Help! Zebra Eel sick/or dying

[CincyReefer07]

Have had my zebra eel for 3 months now and I’ve fed him a raw uncooked table shrimp or scallop every other night or every 2 nights or several chunks of LRS Chunky. Saturday afternoon he was seemingly totally normal, head poking out of his hole just watching the fish swim by. Only thing different was he hasn’t been seemingly hungry since he ate last on Thursday night. And I noticed his tail sticking out of his cave yesterday which was odd as he’s usually totally hidden except his head. Today he looks like he’s dying. Out of his cave, side of tank on his side not moving or wanting any food or moving if touched. Just laying on his side breathing. I’ve had high po4 and no3 the last month that I’ve been working on bringing down but my corals and nem look good and have growth to them and fish are all fine as normal. Alk is at 9, Calcium at 460, salinity 1.025, temp 78, ph 8.3-8.5.

What should I do or can I do if anything??

https://youtube.com/shorts/bnW9xCKi3Yk?feature=share

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have had my zebra eel for 3 months now and I’ve fed him a raw uncooked table shrimp or scallop every other night or every 2 nights or several chunks of LRS Chunky. Saturday afternoon he was seemingly totally normal, head poking out of his hole just watching the fish swim by. Only thing different was he hasn’t been seemingly hungry since he ate last on Thursday night. And I noticed his tail sticking out of his cave yesterday which was odd as he’s usually totally hidden except his head. Today he looks like he’s dying. Out of his cave, side of tank on his side not moving or wanting any food or moving if touched. Just laying on his side breathing. I’ve had high po4 and no3 the last month that I’ve been working on bringing down but my corals and nem look good and have growth to them and fish are all fine as normal. Alk is at 9, Calcium at 460, salinity 1.025, temp 78, ph 8.3-8.5.

What should I do or can I do if anything??

https://youtube.com/shorts/bnW9xCKi3Yk?feature=share

One of the first things to check is nitrate levels to assure not elevated especially with them being messy housekeepers.
Depending what it last ate, may not Be ready for another helping
Assure also normal temperature as it prefers 75-78 degrees
Assure also no aggression

 

[fishguy242]

@lion king @Slocke
JMO, move into separate container w tank water add air stone , JMO
Wait for experts for further advice

 

[Dave1993]

@lion king

 

[CincyReefer07]

One of the first things to check is nitrate levels to assure not elevated especially with them being messy housekeepers.
Depending what it last ate, may not Be ready for another helping
Assure also normal temperature as it prefers 75-78 degrees
Assure also no aggression

The nitrate levels are elevated(last I checked a week ago around 40-45), I know this because for the past month I’ve been working on slowly bringing my no3 and po4 levels down because I realized I was over feeding. But all of my other fish and corals are perfectly fine. Aggression wise I have a gem tang that whenever he ventured out of his rockwork, the gem would get aggressive tail swiping at him. Yellow tangs left him mostly alone as well as my foxface. My foxface used to hang out in the same cave as him.

https://youtube.com/shorts/DNetJb5BSkU?feature=shareThis was him as of Saturday afternoon… completely normal looking as he always looked in his rockwork…

 

[Katrina71]

I don't have eel experience, but I did reach out and it was agreed that it may be a gut issue.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The nitrate levels are elevated(last I checked a week ago around 40-45), I know this because for the past month I’ve been working on slowly bringing my no3 and po4 levels down because I realized I was over feeding. But all of my other fish and corals are perfectly fine. Aggression wise I have a gem tang that whenever he ventured out of his rockwork, the gem would get aggressive tail swiping at him. Yellow tangs left him mostly alone as well as my foxface. My foxface used to hang out in the same cave as him.

https://youtube.com/shorts/DNetJb5BSkU?feature=shareThis was him as of Saturday afternoon… completely normal looking as he always looked in his rockwork…

As suspected and causes many issues with eels and sharks. Regarding aggression, often a cause and also suspected.
Good filtration and skimmer is a must with their housing. These eels are stronger than look and will take a long time to starve.
They do best in lower temp and salinity (74-77 and salt - 1.023-1.024)
Some enticing foods to offer them when not eating are live ghost shrimp and small black mollies if it becomes prolonged from last meal intake

 

[piranhaman00]

40-45 no3 is not elevated, not sure why that would be considered the cause.

Shrimp is just about the worst food item for predators, do you soak in any vitamins?

 

[Slocke]

I don't have much to add and I don't know whats wrong but I'd also guess a gut issue and I'd say you can't do anything other then wait and hope it recovers. A healthy eel can go a month or two without eating but it does not look in good shape in that video.

The shellfish you are feeding is generally a good diet as it recreates what a zebra would be eating in the wild. Adding a greater variety would help though. @lion king has taught me to feed a fatty fish amongst other foods.
Also you are feeding too often. Feed it a big meal every week or so not every other day.

40-45 no3 is not elevated, not sure why that would be considered the cause.

Shrimp is just about the worst food item for predators, do you soak in any vitamins?

