Freshwater snowflake eel having trouble breathing

[BobShizzle]

Today i bought a snowflake eel and added it to my clouded eels tank which is at a salinity of .2.

I drip acclimated him for an hour and added him to the tank. I didnt measure the salinity of the water in the bag so i do not know how much of a shock it was.

I know these fish move out to the ocean as they get older but this one is only 10".

He seems to have labored breathing and to be rolling over a bit. I know eels breath heavy but if i breath at the same rate as him i would hyperventilate so i assume he is in rather poor shape. But when he pokes his head out of the cave he may stop breathing for a moment and he is moving around inside of the rock work .

The eel has been in the tank 11 hours now.
Is there anything i can do?

Should i put him in a bucket of brackish ?

Should i throw him in with my mudskipper?

Or just leave it?

The tank read abt 5ppm nitrate but i suppose there could be ammonia since theres a few dead ghost shrimp in the tank. The other eel is breathing normally though. I am running carbon and prime to detoxify possible ammonia in the short term.

 

[ScubaShane]

???? Snowflake eels are Saltwater only. Salinity of 1.021-1.025. NOT BRACKISH!!! Never leave anything dead in your tank period!!!!

 

[BobShizzle]

Its really .23. i was just pointing out that its a full on marine tank, and i cant just lower the salinity due to the other eel.

 

[ScubaShane]

Its really .23. i was just pointing out that its a full on marine tank, and i cant just lower the salinity due to the other eel.

Do you mean 1.023? I would do a 10% water change to lower Nitrates.

 

[BobShizzle]

Wouldnt the prime eliminate nitrate as being a factor in his breathing?

 

[Ben.QLD2]

Maybe to avoid confusion you should post what all of your parameters are.

5ppm nitrate shouldn't harm anything.

Prime will not remove nitrate.

I've never heard of a freshwater snowflake eel so the most likely problem is going to be your salinity killing the eel.

Did you research this fish prior to purchasing it?

There really should be a license required to keep living creatures.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

If by "freshwater snowflake moray" you mean Gymnothorax tile, or the Indian mud moray, salt is not the issue. I've dropped those into full saltwater from almost-fresh with no problems. The species spends their lives in estuaries or the ocean, only entering freshwater to breed.

If the fish is moving around in the tank it may just be stressed from the move. Sometimes longer drip acclimations can do more harm than good, especially if the fish was shipped to you. Long drip acclimations can leave the fish starved of oxygen if the drip is too slow, and if the fish was shipped to you the ammonia built up in their bag water becomes more of a problem when exposed to fresh oxygen during the process. This can lead to mild ammonia poisoning/burns.

The other potential is a parasite issue. As far as parasites go, eels typically only run into gill flukes. Labored breathing and head shaking as well as frequent yawning and cloudy eyes are typical signs. Keep an eye out for these and prepare to treat for such if you have to.

 

[BobShizzle]

Gymnothorax tile and echnida nebulosa . Prime detoxifys ammonia nitrite and nitrate for 24-48 hours.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Gymnothorax tile and echnida nebulosa . Prime detoxifys ammonia nitrite and nitrate for 24-48 hours.

Nothing really to substantiate that claim other than good faith for the company. Just do a water change if you think there's an issue with ammonia. Nitrite shouldn't be harmful in saltwater, and nitrate is virtually harmless to fish.

 

[BobShizzle]

If by "freshwater snowflake moray" you mean Gymnothorax tile, or the Indian mud moray, salt is not the issue. I've dropped those into full saltwater from almost-fresh with no problems. The species spends their lives in estuaries or the ocean, only entering freshwater to breed.

If the fish is moving around in the tank it may just be stressed from the move. Sometimes longer drip acclimations can do more harm than good, especially if the fish was shipped to you. Long drip acclimations can leave the fish starved of oxygen if the drip is too slow, and if the fish was shipped to you the ammonia built up in their bag water becomes more of a problem when exposed to fresh oxygen during the process. This can lead to mild ammonia poisoning/burns.

The other potential is a parasite issue. As far as parasites go, eels typically only run into gill flukes. Labored breathing and head shaking as well as frequent yawning and cloudy eyes are typical signs. Keep an eye out for these and prepare to treat for such if you have to.

Thank you so much.

I saw my nebulosa twitch his head once. But the tile is presenting trouble breathing but they come from the same website within a week of eachother.

Shall i do a waterchange or would you agree the prime gives them atleast 24 hours to settle in before i change their parameters anymore?

 

[BobShizzle]

Maybe to avoid confusion you should post what all of your parameters are.

5ppm nitrate shouldn't harm anything.

Prime will not remove nitrate.

I've never heard of a freshwater snowflake eel so the most likely problem is going to be your salinity killing the eel.

Did you research this fish prior to purchasing it?

There really should be a license required to keep living creatures.

Its also commonly sold as the bofa eel maybe youve heard it under that name?

 

[BobShizzle]

Ill just chalk it up to dead ghost shrimp

Does Prime actually "Detoxify" free ammonia, NH3?

This started when @Dan_P was looking at measuring NH3 with seneye and was curious about performance near zero NH3. I suggested trying Prime to artificially zero out the NH3 sensor, and the results were weird... so I checked with my seachem kit. Prime by Seachem is commonly used to treat tap...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[TheyGaveItToMe]

Ill just chalk it up to dead ghost shrimp

Does Prime actually "Detoxify" free ammonia, NH3?

This started when @Dan_P was looking at measuring NH3 with seneye and was curious about performance near zero NH3. I suggested trying Prime to artificially zero out the NH3 sensor, and the results were weird... so I checked with my seachem kit. Prime by Seachem is commonly used to treat tap...

www.reef2reef.com

Did you actual read that post?

"according to Seachem's free ammonia kit, Seachem Prime does not do anything to decrease toxic free ammonia, NH3." - literally the conclusion in the post

 

[Slocke]

Sounds like osmotic shock. Eels can be very sensitive to sudden salinity changes did you check the salinity of the bag before adding the tile?

 

[lion king]

Yes as @Slocke eluded to, osmotic shock, even marine animals kept in lower salinity and dropped into a salinity only as little as .002 higher, can suffer from osmotic shock. I would put him in the freshwater tank and hope for the best, tge damage may already be done. At the juvi size they do need fresh or slightly brackish water, and increased as they mature.

 

[Ghostwhisper]

Today i bought a snowflake eel and added it to my clouded eels tank which is at a salinity of .2.

I drip acclimated him for an hour and added him to the tank. I didnt measure the salinity of the water in the bag so i do not know how much of a shock it was.

I know these fish move out to the ocean as they get older but this one is only 10".

He seems to have labored breathing and to be rolling over a bit. I know eels breath heavy but if i breath at the same rate as him i would hyperventilate so i assume he is in rather poor shape. But when he pokes his head out of the cave he may stop breathing for a moment and he is moving around inside of the rock work .

The eel has been in the tank 11 hours now.
Is there anything i can do?

Should i put him in a bucket of brackish ?

Should i throw him in with my mudskipper?

Or just leave it?

The tank read abt 5ppm nitrate but i suppose there could be ammonia since theres a few dead ghost shrimp in the tank. The other eel is breathing normally though. I am running carbon and prime to detoxify possible ammonia in the short term.

Give him vitamin b1
We put vitamin b1 in the silver slide captivity
Our eel was dying
He bounced back after that