Red rash on shark belly.

SilvermistInc · Sep 4, 2022

Just wondering if this is a nutrition issue, or if she's just rubbing up against the sand too much. Aptasia has also exploded after I added her. Probably due to how messy of an eater she is. Could she also be getting rashes from their stings, or is her skin too thick for that?

Her diet is 100% LRS Nano Reef Frenzy. I haven't gotten around to making any shark vitamin gummies for her yet. But I do have a massive container of the stuff.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 4, 2022

That's erythema, something sharks often get as a reaction to stress. It could be from the Aiptasia, but I see this a lot in sharks for no discernable reason. This isn't a very severe case. In the absence of any other symptoms, I don't think you need to do anything but trying to keep the Aiptasia out of its swimming/resting areas.

Jay

SilvermistInc · Sep 4, 2022

Jay Hemdal said:
That's erythema, something sharks often get as a reaction to stress. It could be from the Aiptasia, but I see this a lot in sharks for no discernable reason. This isn't a very severe case. In the absence of any other symptoms, I don't think you need to do anything but trying to keep the Aiptasia out of its swimming/resting areas.

Jay

Oh boy oh boy. Looks like I'm gonna go through sooo much Aiptasia RX.

Aspect · Sep 4, 2022

It's usually a reaction to stress and or rough surface/glass on the bottom of the tank. Taking it out of water certainly is not a good thing to do in any situation with a shark.

SilvermistInc · Sep 4, 2022

Aspect said:
It's usually a reaction to stress and or rough surface/glass on the bottom of the tank. Taking it out of water certainly is not a good thing to do in any situation with a shark.

Taking it out was literally the only way to get any good photos. But it's fine now. You are wrong about taking it out of water with this shark though. They evolved specifically to walk on land.

Aspect · Sep 4, 2022

SilvermistInc said:
Taking it out was literally the only way to get any good photos. But it's fine now

If it's going to stress the shark, then it's not worth getting good pictures. So, you know for the future.

Aspect · Sep 4, 2022

Sharks are very very very easily stressed delicate creatures. Something like this could set off a bad chain of events. If stressed enough they will not eat, and it can be very difficult to get them eating again.

SilvermistInc · Sep 4, 2022

Sharks being delicate? Lol what

RedoubtReef · Sep 4, 2022

SilvermistInc said:
Taking it out was literally the only way to get any good photos. But it's fine now. You are wrong about taking it out of water with this shark though. They evolved specifically to walk on land.

wait, what?!? It walks on land?

Aspect · Sep 4, 2022

SilvermistInc said:
Sharks being delicate? Lol what

Do you think I'm joking? These are live creatures and there is not an infinite amount of them. You need to be more careful with what you're doing. Sharks are very delicate in terms of stress factors they can get stressed out quite easily, more than likely the reason your shark's belly is red is because of stress.

Aspect · Sep 4, 2022

RedoubtReef said:
wait, what?!? It walks on land?

Yes, they will sometimes get washed in with the waves and search for prey in tidal pools. However how their behavior in their natural habitat and in captivity are 2 very different things.

sfin52 · Sep 4, 2022

RedoubtReef said:
wait, what?!? It walks on land?

It's an Epaulette shark yes they are designed to walk on land or across the reef during low tides. This allows them to access tide pools.

SilvermistInc · Sep 4, 2022

RedoubtReef said:
wait, what?!? It walks on land?

Yup. They're cute as hell too

Jay Hemdal · Sep 4, 2022

SilvermistInc said:
Taking it out was literally the only way to get any good photos. But it's fine now. You are wrong about taking it out of water with this shark though. They evolved specifically to walk on land.

I didn’t mention holding the shark cause I figured it was a done deal, However, I’ve damaged epaulettes holding them in hand or in nets - they can really twist their bodies as an escape response. I’ve had sharks show hand/finger prints the day after being restrained. It can also cause erythema itself.

Little guys like these have less mass to them, so if you’re careful it is probably ok. - but going forward I would try to avoid handling them.

Jay

Aspect · Sep 4, 2022

Thanks for clarifying as well Jay, I was not worried about the shark being out of water as they can be out of water over an hour without an issue just the fact that taking them out of their home and handling them most likely will cause them more stress.