lNeed help with my pacu

[Stephen]

Dose anybody know what is wrong with my Pacu it's eye looks a pimpull is on it other one mouth looks bad an one has a open soure on it side I lost 20 of them moving from Bainbridge island to Poulsbo I open the tub I used to move them an looked liked all of them died but there was 6 still kind of moving I took them out put them in there tank with General cure API and aquarium salt and has been using the milafix an still are not looking good an barely eating

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[clownie]

My first question..... what were you going to do with twenty pacus? You Do know how big they get...right? More details needed for help.....how were they doing before the move?, What type tank filtration before move? You just mention a "tub" you moved them in, any areation? How long were they in said tub? Where there any other types of fish in the same tub?

 

[DMD123]

Those sure dont look like pacu... Looks more like red belly piranha.
Just an FYI these are not legal here in Washington state. If you are located in Washington state that is?

 

[lloyd378]

Hard to see the pimple on the head, but white pimples are usually the start of hole in the head....can be treated with metro or general cure. With hole in the head disease, or lateral line disease, it’s better to prevent rather than treat after the fact. Common symptoms of HITH is poor diet ( live foods), poor water quality, or a mix of both with some sort of stressor.....

With that being said, I agree with clownie on getting us some additional information .

Also, I have kept many pacu, red hooks, silver dollars, and even piranha (when I lived in Oregon). In my personal experience, these are not pacu, but rather, juvenile red belly piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri). I would need to see better pics to make an actual determination, but if they are piranha then you only have a couple of options as they are illegal in WA state. ( as a forum, we have a long standing traditon of not promoting illegal or invasive species.... just an FYI)

 

[lloyd378]

Those sure dont look like pacu... Looks more like red belly piranha.
Just an FYI these are not legal here in Washington state. If you are located in Washington state that is?

You beat me it! Maybe I shouldn’t be so long winded. Haha

 

[lloyd378]

Oh, and to the OP, I’d also up the water changes to almost daily..... it could also be popeye and the wound on its side looks like aggression from another fish. You may need to separate.

What foods are you feeding them?

 

[sir_keith]

Those sure dont look like pacu... Looks more like red belly piranha.
Just an FYI these are not legal here in Washington state. If you are located in Washington state that is?

Totally agree. While fishing for piranha in small boats on the Amazon, we would often put them into 'tubs' as holding tanks, and by the time we got back to the mother ship, they'd pretty much all be dead, or nearly so. BTW, they're quite tasty...

 

[sir_keith]

...the wound on its side looks like aggression from another fish...

Yeah, like a piranha attack...

 

[lloyd378]

Here is a juvenile red belly pacu for reference..... did any of the medications work/ or how did you decided to proceed? Updates?

 

[Stephen]

They are red bellied. I have 2 and they had babies and I kept all the babies I started off what's close to 80 that made it past the fry and then survival of the fittest I was left with 20 I had them in a 55 gallon acrylic with the Aqaron quiet forlow 70 with magnam canister filter. They where alright in the 55 maybe a lil over crowded I was going to put them in 125 in my new house an they did not like lite so I moved from Bainbridge to Poulsbo and they're in the tub maybe an hour and a half with a heater and I put stress coat and a lifeguard tablet in there I already had the chance in my new house running store a few days so it was ready to go when I got them to the house but then when I open the top this is what I saw

 

[sir_keith]

If they spawned spontaneously in an aquarium, this would be a clear indication that these fishes are piranhas, not pacus. See, for example, here- https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/breeding-red-belly-pacu.29866/

 

[lloyd378]

They are red bellied. I have 2 and they had babies and I kept all the babies I started off what's close to 80 that made it past the fry and then survival of the fittest I was left with 20 I had them in a 55 gallon acrylic with the Aqaron quiet forlow 70 with magnam canister filter. They where alright in the 55 maybe a lil over crowded I was going to put them in 125 in my new house an they did not like lite so I moved from Bainbridge to Poulsbo and they're in the tub maybe an hour and a half with a heater and I put stress coat and a lifeguard tablet in there I already had the chance in my new house running store a few days so it was ready to go when I got them to the house but then when I open the top this is what I sawView attachment 4776 View attachment 4777

Looks like they didn’t have enough oxygen that or the water had some sort of chemicals in it that affected them quickly....

 

[clownie]

If they spawned spontaneously in an aquarium, this would be a clear indication that these fishes are piranhas, not pacus. See, for example, here- https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/breeding-red-belly-pacu.29866/

That being said.......you have illegal fish! Kudos for having bred them and raising them to that size.