Golden headed moray Siv

[Eagle_Steve]

Not sure if this applies here, but will post it as it may.

Do you have any majano or aiptasia in the tank?

I only ask this, as I had some in my old eel tank (zebra moray) and once some started to grow around the eels main "tunnel" it ended up with "blisters" similar to the ones your eel has. They were on the underside of the head, as this is what the eel would rub when going into its "hidey hole".

 

[lion king]

Not sure if this applies here, but will post it as it may.

Do you have any majano or aiptasia in the tank?

I only ask this, as I had some in my old eel tank (zebra moray) and once some started to grow around the eels main "tunnel" it ended up with "blisters" similar to the ones your eel has. They were on the underside of the head, as this is what the eel would rub when going into its "hidey hole".

Like maybe stinging, or even something else in the tank that could be stinging.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Like maybe stinging, or even something else in the tank that could be stinging.

On my eel, once the aips were removed form that area, it was about 2 weeks and all went away. In that time I added berghia to the tank and no more aips at all lol. managed to catch most of what I could find and gave to a local reefer for their tank.

 

[Kyuubi]

It's not like I have never fed damsels or chromis, it's just very risky. If you are as sure as you can be, it's a judgement call.

I am still voncerned that we haven't given you any answers to your intial concern. I hate exposing eels to meds, with the exception of gc or prazi, so I likely wouldn't just throw meds at then without knowing what I was treating. Eels can have issues with antibiotics, sometimes showing up many months later. I would maje sure your water quality is optimum, even adding macro algae for filtration, macro is a great addition to maintain good water quality in a predator tank. How big is he, make sure what even dead foodyou tempt then with isn't too large, slices no bigger than the width if their mouths.

If you see those blisters getting inflamed then tgat's when I would seriously consider a broad spectrun antibiotic. The hospital tabk can have no porous material, a pvc pipe that's all. And a cycled sponge filter, your tank can evenbe s lsrge storage type container, covered.

Just a thought and question. I'm not a fan of cq, with the thick slime coating of the eel, could the cq somehow have made a gaseous trap beneath the slime coating. If so then it may just resolve itself.

So he’s about a foot just a bit smaller! I bought some more macro algae today, some caluerpa species that were legal for me to get and I have more chaeto+dragons breath in the display as well as the fuge, I tested the water and everything seems fine, my corals are looking fine too, so I think the water should be fine. He’s by himself, and I think total water volume is about 125 with the sump

 

[Kyuubi]

Not sure if this applies here, but will post it as it may.

Do you have any majano or aiptasia in the tank?

I only ask this, as I had some in my old eel tank (zebra moray) and once some started to grow around the eels main "tunnel" it ended up with "blisters" similar to the ones your eel has. They were on the underside of the head, as this is what the eel would rub when going into its "hidey hole".

So I actually did have a curlique anemone hitchhiker when I first got the rocks about a year ago, but I haven’t seen it since I changed the rocks, and I haven’t seen any aiptaisa in the tank, but I do have a lot of rocks in the aquarium along with pvc pipes covered in more rocks for caves

 

[lion king]

So he’s about a foot just a bit smaller! I bought some more macro algae today, some caluerpa species that were legal for me to get and I have more chaeto+dragons breath in the display as well as the fuge, I tested the water and everything seems fine, my corals are looking fine too, so I think the water should be fine. He’s by himself, and I think total water volume is about 125 with the sump

Do you have any stinging corals at all, @Eagle_Steve may be on to something. I've never seen that before and everything you are doing sounds good. I like caulerpa as well.

 

[Kyuubi]

Do you have any stinging corals at all, @Eagle_Steve may be on to something. I've never seen that before and everything you are doing sounds good. I like caulerpa as well.

The corals I currently have are: australiomussa, two torch, one frogspawn, 1 scoly, and a few plate corals

 

[fishguy242]

how is he doing now ?
any worse,any better ?
eating ? behavior ?
recent pic ?

 

[Kyuubi]

how is he doing now ?
any worse,any better ?
eating ? behavior ?
recent pic ?

Last night when he peaked his little head out he looked the same, all feeder fish are accounted for so he hasn’t eaten again. It looked like he has extra slime that was being produced, and it looks like he might have scraped his top fin from what little of him I saw

 

[lion king]

The corals I currently have are: australiomussa, two torch, one frogspawn, 1 scoly, and a few plate corals

Continuing down this tangent, torches and frogspawn are stinging corals, would they happen to be placed near the opening of his spots. I'm not saying this is it, just trying to find something.

Eels eat on a gouge/fast cycle, so don't get so worried about him not eating on demand. In captivity it's probably not a good idea to provide a continuous food source. Eels and other predators that eat on this cycle need time between feedings for digestion. If they have been been eating daily, they may just go on a self fast. Too frequent feedings can also lead to fatty liver disease, an eel his size would do well to eat about every 3 days, as he matures that time can go to once a week. Let them eat their full, gorge, on feeding day. It may a bit to get his specific schedule and amount but in the long run it will be better to duplicate the gorge/fast feeding cycle the live in the wild. After eating his full he'll likely return to his den and chill, he'll let you know when he is hungry by getting super active, hunting mode. No more than every other day depending on much he eats and how soon he goes back into hunting mode, growing boys and girls do need to eat more often, but not every day.

 

[Kyuubi]

Continuing down this tangent, torches and frogspawn are stinging corals, would they happen to be placed near the opening of his spots. I'm not saying this is it, just trying to find something.

Eels eat on a gouge/fast cycle, so don't get so worried about him not eating on demand. In captivity it's probably not a good idea to provide a continuous food source. Eels and other predators that eat on this cycle need time between feedings for digestion. If they have been been eating daily, they may just go on a self fast. Too frequent feedings can also lead to fatty liver disease, an eel his size would do well to eat about every 3 days, as he matures that time can go to once a week. Let them eat their full, gorge, on feeding day. It may a bit to get his specific schedule and amount but in the long run it will be better to duplicate the gorge/fast feeding cycle the live in the wild. After eating his full he'll likely return to his den and chill, he'll let you know when he is hungry by getting super active, hunting mode. No more than every other day depending on much he eats and how soon he goes back into hunting mode, growing boys and girls do need to eat more often, but not every day.

As of today he’s still alive, hasn’t taken to any frozen or live foods since the bubbles have appeared. Looks like they have centralized around his eyes and on the top of his head. He’s definitely skinny now, but looked a little more alert so I’ll try the frozen food buffet again tonight and see if he’ll eat anything. The chromis and cleaner shrimps have gotten fat on the leftovers lol

 

[lion king]

I am concerned, while some will say eels commonly go on hunger strikes, there is always a reason that needs to be addressed. I would be tempted to try a broad spectrum antibiotic at this point, but you would have to remove to a qt tank. Do any of the chromis show any signs.

 

[Kyuubi]

I am concerned, while some will say eels commonly go on hunger strikes, there is always a reason that needs to be addressed. I would be tempted to try a broad spectrum antibiotic at this point, but you would have to remove to a qt tank. Do any of the chromis show any signs.

So the same day I posted, i had removed him to the quarantine tank and treated him with eel safe broad spectrum antibiotics I got from my lfs. He hadn’t eaten in the quarantine tank either and the bubbles seemed to spread towards his gills. Unfortunately today after I got home from work he had passed I’m still unsure what was going on with him, the treatment didn’t seem to do anything for the bubbles on him. The chromis in the main aquarium are doing fine, eating super well, the shrimps are fine and active during feeding, and don’t show signs of distress. Do you think it may not have been a viral or bacterial infection, but maybe a sort of cancer or tumor situation?