Aquarium Fish Forum

I just bought 3 columbian sharks and 1 got very sick within a couple days so I'm guessing he was sick when I got him. The other 2 are still healthy and don't have any problems. I'm not sure what is wrong with the sick one or what I should treat him with. He doesn't eat, and most of the time he doesn't even try to swim around. Once and a while he will but its usually very slow. Just would like some help to treat him before he is dead.


Thanks:sorry:

Does the sick fish so any signs of parasite or fungal disease (white spots, cotton mouth, fuzzy spots, etc.)?
Are any of the fins damaged or not working?

Is the sick fish bloated?



I don't know much about columbian sharks but you may want to research what their favorite food is and try feeding it either live or frozen. Sometimes newly moved angelfish will go into a slight shock much like how you described your shark. Angelfish can usually be enticed to eat with live or frozen brine shrimp.



Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Hopefully it all works out for the good.

Hey enasnitsi ~ welcome to the forum!


Lumpydogs definitely has some good questions and I'm not sure how much more I could add other than to ask what, if any, procedures or techniques you might have used to acclimate your new fish to your tank? This is a pretty stressful event for the fish so this could account for the odd behavior.


On a sidenote, even though I don't know what your exact situation is, just in case I just wanted to point out that columbian sharks might be pretty challenging over the long run as well. I don't know exact numbers off the top of my head but I believe they are potentially very large fish that require brackish conditions to really live to their full potential.


TG