Eel care guide!

[SashimiTurtle]

So even after the prazi pro he doesn't want to eat. I know you hear alot about eels and hunger strikes, it's usually not a huge concern when he's been moved, new addition or a some other major change to a tank. Every time I've seen an eel go on a hunger strike in an established home, there's always been an underlying reason. Maybe you are blocking his view to the tv(lol). My point is it may be something so simple you wouldn't even think it made any difference. Something must have happened to upset him and throw off his appetite.

Yes, no change after two doses of prazipro.

A little backstory in case I left anything out. The eel arrived in September before my 35g cube was set up and cycled. Whole Hawaii aquarium fishing thing... Anyway, I had him in a little 10g with a HOB, nano power head, sand, LR and macros. Everything was great. He was eating from day two, got excited to see me when I got home(he was in the kitchen). Then the 35 was ready in late November and I moved him over. Same situation, ate very well, curious as could be. Then in late December he stopped eating and I started losing fish. Not finding one dead on the bottom, but completely missing. They were all the smallest fish in the tank, so I figured that with the eel not eating and losing fish at the exact same time, it was the eel. Shortly after I moved him over to my 14g IM tank. A little cramped, but he doesn't swim much. I thought with him eating fish, and I still had some in there that he could easily eat I'd have to eventually set up a tank just for him. I have an empty 40 breeder I was going to use for this.

I just recently figured out I had some water quality issues with my DI showing 0ppm, but it was all changed from blue to tan. I hadn't noticed the color change until way after both were completely changed. Something was getting by, as almost any coral that went in the tank, was dead a day to a few days later and every test I had was dead on where it needed to be. A triton test back in December(I think I can't remember when I sent it off but I think I got the results in January) showed some elevated metals, such as nickel, molybdenum, vanadium and tin. I did the recommended water changes and thought I had it taken care of. Evidently it was not. All that has been taken care of now tho. Went thru every piece of equipment, which was all fine, all new DI resin, 90% water change, cuprisorb in the overflow. The tank has looked awesome all week. The one sps I had left is looking much better and gaining color back.

He's back in the 35 now. I know it's a lot of moving in the last 2 months, out of the 35 into the 14 then back to the 35. He'll be much more comfortable in the 35. There are 3 other fish in there, 2 ocellaris clowns and a multicolor fairy wrasse. All of them too large for him to eat, but I now doubt that he ever ate a fish while I have had him. Hopefully here soon he'll come around. He's still himself, and moves around a few times a day to a different hiding spot, he just shows no interest in food. I've tried calamari squid tentacles(his favorite), shrimp, scallop, cod, salmon. Nothing gets a response out of him.

 

[lion king]

Yes, no change after two doses of prazipro.

A little backstory in case I left anything out. The eel arrived in September before my 35g cube was set up and cycled. Whole Hawaii aquarium fishing thing... Anyway, I had him in a little 10g with a HOB, nano power head, sand, LR and macros. Everything was great. He was eating from day two, got excited to see me when I got home(he was in the kitchen). Then the 35 was ready in late mid November and I moved him over. Same situation, ate very well, curious as could be. Then in late December he stopped eating and I started losing fish. Not finding one dead on the bottom, but completely missing. They were all the smallest fish in the tank, so I figured that with the eel not eating and losing fish at the exact same time, it was the eel. Shortly after I moved him over to my 14g IM tank. A little cramped, but he doesn't swim much. I thought with him eating fish, and I still had some in there that he could easily eat I'd have to eventually set up a tank just for him. I have an empty 40 breeder I was going to use for this.

I just recently figured out I had some water quality issues with my DI showing 0ppm, but it was all changed from blue to tan. I hadn't noticed the color change until way after both were completely changed. Something was getting by, as almost any coral that went in the tank, was dead a day to a few days later and every test I had was dead on where it needed to be. A triton test back in December(I think I can't remember when I sent it off but I think I got the results in January) showed some elevated metals, such as nickel, molybdenum, vanadium and tin. I did the recommended water changes and thought I had it taken care of. Evidently it was not. All that has been taken care of now tho. Went thru every piece of equipment, which was all fine, all new DI resin, 90% water change, cuprisorb in the overflow. The tank has looked awesome all week. The one sps I had left is looking much better and gaining color back.

