success treating bluespot ray

[polarpooch]

Bluespot ray-keepers:
I recently posted about my injured/sick bluespot ray...
Indeed, it looked bad for a while, but she's doing much better.
Sought advice from a ray expert and thank God, it worked.
Her injury became infected almost right away, and that's what most worried me (secondary infections kill more rays than anything). Was advised not to QT her, because the additional stress would have been bad, maybe making the situation even worse...what to do when you can't treat your display tank with antibiotics?
MERCUROCHROME.
Yes, that red stuff mom used for cuts and scrapes.
I dabbed a little on the wound...gently lifting her to the surface to apply the medicine, and after three days of twice daily treatment, the wound began to recede. Now she's looking much better-- is swimming like a champ...and flirting with my dog again!
Am supplementing her food with special vitamins.
Moral: if you can catch the infection problem FAST enough, you may be able to avoid QT and stress on your bluespot with a $2 bottle of stuff found at Walgreens. Am still concerned, but now cautiously optimistic.

 

[grouperhead]

Glad to hear he is doing better! Got any new pics? Keep us updated....Bo

 

[ac]

Glad to hear it, being a ray person myself(I have 4) I'll keep that in the back of my mind in case something happens.

 

[polarpooch]

AC,
What kind of rays are you keeping (wow, four!)? I would like to get another small ray for a bigger tank I'm setting up this spring...am not getting another bluespot, though.
New pics coming as soon as I get off my butt and download the camera card, currently filled with pics of my dog!

 

[ac]

Polarpooch,
I have 3 yellow sting rays(1 male and 2 females) and 1 male that I believe is a cortez. They are like wet dogs, they like to be petted and I feed them by hand. I originally wanted a blue spot, but I had heard that they don't ship well and can be picky to get to eat. I'm really glad to hear yours is doing well. I would love to see some pictures of your ray and your setup, filters, skimmer, etc...

 

[ac]

Polorpooch,
Here are a couple of pictures

 

[ac]

Another

 

[leopardshark]

nice rays what are you feeding them.

 

[ac]

Leopardshark
Krill and silversides

 

[polarpooch]

AC,
Your rays are CUTE (sorry, they are!!!)
Here's a pic of mine when I first got her...not the best shot, but at least it's not fuzzy....
Have her alone in a 180/3"DSB/wetdry/prizm pro...
BTW, that stuff in the sand is ray poo, I think.

 

[saltfisher]

What's the recommended size tank for a ray?

 

[elkhntr]

AC how big of a tank do you have?

 

[polarpooch]

What's the recommended size tank for a ray
I'd say you'd do well w/a 180. The longer and wider, the better. Mine loves to cruise around a lot, so I'd say you'd want a larger tank for them. Also, most references recommend minimum tank sizes of 125 to 180.
BTW, back to the original topic of this post: my ray's sore is almost totally healed. Which is so cool!

 

[ac]

Polarpooch,
It's a sad day. One of my female sting rays died. I can't figure out why. I'm not sure how old she was when I got her. Do you have any information on the lifespan of rays?

 

[polarpooch]

AC,
Oh no! I'm so sorry Which one of your rays was she (a yellow or the cortez)?
How big was she? Did she look sick...or do you think it might have been old age?
I don't know much about the lifespan of rays. There's not much written about it. I know bluespots don't last as long as other rays.
I have an acquaintence I consulted about my ray when she was sick, and could ask him for an idea. Any info you have on your particular ray would probably help.

 

[sammystingray]

polarpooch, did it look like the skin was rotting away exposing the "meat" underneath? I lost one to some kind of infection that nobody seemed to know what it was at the time.....I believe it was TerryB who finally told me what it was, and what to do, but it was too late. Quite awful. It stayed in a straight line down her back, and to my horror, eventually ate through the tail base until her tail fell off......sucked really bad.

 

[polarpooch]

Sammy,
Yes, it did look something like that. It actually looked like it "pushed" a hole from the inside out. She developed a lt blue/white ring around the wound. (both from the resulting infection, I'm guessing). It was really weird. I still don't know what caused it. The initial wound looked like a burn to me. Her skin looked charred and was hanging off her eye.
My two theories are it happened when she pushed behind the heater (the heater would have laid on her eye) or if she scraped up against the powerhead. Otherwise, I can't figure it out.
It wasn't a fungus, didn't look like a parasite (unless the parasite was internal and exited her body very fast, which is possible, I guess...). In any case, the treatment, and extra vitamins did the trick. You can barely tell she ever had a sore there.
Maybe I'm just lucky. I thought I was going to lose her for a while.

 

[ac]

Polarpooch,
It was a yellow ray. She seemed to be doing fine, then all of the sudden she stopped eating for about a week. I thought she could be pregnant, but she just died. I have no idea how old she was. She was about 12 inches in diameter which is full grown for yellows. I checked her body out but didn't see anything that would suggest she was sick. Sometimes things just happen I guess. Thats what I consider the most frustrating thing about this hobby(obssesion). You go to great pains to create an environment as close to nature as possible, but sometimes your left with unanswered questions. I'm glad to hear your blue spot is doing better. This of coarse doesn't effect my complete addiction to keeping salt water critters, life goes on.

 

[polarpooch]

AC,
Well for what it's worth, I'll see if my email bud has any clue for you.
I would have to believe she was either old, or had some sort of internal problem (tumor, etc). A week of not eating wouldn't have killed her. Poor thing.
I love your ray pics. They are adorable. It's cool how they mug for the camera and let you pet them!

 

[polarpooch]

AC,
One other thing: I did read that Atlantic rays have a lifespan of about 9 years. Maybe it's similar for yellows.