 AM

Ok let me start with the basics... 55 g tank fish was bought the size of a nikel now he is way too big for the tank but he is semi happy it seems and has lived so far for 5+ years. nothing has changed in the tank in along time only just got him some gold fish and yeah he eats them since he was little lol. All of a sudden though he is laying on his side now for 3 days and i have no idea why. Everything in the tank tests ok ph nitrate ammonia etc and i did a 20% water change since and put in some medicine that supposedly fights many common diseases and bacteria. I noticed he hasnt been eatting the pellets or anything over the last couple weeks but everything else is the same.. he is putting up a great fight, he has been on his side with no noticable ick/cloudy eyes/ anything now he has bruises and cuts from laying on the rocks and sometimes he tries to swim but its more like a drunken float then swim. He is gulping pretty hard for breathes up to like 100+ times a minute although im not sure what is normal. Now the medicine stuff says to not run your filter and all and now in just like 2 days the tank has like alleage all over the glass which is odd cause i never had that problem so im guessing its from all the stuff i recently put in. any help would be great, thanks in advance, magicvega@aol.com

jd@ga · 02-10-2007, 10:57 PM

welcome to the forum!
I was in the same situation as you 10 yrs ago ... I did everything I could do and I ended up losing him after 6 weeks. I`m not sure what to tell you. I would keep doing w/c ,run your filters, and stop with the goldfish they are not the greatest of live foods. Have you added salt to your tank?

magicvega · 02-10-2007, 11:09 PM

yeah i did add salt and i am running the filter with just the bio wheel because the medicine says to not use carbon.... i hope he makes it and thanks for your help

jd@ga · 02-10-2007, 11:28 PM

If the medication has no effect after a couple of days I would do a major w/c and start up with another medicine. Have you ever seen a full grown Pacu? I have seen a whole school of them and it is truly scary! Have you ever had the skin bitten off your finger by one? They have a bad bite on them.

magicvega · 02-10-2007, 11:35 PM

lol nope but i once had a pleco attack me haha this pacu is in the area of 20"

alexfevery · 02-11-2007, 01:04 AM

Goldfish are not healthy at all, I think it may be that toxins used in the rearing of the goldfish have built up in him after eating so many and now he is sick.

magicvega · 09-17-2010, 05:36 PM

Just a small update, I was trying to look back to find my posts about my sick pacu and only found this one so far. Not sure if anyone frequents the forums as I goggled my name and pacu together lol.

Fish lived threw and moved into a 180 gallon tank right after he started doing better in the 55 gallon prison. He quickly recovered with a couple of scars. Its now 2010 and i went threw a huge ordeal with moving into a new place and ended up paying rent just so i could find another home to bring him into LOL. I ended only being able to get a 265 gallon tank as nothing else would easily fit threw the door and I surely wasn't building something till i move into a much bigger house and build a pond for him.

He is doing great after a scary move but he has been in the new tank a week and he seems to be pretty happy now again. It still hasn't fully cleared up and i need another filter but all looks good. He is eatting everything in sight. But now only eats pellets and veges. Im going to try and get some new pics after the water clears, i do have some of the 180 though.

magicvega · 09-17-2010, 05:45 PM

he likes eating from the bag.

magicvega · 09-17-2010, 05:52 PM

In reference to how sick he was. I thought i had posted pics long ago but maybe it was another site or have been deleted.
Just how sick he was. He got this bad over about 5 days i think based on the picture dates.
He got alittle better right after all the meds and constant daily huge water changes. My water was always clear and never had issues, maybe it was the nitrates and or the goldfish. Immediately the new tank was being worked on and the pics above when he is eatting the carrot and such were in the new tank.

On his head where the damage was never fully healed but he seems to have been perfectly fine threw it.

I moved him recently with a towel and a huge rubbermaid contained into the tank. Still wish it could be bigger but he swims and moves around without a issue. He is too big though.