He's back in the 35 now. I know it's a lot of moving in the last 2 months, out of the 35 into the 14 then back to the 35. He'll be much more comfortable in the 35. There are 3 other fish in there, 2 ocellaris clowns and a multicolor fairy wrasse. All of them too large for him to eat, but I now doubt that he ever ate a fish while I have had him. Hopefully here soon he'll come around. He's still himself, and moves around a few times a day to a different hiding spot, he just shows no interest in food. I've tried calamari squid tentacles(his favorite), shrimp, scallop, cod, salmon. Nothing gets a response out of him.

That makes total sense, he's likely going to rebound once he settles in. I would acclimate some ghost shrimp to live with him, maybe even some mollies.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Here he is in the 35 earlier today... found a nice hidey hole under a rock. He would poke out then go back, still a little unsure of where he is. The rocks have been completely changed since he was in here so it's a totally new home.

And I moved his skull over, but it needs some epoxy work to fasten it to the rocks and fill in the completely open bottom so he has a place to rest. I would like to attach a tunnel to the bottom with a piece of vinyl or PVC with an alternate entrance, but it's going to be difficult in an established tank.

Quick question, has anyone kept two GDMs together? I've heard about it being done, but haven't talked to anyone who has actually done it.

 

[tyler1503]

I agree with lion king. He most likely just needs to settle in for a while. That's a lot of moves in a short time.
He should bounce back.
The live food is a great idea too. Make sure you fit load any live food though!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Fed live ghost shrimp last night. I know he at least went after one shortly after adding them to the tank. This morning I found one dead one, and the rest were completely MIA. I'm pretty sure he ate them.

 

[Struggler]

So I am new to eels and I just want to voice some of my concerns before I add one to my tank, and get some advice. First of all @tyler1503 thank you for your post it was amazing and based on that I am most likely going to take your recommendation and get a snowflake. However, I would like my tank to be reef tank so I am worried that the snowflake will make it challenging to work on my reef tank, glueing frags, trimming colonies and so on. Also, I would like to build an eel cave does anyone have recommendation for diameter for a pvc pipe that will be appropriate for an adult snowflake.

 

[Struggler]

Thought I'd add a picture of her.

beautiful I want one so bad! Would it be more difficult or less difficult than a snowflake?

 

[Rosey]

Hi all.. I need advice desperately..

I've got a snowflake that's going on nearly 2 months hunger strike, but that's not the main issue... She was in a tank that got velvet so went through a treatment of CP in a QT. After the velvet I've noticed she had a swelling in her throat and kept holding her breath. I happened upon an article about goiters in eels due to iodine deficiency.. I dosed some iodine directly into the QT and swelling cleared up, super happy about that.. she seemed back to normal (still not eating though) for the past 2 weeks.. then tonight she was holding her breath again..

I did a 50% water change and noticed when the tank was half empty she started breathing again but mucous was expelled out of her gills the first few breaths..

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Hi all.. I need advice desperately..

I've got a snowflake that's going on nearly 2 months hunger strike, but that's not the main issue... She was in a tank that got velvet so went through a treatment of CP in a QT. After the velvet I've noticed she had a swelling in her throat and kept holding her breath. I happened upon an article about goiters in eels due to iodine deficiency.. I dosed some iodine directly into the QT and swelling cleared up, super happy about that.. she seemed back to normal (still not eating though) for the past 2 weeks.. then tonight she was holding her breath again..

I did a 50% water change and noticed when the tank was half empty she started breathing again but mucous was expelled out of her gills the first few breaths..

Any ideas? Thanks!

Any chance there could be copper contamination in the tank with the eel? Any other metals? Eels are VERY sensitive to contamination and take a while to recover.

 

[Rosey]

Any chance there could be copper contamination in the tank with the eel? Any other metals? Eels are VERY sensitive to contamination and take a while to recover.

