Golden Dwarf Eel in dire condition

[Devin Lange]

He's had a thing for a while where he would twitch his head for a few seconds. I thought nothing of it until a day ago he's been having full body seizures where's he's been swimming upside down in spastic movements. He's eating just fine surprisingly, the water's fine I double checked it (alkalinity was a bit high but we fixed that), no stray voltage, nothing that would sting him. I've seen videos of eels doing this in the wild and in the tank, but no one could explain the behavior. I've done lots of research and it's either parasites, a thiamine defiency, or he has nerve damage. Please help I keep getting told not to worry but it's starting to look serious with him flailing all over the place.

 

[Ranjib]

#reefsquad

 

[Muttley000]

How long have you had him and what have you been feeding? What else is in the tank?

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

How are the other inhabitants? What’s his food?

 

[Devin Lange]

Been feeding him frozen clams and mysis w/ vitamins every two days. He shares the 90 gal tank with a Longnose Hawk, two Clowns, a Blue Spotted Toby, and a Redtail Filefish. He's been doing this ever since we got him and he's doing I weird shaking movement when he is idle. He'll go ballistic in the tank every 2 days. I have noted that this behavior stops after he has just eaten.

 

[DarthSimon]

Have you ever offered Silversides? My dwarf readily accepts them...

 

[W@tchm@n]

I think head shaking is something they do when trying to determine if there is any food about.. Probably why it's stops after getting some grub down..

 

[Devin Lange]

Not tried silversides, but he isn't a picky eater. I don't know how to tell if an eel is having trouble breathing but it sure looks like it. A couple weeks back he was having head spazzes and now he looks like he's bobbing up and down. I'm not counting on him dying but it's a 300 dollar eel and I dunno how I'd find another one :/

 

[wesman42]

This is indicative of what I have seen in snowflakes that didn't have a vitamin soaked food regiment.

Thiamine deficiency +1.


Add Selcon to the food before you feed it. It has to be Vitamin B1 or contain it.

It's also possible the eel had a long standing deficiency even before you bought it. This is a common deficiency found in the wild also.

 

[wesman42]

Not tried silversides, but he isn't a picky eater. I don't know how to tell if an eel is having trouble breathing but it sure looks like it. A couple weeks back he was having head spazzes and now he looks like he's bobbing up and down. I'm not counting on him dying but it's a 300 dollar eel and I dunno how I'd find another one :/

Finding another one is hit or miss...sometimes they have them in Divers Den.

 

[Devin Lange]

I have selcon and prazipro. I've been mixing it with prazipro for around 2~ weeks but in very tiny doses and I don't think he gets much. Another question is would it be worth dosing the water with prazipro.

 

[Devin Lange]

Here's a video of what's happening.

 

[Dom]

Have you ever offered Silversides? My dwarf readily accepts them...

From what I've read, appetite isn't the problem.

 

[Devin Lange]

I think he has a thiamine deficiency. He has only eaten frozen mysis and clam, and none of the other fish are acting weird so I doubt parasites. I talked to a few people and they also agreed his diet was the problem. Hopefully he isn't in too bad of a shape and will be able to recover.