For a fish that feeds primarily on shellfish?? It definitely shouldn't be the only food but there are far worse foods out there like goldfish.

 

[lion king]

So many times eels will come in with pre-existing conditions and at a few months is when sometimes these conditions can appear. You may be feeding too frequently unless he is an itty bitty guy, most zebra's come in at a pretty good size, so a couple times a week at most, an adult more like once a week. Large adult zebra's even every 10 days. Depending on what pieces he is getting from the lrs, a variety including a fish like SFB silversides or even occasionally some salmon. Scallops are good, even mussels and clams. Shrimp should be whole with any sharp edges of the shells removed. Your diet wouldn't negatively effect him that quickly. What is your mg, mg is important to digestion, at least reef level I'm sure, but you can elevate safely to 1600ppm, I keep my pred tanks at 1400.

As far as pre-existing conditions, the most common would be internal organ damage due to chemical exposure, and yes, that does include copper. If he came from a lfs that runs copper or you used copper in your qt or treated with copper. Some argument can be made for other meds as well, anything with formalin or formalin derivatives definitely, and even antibiotics. Tank cleaners or pest eradicators can have a negative effect. Cyanide is also back with a vengeance. Eels natural metabolism process toxins at a slower rate, making them more toxic to organs like the liver, which is responsible for eliminating toxins. Eels can handle pretty high nitrates, if your other fish and corals are not effected, then the eel could care less, especially your gem tang would let you know if there was a problem with water quality.

What I would do. Raise mg to where you feel comfortable, as I stated earlier, I have found 1600ppm to be safe and has helped some of my preds with digestive issues. He could be getting some bloat or blockage from too frequent feeding. Let him go a solid week without food and start offering him a variety, then cut back a bit on the frequency of feeding. There's no real diagnosis to offer a treatment and it is very unlikely he would have a disease to spread to the rest of the tank, so no real need to move him. At this point all you can do is hope for the best, there is no remedy for chemical poisoning, but many new eels will develop a digestive issue which is easy to remedy.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Have had my zebra eel for 3 months now and I’ve fed him a raw uncooked table shrimp or scallop every other night or every 2 nights or several chunks of LRS Chunky. Saturday afternoon he was seemingly totally normal, head poking out of his hole just watching the fish swim by. Only thing different was he hasn’t been seemingly hungry since he ate last on Thursday night. And I noticed his tail sticking out of his cave yesterday which was odd as he’s usually totally hidden except his head. Today he looks like he’s dying. Out of his cave, side of tank on his side not moving or wanting any food or moving if touched. Just laying on his side breathing. I’ve had high po4 and no3 the last month that I’ve been working on bringing down but my corals and nem look good and have growth to them and fish are all fine as normal. Alk is at 9, Calcium at 460, salinity 1.025, temp 78, ph 8.3-8.5.

What should I do or can I do if anything??

https://youtube.com/shorts/bnW9xCKi3Yk?feature=share

Sorry to see.

I think you need to look at acute issues. It isn’t water quality unless something changed radically since Thursday (and then your corals would be suffering). It isn’t toxic chemical exposure - those are acute at the time of exposure and do not have a delayed affect except for cyanide that can cause lingering issue for up to around 40 days. In that case though, the fish would have had other symptoms.

The eel looks a little thin, and is breathing a bit deeper than normal, but neither of those issues would cause an abrupt change like this. Bad food or trauma come to mind as possibilities.

There are weird rare issues as well - we had a group of fish that had internal nematodes. No issues for months/years until a nematode would randomly pierce the stomach wall, then that fish would die of septic shock.

Jay

 

[CincyReefer07]

So many times eels will come in with pre-existing conditions and at a few months is when sometimes these conditions can appear. You may be feeding too frequently unless he is an itty bitty guy, most zebra's come in at a pretty good size, so a couple times a week at most, an adult more like once a week. Large adult zebra's even every 10 days. Depending on what pieces he is getting from the lrs, a variety including a fish like SFB silversides or even occasionally some salmon. Scallops are good, even mussels and clams. Shrimp should be whole with any sharp edges of the shells removed. Your diet wouldn't negatively effect him that quickly. What is your mg, mg is important to digestion, at least reef level I'm sure, but you can elevate safely to 1600ppm, I keep my pred tanks at 1400.

As far as pre-existing conditions, the most common would be internal organ damage due to chemical exposure, and yes, that does include copper. If he came from a lfs that runs copper or you used copper in your qt or treated with copper. Some argument can be made for other meds as well, anything with formalin or formalin derivatives definitely, and even antibiotics. Tank cleaners or pest eradicators can have a negative effect. Cyanide is also back with a vengeance. Eels natural metabolism process toxins at a slower rate, making them more toxic to organs like the liver, which is responsible for eliminating toxins. Eels can handle pretty high nitrates, if your other fish and corals are not effected, then the eel could care less, especially your gem tang would let you know if there was a problem with water quality.