No chance of copper, I double check all sups and meds because I'm paranoid about poisoning her... The QT is plastic so no metals there... I use metal feeding tweezers?? Cheers

 

[PacsAdmin77]

Hello All,

Need some advice re: my Skeletor moray. I wish I knew about not using copper with eels but mine has been in a QT with copper for about 4 weeks now. The LFS which sold the eel uses copper in all their tanks so I thought it’d be safe to use at home. Anyway, the eel’s actually doing fine with copper QT. However, yesterday, I saw that it’s thrashing its head violently against the bare bottom of the QT and now that Tyler has mentioned the disease signs, this eel has had discolored patches on its body since it’s been in QT. Does anyone know: (1) why it’s thrashing its head like that and (2) if discolored patches are sign of disease (or not)? I had planned to just do a 4-week QT but if there’s something wrong with the eel, I might extend it. Many thanks in advance.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Hello All,

Need some advice re: my Skeletor moray. I wish I knew about not using copper with eels but mine has been in a QT with copper for about 4 weeks now. The LFS which sold the eel uses copper in all their tanks so I thought it’d be safe to use at home. Anyway, the eel’s actually doing fine with copper QT. However, yesterday, I saw that it’s thrashing its head violently against the bare bottom of the QT and now that Tyler has mentioned the disease signs, this eel has had discolored patches on its body since it’s been in QT. Does anyone know: (1) why it’s thrashing its head like that and (2) if discolored patches are sign of disease (or not)? I had planned to just do a 4-week QT but if there’s something wrong with the eel, I might extend it. Many thanks in advance.

I would remove him from copper ASAP. Thrashing off the head usually indicates that the eel is trying to smell and that it is hungry. All of my past eels have done this at feeding time when they are hungry.

 

[Thomashtom]

If it’s 4 weeks you can remove it from the copper it would only be a couple days short

 

[lion king]

I would ask what were you trying to treat with copper, eels are immune to ich and velvet. I don't know the proper terms, but these types of diseases can not attach themselves to eels. I have 2 eels right now that came from velvet tanks, never was effected and never carried the velvet to other tanks. Keep one eel in a velvet tank for a fallow period, then restocked the tank. I have witnessed this with ich several times as well.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I would ask what were you trying to treat with copper, eels are immune to ich and velvet. I don't know the proper terms, but these types of diseases can not attach themselves to eels. I have 2 eels right now that came from velvet tanks, never was effected and never carried the velvet to other tanks. Keep one eel in a velvet tank for a fallow period, then restocked the tank. I have witnessed this with ich several times as well.

Immune isn't the word I would use, altho very highly unlikely to be infected. Eels slime coat keeps the parasites from attaching to the skin. If the eel is severely stressed or sick from some other illness, then it is slightly possible that ich or velvet may be able to penetrate the slime and attach to the fish and complete it's life cycle.

But yea, they are practically immune to ich or velvet. Better than wrasse and I never treat wrasse for ich or velvet. Just for flukes and internal worms(which are about the only parasites that affect eels too).

 

[PacsAdmin77]

So now that QT is over and the skeletor eel’s in the display tank, for the first few days I’ve found it difficult to feed it because the food is always getting snatched up by the trigger fish and wrasse. I’m using feeding tongs but it doesn’t seem to help if the food is gone by the time it reaches the eel. Does anyone know any tips or tricks to feeding eels in a tank of aggressive eaters?

 

[lion king]

[QUOTE="PacsAdmin77,

 

[lion king]

So now that QT is over and the skeletor eel’s in the display tank, for the first few days I’ve found it difficult to feed it because the food is always getting snatched up by the trigger fish and wrasse. I’m using feeding tongs but it doesn’t seem to help if the food is gone by the time it reaches the eel. Does anyone know any tips or tricks to feeding eels in a tank of aggressive eaters?

I used a rigid acrylic rod I had laying around to bat my blueline away, you could use whatever you figure to keep the bandits at bay.

 

[Thomashtom]

You could use a piece of pvc pipe and put the feeding stick in it by the eel and feed the eel

 

[PacsAdmin77]

Now that I’ve developed a feeding schedule that works for the eel (at night with lights out), for the first few days, it would stick its head out from its favorite hole to be fed. This was convenient for both of us. However, it’s since relocated itself to another part of rock work and instead of staying in one spot, it’s moving about as I’m trying to feed it. How does one train such an eel to stay in one spot, or can it be trained at all?