Zebra eel PLEASE HELP

[tattooguru]

heres the scoop in a nut shell. i've had my zebra eel for apporx six months. Water paramaters are as perfect as i can make em. Amona=0,Nitrites=0,Nirtates,10 or less,PH=8.3,Alk=12-14,salinaity,1.025. lights on approx 7-8 hours a day. refuge light on opposite time of that 9pm to 6 Am. 75g display loads of live rock and plenty of caves and hiding area for him. have two 30lbs bags of select grade sand. closed loop running during the day with return running 24/7. plenty of flow throughout tank. 30g sump fuge. loads of LR,cheto,calupra, and a deep sand bed. Aqua C Ev 120 with mag 5 pump for skimmer. mag 9.5 for return. feed every other day. have white cheek tang (5 inches), huma ****ico trigger (3-4 inches), and the zebra eel (aprox 20 inches). I cannot see any sores or anything unusual on the eel and the other fish are acting fine. I have done several freash water dips with no success. The first thing that tipped me off was the eel started thrashing his head from side to side. He hasent eating that i can tell in apporx two months now. i feed him clams on the half shell and krill. i spoke with someone at Live Aquaria and they suggested that i try some shrimp,squid,or even scollops. He used to swim quit aggrssivley when feeding time came up, now he just lays behind the rock and nothing. If u all have any questions please feel free to email me write me back here or even if nessary to help firgure this thing out call me or i can call u. thank you all for your time and hope someone has a anwser casue i'm about to beat my brians out. PLEASE HELP ME. jason

[LisaD]

Sorry, I'm stumped. I've had mine several years, and it is the sole survivor of a tank wipe-out, from disease, back in 2005. All my well-established long term fish died, and it never even acted sick.

Is it possible it could have eaten something that caused an internal problem, like impaction, tearing or poisoning? If the other fish are fine, that's all I can think of with the eel. Mine is and was bulletproof. Can it open it's mouth normally? Does it seem at all interested in food?

You might try live fiddler crabs if you can get them, mine loves those.

[tattooguru]

he can open his mouth fully and i'm not sure if he needs a laxative or something. he pulls away from the food when i offer it to him. wouldnt the trigger go after the crabs? if noone ate the crabs would they hurt anything?

[Pete]

Stop worrying. My whitemouth has gone for weeks and weeks without eating several times over the last few years. A couple more questions though. have you painted the house recently, or used some other aerosal or other strong cleaning agent. Airborne particles can easily find their way into your water and cause havoc on eels sensitive sense of smell. i noticed this after I painted without sealing off the area, the result was my eel went off feed for over a month. A few water changes later and with the help of some squid (he loves it) he was eating again. The best thing you could do is a couple of large water changes, it cant hurt. In time hopefully he'll come out of it. I never had a prob;em with eels staying off feed 'til death!, and this is over the course of almost 10 years and 7 eels. Eels are among the toughest things you'll have in your tank. Good luck.

[tattooguru]

no i have not painted or anything like that. the only thing i use is windex on a papertowel to clean the glass. thanks for the input though. i am going to the grocie store today and c if i can find some squid for him.

[LisaD]

wouldnt the trigger go after the crabs? if noone ate the crabs would they hurt anything?

The trigger would go after the fiddlers. They wouldn't hurt anything in your tank, but I'm pretty sure they would get eaten. You could try adding them at night, when the eel could find them, but the trigger would be sleeping.

[jda]

My zebra would go a month or more without eating. Then, one day, it would decide to eat again. When it was on a hunger strike, I would rarely see it out and about.

[AquaKnight]

Hmm, it's been two months since he stopped eating, and the eel has been FW dipped 'several' times? What tipped you off to do a FW dip? Did you evaulate what, if anything, fell off after the first dip?

[tattooguru]

the tip off was the head thrashing. after the first dip i did not see anything. However the people at Foster and Smith said i may not because it may be to small to see with my eye. He has been hiding alot since all this started. He used to swim aggressivley when feeding time in the evening came close. now i hardley ever see him at all. thank you all so much for taking time to try and help me with it. You all are the best ever.

[LisaD]

This is a tough one. I found my zebra moray to be resistant to external parasites. Other fish in the tank could be infected, the eel would be fine. I find it hard to understand why your other fish would not show symptoms, while the eel had problems. I don't think the FW dip would be a solution.

[AquaKnight]

Eels are notoriously resistant, though not immune, to the usual marine diseases, flukes, Ich, etc. If you didn't see anything the first time, the next 'several' FW dips only stressed the eel further. Stop doing that, and offer some tasty live food, fiddler crabs and bait shrimp if possible, and just give the eel his time.

[tattooguru]

what is a bait shrimp? and should i put them in "live"?

[AquaKnight]

I meant bait shrimp as in the live SW shrimp you buy from a bait/tackle store. Not too sure how many there are where you are though. Putting them in alive should attract them more. Probably more so the trigger. But he won't get all of them.

[tattooguru]

have any of you heard of giving a vitamin B12 shot to restimulate eating?? thats something my buddy brought up to me. any thoughts on that?

[tattooguru]

i got up early this morn just to check him out and the moonlights were still on. i saw him sticking out about 25% of his body and looking around. I'm gonna give him some more time for sure but with my size tank could i add another eel snowflake or some other perhaps. the inhabints are the zebra eel, pisco trigger, and the whitecheek tang. or am i at my limit? again thanks for all your alls help and reafmeration that all is normal in my little peice of heaven.:D :D :D

[jda]

I would not handle the fish.

I would also leave everything alone for a little while... at least until it eats again.