Apparent wound on California Stingray

[Kevomac]

I have a Round Ray that I have had for about 11 months in my 120 with assorted tankmates. She showed an early tendency for aggresiveness, when she attacked and killed a small radiata lion. She has simce settled down a lot, but has occassionally shown a lump just to the rear of her mouth. Recently, I noticed what looked like an abrasion on that lump, which has now turned into a small bright red sore. I am very puzzled and very concerned. None of her tankmates (brittle stars, naso tang, tennenti tang, snails, clarks clown, miniatus grouper, and coral beauty angel fish) could have caused this wound that I know of, and the tank parameters measure within normal range. The substrate of the tank is crushed aragonite. Any ideas?

[rshimek]

Hi,

I have moved the thread here, as you are bound to get more and better help than I could give you in my forum.

:D

[billsreef]

What is the grain size of your aragonite. The best substrate for rays is fine sand as anything larger does tend to abrade their undersides. Usually removing the offending substrate and providing good water quality is sufficient for these type of wounds to heal themselves.

[Kevomac]

The grain size is not much more than 1/32 of an inch in diameter. I did not start the tank with sand becuase I was told it would leave the tank cloudy every time the ray buried herself. My tank has been set up for almost four years now, so I am worried about what would happen if I try to change the substrate, especially with such a heavy bio-load as I have right now. If I tried to remove the crushed aragonite and replace it with sand, would my tank start re-cycling? If so, I fear I would lose everything. I currently have about 3"-4" of crushed aragonite. Could I romove some of it with my gravel cleaner and overlay the rest with sand? If so, should I use livesand, or just regular dry aquarium sand? I would love to have a sand substrate, but know nothing about how to put one in without messing up my water quality. Also, how do you clean a sand substrate? Do you vacuum it like you do gravel, or do you just do water changes?

[billsreef]

There's a thread or two in Dr. Rons forum on doing the sand replacement thing. Once the sand has really settled in the ray wont kick up more dust than can settle back out after a few minutes. Since the ray is likely to snack on most detritivores you will need to occasionally vacuum the sand. It can be done like you do with the crushed aragonite, just need to use a slower flow rate to prevent sucking up too much sand ;)