Snowflake Eel Swollen Snout

Earl Karl · Feb 20, 2018

So my eel has a swollen snout which appears to be mainly around the nostrils or the nose. My eel has been moving a lot more sluggish, losing a lot of yellow coloration, and can't even sense the food in front of him. He even looks smaller in general. I have been dosing a lot of vitamins (thiamin and Vitamin B especially), but I don't know if it is doing anything. Please help.

domination2580 · Feb 20, 2018

#reefsquad ... Any help?

melypr1985 · Feb 20, 2018

You may try dosing epsom salt in the tank to help bring that swelling down. I imagine the swelling is compromising his sense of smell which is interfering in his ability to find food.

Humblefish · Feb 20, 2018

@Bob Loblaw

Earl Karl · Feb 21, 2018

What is the dosage on epsom salt? Would Seachem Magnesium work? By the way, water parameters are perfect.

4FordFamily · Feb 21, 2018

Earl Karl said:
What is the dosage on epsom salt? Would Seachem Magnesium work? By the way, water parameters are perfect.

1 tablespoon per 5 US gallons

Bob Loblaw · Feb 21, 2018

First two things that come to mind would be physical trauma or a tumor. Physical trauma to the snout is fairly common given their poor eye sight and uncoordinated movements/head shakes. Given the eels ability to go long amounts of time w/o eating physical injuries are usually not a concern and heal on their own provided pristine water.

The color loss/diminishing size is disconcerting and leads me to believe trauma may not be the issue. Growth could be caused by a bacterial infection initiated by physical trauma but the snout color looks spot on which would eliminate bacterial and/or a parasite. A tumor could be forming which is interfering with the eels senses. Can't really say for certain w/o having a vet take a tissue sample. I don't know of any vets in my area that would do this and it would likely be expensive if you could find one that would. My recommended course of action would be to try feeding a variety of foods until you find one it takes and see if it corrects itself. Try a sliver of wild caught salmon, squid, and octopus if you haven't already.

Earl Karl · Feb 21, 2018

Update: Unfortunately, my eel has died. This was a terrible loss for me since I had him for so long. I'm guessing it's not physical trauma, it could be a tumor. But how? He has been fed Rod's food, so it can't be poor diet. And I dose his tank with vitamins to fight off thiaminase poisoning. Could you possibly overdose on vitamins? I don't know if this is the case since he is in a macroalgae tank, so unless I am dosing more than what the macroalgae can take, I don't know why this happened.

Earl Karl · Feb 21, 2018

I Still have some questions to be answered.
Does anyone have any clue what this is? Water parameters are still fine.
Would a UV sterilizer prevent this?
Do I need to tear down the tank for this?
Do I need to treat to tank in case for parasites? If so, how should I treat it? All the other fish and inverts are still fine.

Bob Loblaw · Feb 21, 2018

Sometimes it's out of your hands and they just die. Diet, vitamins, water quality... won't negate a terminal illness. If you have to know the exact cause of death try contacting animal hospitals in your area and see if they are willing/able to perform a necropsy on a moray.

Earl Karl · Feb 21, 2018

Update: So, according to a good friend of mine, apparently it is nose/nostril cancer. My friend opened up his snout. The nostril tubes had been clogged with multiple tumors. It is unfortunate that a eel pretty young passed away (he was 7, but still pretty young for me). I plan to buy another one around his size, to continue off where he ended since I have never kept one full grown. My lfs owner has one for $100. I don't know if that's a bad price for one that 20 inches, but that snowflake eel I had was a motivation for me to dump money on a Hawaiian Dragon Eel. It was worth it. I hope that this doesn't happen to my other eels, or anyone else's eels in general. I just can't believe that happened. The death was too early for me to expect and very unfortunate. However, are there any tips for me to the with the tank? Should I break it down in case of diseases? Should I let it run with no fish? So far I plan to run a UV on all of my tanks. Even though death was caused by cancer, my friends said there could be germs or diseases that encourages cancer.

Humblefish · Feb 21, 2018

@Earl Karl Sorry for your loss, but at least you were able to finally determine the cause. Eels are very disease resistant; however if you wanted a "clean slate" you could go fallow for 76 days before introducing another specimen.

Chloroquine is the medication of choice to use on eels: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/chloroquine-phosphate.192309/

Earl Karl · Feb 21, 2018

@Humblefish Thanks for the suggestion. I actually do have that, but the eel died way too soon before I could evaluate what was wrong. Plus I had some wrasses with him. Although, I don't know if it has capabilities of curing cancer? Please check in on this.
Wow, 76 days. I might as well buy a new tank lol. Is there any other ways to speed this up? I do have other fish in the tank. Some which are a pain in the butt to catch. I can go 30 days max, but I would figure that it wouldn't be probable. Would running the tank with meds and/or UV speed up the process?
Well, rest in peace Eel Thomas (named after Earl Thomas).