Snowflake eel suddenly died

[Acemann]

Hey guys my snowflake eel wouldn’t eat for about a week then today I just found him dead water parimeters are good but I found him under a rock with a fire bristle worm in him (the same one that killed my emerald crab). He was eating a lot I feed him frozen shrimp but he just stopped. The fish n the tank look fine I took my Pbt out for ich but I have no idea what could’ve happened to him. Anybody know?

 

[Eric Cohen]

How long did you have him?

 

[Acemann]

How long did you have him?

For about 2 months

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

what do you mean by "good" water parameters? The tank is known to have ICH, how did you diagnosis the ICH.?
The bristle worm did not kill anything ,its just eating the carcass.

 

[Acemann]

what do you mean by "good" water parameters? The tank is known to have ICH, how did you diagnosis the ICH.?
The bristle worm did not kill anything ,its just eating the carcass.

I know it didn’t kill it. The fish store tested my water and said it’s spot on. Do you think the ich could have killed my eel?

 

[Eric Cohen]

I know it didn’t kill it. The fish store tested my water and said it’s spot on. Do you think the ich could have killed my eel?

I didn't catch that part you wrote about the ich. It's possible that the ich parasites got into the gills of the eel.....2 months isn't long enough to know whether the fish was just carrying an infection too......so you can't rule that out either. Powder Blue Tangs are magnets for ich and it doesn't sound like you're buying conditioned fish if that happened....so 50-50 it was ich parasites in the gills....remember that ich lives on the sand bed where your eel mostly hangs out.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

Chances very low the Eel would have ICH, more likely it would be a carrier but normally eels dont display symptoms of ich or velvet but wondering if it didnt have a parasitic or bacterial infection.

 

[lion king]

From what I've seen the most likely culprit would be some type of chemical poisoning. Since you only had him for a couple of months and he stopped eating only a week ago I would rule out some other common culprits like thiaminese poisoning which is actually a nutritional defiencency, this takes more time. Disease like internal parasites wouldn't kill so fast after stopping eating. While not impossible but very unlikely a protazoan disease like ick, eels are very resistant and only the very sickly usually succumb to a protazoan disease.

SO the big question, does your lfs run copper in their system, or did you treat with copper or run it in your system. Did you use any tank cleaners or pest eradicators; like vibrant, chemiclean, flatworm exit, etc. Cyanide is also used more frequently but many times the body would be washed out, seizures usually accompany cyanide.

If it's not your tank then it falls to disease, nutrition, or chemical.

 

[flagg37]

Chances very low the Eel would have ICH, more likely it would be a carrier but normally eels dont display symptoms of ich or velvet but wondering if it didnt have a parasitic or bacterial infection.

Agreed. I wouldn’t expect it to be ich unless he was sick from something else. I also don’t think he starved. My zebra eel went 4 weeks without eating once. It’s not too uncommon for them to fast for fairly long periods. Plus the body doesn’t look emaciated (I could be wrong).

Sorry I don’t have any answers for what it could be but hopefully that narrowed it down a little.