My Pacu won't eat.

[Lancer]

I have a 3 year old Pacu that has quit eating. About a week ago
I walked by his tank and startled him. He banged into the side of the
tank and cut his top and bottom lip up. I had been feeding him a mix
of cocktail shrimp, celery and apples. Now he will come over to the
food and put his mouth on it and spit it out. Should I just give him
more time to let his mouth heel up? Can you force feed a fish? He is
about 14 inches long, might be quite a task to try that.

Thanks

[NetMax]

"Lancer" > wrote in message
...
> I have a 3 year old Pacu that has quit eating. About a week ago
> I walked by his tank and startled him. He banged into the side of the
> tank and cut his top and bottom lip up. I had been feeding him a mix
> of cocktail shrimp, celery and apples. Now he will come over to the
> food and put his mouth on it and spit it out. Should I just give him
> more time to let his mouth heel up? Can you force feed a fish? He is
> about 14 inches long, might be quite a task to try that.
>
> Thanks

Loss of appetite is often indicative of poor water quality or a disease,
so could the mouth damage just be coincidental timing? It would be
instructive to know the water parameters. How big is your tank that it
holds a young 14" Pacu? I wouldn't try force-feeding for now. He could
probably go without food for a couple of weeks. Make sure there is no
uneaten food being left to pollute the water. You might try an algae
wafer. They soften up after a while.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Lancer]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 00:15:46 -0400, "NetMax"
> wrote:

>"Lancer" > wrote in message
...
>> I have a 3 year old Pacu that has quit eating. About a week ago
>> I walked by his tank and startled him. He banged into the side of the
>> tank and cut his top and bottom lip up. I had been feeding him a mix
>> of cocktail shrimp, celery and apples. Now he will come over to the
>> food and put his mouth on it and spit it out. Should I just give him
>> more time to let his mouth heel up? Can you force feed a fish? He is
>> about 14 inches long, might be quite a task to try that.
>>
>> Thanks
>
>Loss of appetite is often indicative of poor water quality or a disease,
>so could the mouth damage just be coincidental timing? It would be
>instructive to know the water parameters. How big is your tank that it
>holds a young 14" Pacu? I wouldn't try force-feeding for now. He could
>probably go without food for a couple of weeks. Make sure there is no
>uneaten food being left to pollute the water. You might try an algae
>wafer. They soften up after a while.

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately he died last night. His water
quality was fine, everything in range. His eyes started to cloud
over, might have been a bacteria infection. He was in a 55 gallon
tank by himself, and was hand fed, so there wasn't any uneaten food
left.

[NetMax]

"Lancer" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 00:15:46 -0400, "NetMax"
> > wrote:
>
> >"Lancer" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> I have a 3 year old Pacu that has quit eating. About a week
ago
> >> I walked by his tank and startled him. He banged into the side of
the
> >> tank and cut his top and bottom lip up. I had been feeding him a
mix
> >> of cocktail shrimp, celery and apples. Now he will come over to the
> >> food and put his mouth on it and spit it out. Should I just give
him
> >> more time to let his mouth heel up? Can you force feed a fish? He
is
> >> about 14 inches long, might be quite a task to try that.
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >
> >Loss of appetite is often indicative of poor water quality or a
disease,
> >so could the mouth damage just be coincidental timing? It would be
> >instructive to know the water parameters. How big is your tank that
it
> >holds a young 14" Pacu? I wouldn't try force-feeding for now. He
could
> >probably go without food for a couple of weeks. Make sure there is no
> >uneaten food being left to pollute the water. You might try an algae
> >wafer. They soften up after a while.
>
> Thanks for the advice, unfortunately he died last night. His water
> quality was fine, everything in range. His eyes started to cloud
> over, might have been a bacteria infection. He was in a 55 gallon
> tank by himself, and was hand fed, so there wasn't any uneaten food
> left.

Sorry to hear that. Now you have a big empty tank to fill.....
--
www.NetMax.tk