What I would do. Raise mg to where you feel comfortable, as I stated earlier, I have found 1600ppm to be safe and has helped some of my preds with digestive issues. He could be getting some bloat or blockage from too frequent feeding. Let him go a solid week without food and start offering him a variety, then cut back a bit on the frequency of feeding. There's no real diagnosis to offer a treatment and it is very unlikely he would have a disease to spread to the rest of the tank, so no real need to move him. At this point all you can do is hope for the best, there is no remedy for chemical poisoning, but many new eels will develop a digestive issue which is easy to remedy.

Unfortunately, it kills me because he was my favorite guy in the tank, he was so cool, and never imagined him ending up the way he has today, but he did end up passing away. He was breathing for maybe another 30-40 minutes after I made the original post before he stopped breathing. I had tried flipping him over gently to see if he had any wounds on him and didn’t see any, his body was also just completely limp when I did that. And just continued breathing extremely slowly and deep.

It’s been a couple weeks since I last tested my MG as I don’t test that as frequently because I’ve found it rarely has ever changed. I do daily 5 gallon water changes and it’s kept my MG pretty consistent at 1250-1280.

As far as his size when I got him just over 3 months ago, he was around 20 inches long, and now I’d say he’s about 23-24 inches. And as far as feeding goes, I was feeding one and a half whole raw uncooked peeled table shrimp, I’d cut them in half and let him eat one, let him digest it, then another half, then another half. And then a couple days later I’d feed him a scallop, same thing, cut it in half, let him eat half, then give him the other half. I tried squid and he never went for it. And then I’d also feed him LRS Chunky as well. About once every 4 or 5 feedings I soaked his shrimp or scallop in selcon or vita-chem.

 

[Slocke]

Unfortunately, it kills me because he was my favorite guy in the tank, he was so cool, and never imagined him ending up the way he has today, but he did end up passing away. He was breathing for maybe another 30-40 minutes after I made the original post before he stopped breathing. I had tried flipping him over gently to see if he had any wounds on him and didn’t see any, his body was also just completely limp when I did that. And just continued breathing extremely slowly and deep.

It’s been a couple weeks since I last tested my MG as I don’t test that as frequently because I’ve found it rarely has ever changed. I do daily 5 gallon water changes and it’s kept my MG pretty consistent at 1250-1280.

As far as his size when I got him just over 3 months ago, he was around 20 inches long, and now I’d say he’s about 23-24 inches. And as far as feeding goes, I was feeding one and a half whole raw uncooked peeled table shrimp, I’d cut them in half and let him eat one, let him digest it, then another half, then another half. And then a couple days later I’d feed him a scallop, same thing, cut it in half, let him eat half, then give him the other half. I tried squid and he never went for it. And then I’d also feed him LRS Chunky as well. About once every 4 or 5 feedings I soaked his shrimp or scallop in selcon or vita-chem.

I’m really sorry. Based on what I’ve read you took good care of him and this sudden death was probably caused by something unrelated to your care like a preexisting condition like Lion King said.

 

[lion king]

Sorry for your loss. They would not die like that from the diet or regime you were feeding him, they would normally give you indicators when a diet is problematic, and it wouldn't kill them in 3 months. Bloat could be a rare possibility, maybe even accidentally ingesting some substrate or even a hard bodied invert. Whether my view is unpopular or not, I usually see this in eels that have been poisoned by copper, etc.

 

[CincyReefer07]

I’m really sorry. Based on what I’ve read you took good care of him and this sudden death was probably caused by something unrelated to your care like a preexisting condition like Lion King said.

I just don’t get it, he seemed totally normal the entire time I had him, he would be slowly creeping in and out of my rockwork in the evenings, poke his head out throughout the day out of his caves. Decide to come out and get more active when I’d feed my other fish when he knew it was a day he was going to be getting fed if it had been a couple days since he last ate. And then just out of nowhere ends up this way.

 

[CincyReefer07]

Sorry for your loss. They would not die like that from the diet or regime you were feeding him, they would normally give you indicators when a diet is problematic, and it wouldn't kill them in 3 months. Bloat could be a rare possibility, maybe even accidentally ingesting some substrate or even a hard bodied invert. Whether my view is unpopular or not, I usually see this in eels that have been poisoned by copper, etc.

I don’t remember if my LFS keeps them in his copper tanks or in his tanks that don’t have copper. He has two separate systems. I know his captive bred and biota fish he doesn’t keep in his copper systems, and a lot of his wild caught stuff go into his copper treated systems. I don’t remember what he keeps the eels in that he gets

 

[lion king]

I just don’t get it, he seemed totally normal the entire time I had him, he would be slowly creeping in and out of my rockwork in the evenings, poke his head out throughout the day out of his caves. Decide to come out and get more active when I’d feed my other fish when he knew it was a day he was going to be getting fed if it had been a couple days since he last ate. And then just out of nowhere ends up this way.

This is totally a case of pre-existing conditions, whatever that may be, something you had no control over. When they just out of the blue decline and die, it's something internal, and damage that has progressed to that point. I am also speaking in terms as no one else in the tank was affected.

 

[CincyReefer07]

*edit*