Snowflake eel is in rough shape

[WVNed]

Warm water contains a lot less dissolved oxygen. Both fish and bacteria require dissolved oxygen for their life processes.

I can't speak to the corals/invertebrates in your tank, but lowering that slowly is way too long for fish. Get it down to around 81 right away, and then move more slowly down to 78. I tell people that this is akin to being outdoors in the winter with no coat. Which would you rather do, move into the house or first spend 6 hours in an unheated garage?

Temperature shock for fish really isn't a thing - except for temperate water species exposed to a change greater than 8 degrees. Corals, adapted to higher temperatures are a different matter, as are shrimp.

With 8 pages on this thread, I may have missed this, but what is the eels respiration rate? If the high temperature is the root cause, then the eel's respiration rate will be elevated - >100 to 120 BPM.

I've kept snowflakes at 82 degrees with no issues, remember, these are inshore fish and the shallow reefs get really warm there.

Jay

I believe it passed several pages ago.

 

[MnFish1]

Update/Resolution:

Cheap digital thermometers are garbage. Mines been reading stable at a decent temperature. Every time I reach into the tank, I think, "That feels hotter than the indicated temp..." but because I trusted my equipment, not my gut, I took it as gospel. On a whim, I threw a second digital thermometer in there and come to find out, my water temp is around 85 degrees F and has been for god knows how long. I'm slowly working on bringing the temperature back down to 78, but am going to do it at one degree intervals for the next week to not shock the tank. How everything in my tank is thriving besides my eel is beyond me, but glad I found SOMETHING that may also be a smoking gun.

Is there anything that a hot tank can do that would raise ammonia level, like produce excess bacteria or something?

Actually - thats not a hugely high temp - for the reef - especially for (certain) fish. 83-84 is normal in certain areas. BUT - yeah - Eels like lower temps. Agree with @Jay Hemdal

 

[MnFish1]

Warm water contains a lot less dissolved oxygen. Both fish and bacteria require dissolved oxygen for their life processes.

I can't speak to the corals/invertebrates in your tank, but lowering that slowly is way too long for fish. Get it down to around 81 right away, and then move more slowly down to 78. I tell people that this is akin to being outdoors in the winter with no coat. Which would you rather do, move into the house or first spend 6 hours in an unheated garage?

Temperature shock for fish really isn't a thing - except for temperate water species exposed to a change greater than 8 degrees. Corals, adapted to higher temperatures are a different matter, as are shrimp.

With 8 pages on this thread, I may have missed this, but what is the eels respiration rate? If the high temperature is the root cause, then the eel's respiration rate will be elevated - >100 to 120 BPM.

I've kept snowflakes at 82 degrees with no issues, remember, these are inshore fish and the shallow reefs get really warm there.

Jay

And at higher temp - many bacteria grow much faster (exponentially) - thus - if you have a tank at 82 - everything will be fine - but Algae, bacteria, etc - will grow much faster - thus - many 'reefers' go lower.

 

[Pazernaker]

Warm water contains a lot less dissolved oxygen. Both fish and bacteria require dissolved oxygen for their life processes.

I can't speak to the corals/invertebrates in your tank, but lowering that slowly is way too long for fish. Get it down to around 81 right away, and then move more slowly down to 78. I tell people that this is akin to being outdoors in the winter with no coat. Which would you rather do, move into the house or first spend 6 hours in an unheated garage?

Temperature shock for fish really isn't a thing - except for temperate water species exposed to a change greater than 8 degrees. Corals, adapted to higher temperatures are a different matter, as are shrimp.

With 8 pages on this thread, I may have missed this, but what is the eels respiration rate? If the high temperature is the root cause, then the eel's respiration rate will be elevated - >100 to 120 BPM.

I've kept snowflakes at 82 degrees with no issues, remember, these are inshore fish and the shallow reefs get really warm there.

Jay

As someone else mentioned, he already passed. I don't know if it was THAT high, but it was definitely higher than normal and he was flaring his gills more than usual with his mouth really open.

 

[smalltanks]

Or perhaps it gives them brain cancer or kidney failure. I am not sure why you fixate on liver failure. I doubt the liver function of an eel or lion is significantly different than most other marine fishes.
I worked in a drugstore for 17 years. If pumping "chemicals" into your body caused liver failure half the people on Earth would be dead now.
As for the 2 year thing it has been my experience that peoples attention span ends there and they stop caring for their tank. Then everything dies except the algae and they get rid of it.

Yeah pretty bad response there bud. Take it as a lesson and choose to learn, not to be offended

 

[thecodingart]

BTW, as for nutrition. I acquired Hikari Massivore Delight to feed my upcoming eels but now using to supplement my nassarius. It's formulated for predators. supposedly well balanced. Haven't tried on the latter but it's got a scent and my snails come out instantly and track it down.

Don't think shrimp alone is a staple diet and don't recall what I fed my snowflake in the 90s but I recall it was various food items and only twice per week.

Did your snowflake eel (or eel in general) eat them by chance? I'm scoping out a snowflake myself and want to auto feed it. Hoping they'll take up to this but unsure.

 

[GARRIGA]

Did your snowflake eel (or eel in general) eat them by chance? I'm scoping out a snowflake myself and want to auto feed it. Hoping they'll take up to this but unsure.

Never acquired an eel but can’t see why they wouldn’t. Those things stink and soon as placed in tank zombie snails immediately popped out of the gravel same as if feeding a large dose of frozen food.

Consider calling Hikari to see their experience. Was developed specifically for predator fish to replace items such as goldfish and eels hunt mostly by smell.