Eel in Hypo not eating

[Torno]

Well my main tank is running fallow for six weeks to eliminate ich, so I put my medium snowflake in a 10 gallon hyposalinity tank for the time his tank is empty. He's been in there for about 3 weeks and hasnt eaten a thing. I've offered his favorite (krill pieces with Vibrance 2) and he has no interest, Is this normal for fish not to eat while in hypo? When should I start getting worried?


Thanks

[pitt_prodigy]

What is your specific gravity in your qt tank? Is your main tank still cycling? What are your water params? Why are you putting him in hypo to begin with.... are you battling a parasite?

Without knowing a little more it will be tough for anyone to help.

[BTTRFLYGRL]

I don't think an eel should be in hypo..I would SLOWLY start raising your temp//if its in with other fish being treated for ich, I'd get him his own tank

[Torno]

In my qt tank it is about 1.009-1.010. The main tank is fallow in order to kill the parasite ich. I was told if I left my eel in the main tank, he would have kept the ich alive and thats why i had to move him. Hes in the 10 gallon by himself and hes in hypo to kill any ich that MAY be on him.

[SW1TCH]

1.009-1.010 is way to low for the eel. Also as far as i know eels dont get ich. The 1.009-1.010 is probley the reason the eel isnt eating.

[stevebydac]

I've done hypo that low and it hasn't been a problem. But perhaps your moray is a bit more sensitive. Raise the level to 1.014, which will still be rough on any tomites that might hatch. I'd then offer him some live food, like ghost shrimp or a small crayfish. Go to 1.016 if he doesn't improve.

Eels can go a long time without eating, but 3 weeks is quite a while. I'd try different foods each day until he eats.

Also, make sure your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are good. Even though he has not eaten levels can be bad. Make sure your pH is good too.

And 10 gallons sounds too small if he is "medium", which to me means 15-20". If that is his size, he should be in a bigger QT.

Good luck!

[swegyptian]

FYI, my 18" snowflake went 5 weeks with no food.

[RGBMatt]

If it's been 3 weeks in hypo already, the ich should be gone so raising the salinity back to normal shouldn't hurt.

Eels can go for a long time without eating, so you shouldn't be too worried yet. A lot of the time they'll refuse to eat in uncomfortable surroundings.

[Torno]

RGBmatt, thats what I thought about not eating when they're uncomfortable. Thanks you guys, I'll start to raise the SG now and I'll update later on his feeding.

[mitzel]

Your eel . can not get or carry ich. You need to get it in to a bigger tank. its under stress and thats why it is not eatting. The hypo is not helping eel's health.


If your having troubles with ich . My suggestion is to use a product called chem marine stop parasite. I know of a few people including my self that have used this in a reef setting and had excelent results . It's a reef safe 5 day treatment .


:wildone:

[NorthFace]

Running hypo, with eel species is in a tank, is prefectly fine. My pair have gone through a few hypo treatements and have been just fine.

I'm gonna have to agree with Mitzel and say it's stress and it needs to be moved to a bigger tank. While Mitzel said it's not possible for Morays to get or carry ich, that's not entirely correct. It is possible, but the likelyhood of it happening is not very likely.

Also, 3 weeks for an eel to go without eating is like us going for 1/2 a day without eating...it's not a big deal. One of my Morays has gone 2 months without eating and another has gone 3 months.

[Torno]

Hmm thats funny, in my other thread a few weeks ago, I was told to remove the eel in order to kill the ich.
So I can add the eel back to the tank and then it'll be safe to add more fish?

Or put the eel back and finish the fallow period?

[airforcerob]

hi torno,
I completed a 7 week hyposalinity treatment for my 60 gallon tank due to ich from a clownfish from my local fish store.
i have a 12 inch snowflake eel, yellow tang, coral beauty angel, damsel and 2 green chromis. the tang looked the worse.
when deciding how to treat the ich, this article was very helpful:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

in addition, i was able to email atj and he was very good about answering my questions, such as "is it safe to have an eel in hyposalinity?" (1.009). he responded yes--though inverts can't make it in salinity that low.

it seems that from my reading on snowflake eels they can go into a hibernation mode of sorts, and not eat for extended periods of time, as evidenced by other posters to this thread.

the result: my eel ate throughout the treatment and all fish came out on the other side alive and swimming.

i'm not sure what you mean by a "medium" sized snowflake. i would hypothesize that a smaller tank with inadequate hiding places (such as pvc) would stress it out more than anything.

the article is very good, giving good information regarding ich and the myths that surround it.

rob

[RGBMatt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6733738#post6733738 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Torno
Hmm thats funny, in my other thread a few weeks ago, I was told to remove the eel in order to kill the ich.
So I can add the eel back to the tank and then it'll be safe to add more fish?

Or put the eel back and finish the fallow period?

Your main tank must be completely fish-free to kill it. Even though eels are very ich-resistant, the parasites may still be able to complete their life cycle on it. Putting the eel back will most likely put you back to square one with the ich problem.

If you've been running hypo for 3 weeks, the QT is most likely ich-free. But it's still a good idea to leave the fish out of the display tank for another 3-4 weeks.