Two eels look very bad following tank crash. need advice.

[Hotelbravo]

I recently had a tank crash which has been suspected to be caused by caulerpa nuking the tank. all fish, cleanup crew, anemones, and coral died to include the unkillable green star polyp colony.
the 180 gallon tank only had 2 survivors, one snowflake eel and one zebra moray. They are still alive weeks later however they do not look good. They look like they are in pain and i am wondering if there is any sort of treatment that can be done or if not should i humanely euthanize them? If so...how...?

here is the youtube video of my eels displaying their signs of pain, in the video the snowflake appears alot better but the snowflake does the same stuff as well i just didnt capture it in the video. Sorry for the quality of the video but you guys get the point. BTW the two clowns were added after many water changes so test if the environment was safe and they are both doing great.

 

[melypr1985]

Gosh I'm sorry for this. This doesn't look good. Are they eating? How long ago was the crash? How long have they been acting this way? In your crash did you experience an ammonia spike? If yes - How long as the ammonia there?

We will need some predator help. I know some of the guys/gals in the [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] will be able to help with eels.

 

[Duke4Life]

Tagging along! Welcome over here.

 

[kireek]

I have never seen anything like that behavior.It definitely looks like it is in pain,I am sorry.I hope that you can get some suggestions soon.

 

[Naiad]

My only thought is sever ammonia burns to the gills and other tissues. I'm shocked they survived. It is a tough call on how long to wait it out. The only thing I know to treat ammonia poisoning is crystal clean water and time. The poor guys. They are fighters for sure. [emoji22]

 

[melypr1985]

I'm really not sure how an eel would react to this treatment. If this was a regular fish I'd offer this med as a choice. I dont see any reason why not to try it at this point though.

Malachite Green/Methylene Blue: Treats ammonia burn, cuts, injuries.

How To Treat - Comes in both liquid and powder form, sometimes mixed in with another medication(s). So, follow the directions on the label. Best used as a 30 minute bath solution, but you also can treat with it in a quarantine tank. Aerate heavily. If you are using it in a bath solution, then it is also a good idea to treat the fish with nitrofurazone (active ingredient found in Furan-2 and Nitrofuracin Green Powder) once he is returned to the quarantine tank. Nitrofurazone is great for treating open wounds or sores.

Pros - Highly effective.

Cons/Side Effects - Depletes oxygen from the water. Malachite Green is considered “harsher” on fish than Methylene Blue.

Metronidazole: Treats internal parasites (worms), Brooklynella; possibly Uronema marinum.

 

[46gReef]

The good thing( if there can be one in this situation) is that fish are unable to feel pain, they do not have the brain development necessary. They appear as if they are having neurological issues. You say caulerpa nuked your tank but is it possible something got spilled/accidentally dumped in there? Did you have a lot of corals? If all of your corals died & those guys sat in the tank could I would imagine it's possible they could have some neurological issue due to the release of toxins from the deal corals. Are you running carbon? Hope they rebound, those are some awesome morays, keep us posted.

 

[Hotelbravo]

The tank crashed on April 9th. During the first wave of deaths the ammonia reading tested at .5 I added some ammonia binder and increased the surface agitation to aid in oxygenation. The only corals I had in the tank were palys, zoa's, mushrooms, and gsp. The paly and gsp colony were huge. Also I have been adding large quantities of carbon starting the day after the crash.

I can buy a brute trashcan to use as a hospital tank tonight but where could I buy these medications at??

 

[melypr1985]

I can buy a brute trashcan to use as a hospital tank tonight but where could I buy these medications at??

my LFS sells them and most that cater to saltwater fish would have it I think. Of course, they are used in freshwater too so I'm pretty sure you would be able to find it somewhere. If not then check online. I've used methelyne blue as a 30 minute dip.

Are the eels eating at this point?

 

[Hotelbravo]

No the eels who used to be very eager eaters have not reconvened eating. They will become active when I feed the mysis but when i try their normal food of shrimp or squid they come up to it and nudge it but do not bite into it. I've also added a few glass shrimp that they used to hunt down upon being added to the tank and they have left them alone. I've tried live squid also and still no response.

 

[Humblefish]

It sounds like it could be leftover damage from when everything else got nuked. Your tank probably saw an ammonia spike, especially after all the corals died. Or some corals (mostly softies) will spit toxins into the water when stressed. Those toxins may be gone now, but for how long were your eels exposed to such before the water changes/carbon cleaned up the water?

I know prolonged ammonia exposure can damage a fish’s gills, and then the liver and kidneys. The only thing I can think you could do is use Methylene Blue or Malachite Green (as a bath) to help heal the damage to the gills. But if the damage has already gone to the internal organs, the eels will most likely die.

 

[Hotelbravo]

Well the crash happened on a Saturday night and my LFS didn't open till Tuesday. I bought cheap carbon from Petco on Sunday since LFS was closed and I borrowed about 50 gallons of water from a friend and changed it that Sunday. By Tuesday I bought the high quality carbon and changed more water

 

[zemuss]

How are the Eels doing today?

It almost looks as if they are gasping for air so the gills might be burnt.

 

[Hotelbravo]

The video was taken last night zemuss. They have acted this way the whole time

 

[zemuss]

They are still alive?

Is there any why to enrich the water with an air stone?

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Whats your temp at

 

[miyags]

All fish should of been removed before algae treatment.What did you use to nuke the algae? Can you give the eels away, till you get your tank water safe?What are your nitrite/nirate and ammonia readings now?

 

[Duke4Life]

Hotel buddy I hate that your first post was on this but glad you found your way here. Saw your message and I'm hoping something mentioned on here helps.

 

[Hotelbravo]

Yes the eels are still alive, the temp is at 78, the tank has two returns bringing in oxygen as well as a gyre xf 150 that has one of the two sections pointing at the surface to provide a rough break of the surface tension to aid in gas exchange. Miyags the caulerpa nuked the tank I DID NOT nuke the caulerpa. It was an incident that happened by itself.
Since the 4th or 5th day ammonia went back down to 0 and nitrites have went down to less than 10

 

[Hotelbravo]

Thanks for referring me to this forum Duke, these guys and gals appear more helpful than the other forum that I frequent