Eel problems

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k3nn3th

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 10, 2006
Messages
6
Location
Texas
hello all. i am relatively new to the whole aquarium thing - i have had my tank about 1 year now and i'm starting to have problems.

i have 5 fish in my 29 gallon tank - 2 convicts, 1 silver dollar, 1 parrot fish and an algae eater. also, i had a 'fw snowflake eel' for almost a year and recently it died. i went back to the place i bought it from and described it to them (it was evidently very large, about 18-20 inches long and about 3/4 inch thick) and they said the eel probably just died from being old even though i only had it 1 year. none of my fish are showing any signs of problems so i figured what they told me was true and bought a new eel (the same kind but much smaller - less than half the size of the old one). after being in the tank less than a week it died also.

i have never had problems before and the fish i have in the tank are doing very well so i'm not sure what has killed the 2 eels. needless to say i am not going to put anything else in the tank until i figure out what is going on. i have tested my water today (today is when the 2nd eel died) and the ammonia and nitrite levels are zero, the nitrate level is around 40 ppm and the pH is 8.0

i moved recently and have always just used tap water and a conditioner when i change 10-15% of the water every week, i have a filter system that is supposed to work for up to 40 gallons and the water temp is between 76-78 degrees F.

the only thing i noticed was that both eels looked like they were having trouble breathing periodically. the first eel i had took a really long time to get adjusted to the tank - he didn't eat when i fed him for almost 3 months and the other eel didn't eat at all when i had him. does anyone have advice or some guess as to why these eels died and the other fish are fine? any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. I'm so sorry that you first post is about illness :(

The only thing I can suggest is to up your water changes to 50% a week for awhile. I'm not very familiar with eels but maybe they're just sensitive to nitrates. Try to keep those between 10 and 20 ppm. Do you gravel vac when you do your water changes ? If not it probably makes sense to start a regime of doing that now, a little at a time over the next few weeks.
 
you might also look up the snowflake eel for preferred living conditions. the PH might be too high for them.
 
I found this on another site:

Appropriate Home. Eventually a Snow Flake Eel will need an aquarium with at least 50 gallons of water, an exterior power filter with a BIO-Wheel, a maximum of 1/4 inch of gravel, and an aquarium heater adjusted to keep the water between 75 and 82 degrees F. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.

Be sure each Snowflake Eel has its own piece of plastic pipe or a cave to live in.

These Snowflake Eels do better with about 1 Tablespoon of Aquarium Salt per each 5 gallons of water. Click here for more information about Aquarium Salt.

http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/sharks_eels_loaches/eels_moray.htm
 
i did vacuum out the gravel with each water change and i forgot to mention i do put in some 'salt' for freshwater aquariums although i'm not sure of its exact level. the ph is a little on the high side of the range given by most sites for that type of eel but it is within the range. i would think that major problems with the water would mean the fish would die also but are the fish i have tough enough to take my mistakes in water management while the eel is not?
 
That I'm not sure. How much and how often do you do PWC's? I have 2 fire eels and I do a minimum of a 50% PWC weekly. They are 13 inches each and growing quite fast.
 
i don't do nearly that much, i only take out 10-25% of the water on about a weekly basis. i thought any more than that would be bad for the fish.
 
Nope, not bad at all. In fact they love it. But if you don't have a heavy bio-load, then 25% should be plenty, but I have a fairly heavy bioload in mine. So I'm doing more to keep it within my set parameters.
 
i have been researching and reading online about fish healthiness and water conditions and i think i may have come up with the reason, but i'm not sure if it makes sense. i'm afraid the dissolved oxygen content in my aquarium is too low. none of the fish show symptoms of this, but the eels i had both looked like they had to labor to breathe and would swim around at the surface a lot - both indications that the oxygen level is low. i have a filter system that circulates water and keeps the surface constantly moving and i have recently added an air stone to maybe provide more oxygen and to disturb the surface even further. are there any other things that i can do to increase the amount of dissolved oxygen in my tank?
 
It sounds like you are doing it right. Surface agitation is what you need to increase O2 levels. The only thought I have is how airtite is your cover?
 
the cover is not completely airtight and there are holes in the back for the filter and heater... could it just need more air hitting the surface?
 
Could also try bumping the temp down a little too. You said it's 76-78. See if you can keep it at around 76 instead of going up to 78. Also placing an aerator on a powerhead does wel too, blows out some bubbles which diffuses a little into the water, but the biggest part is the bubbles reaching the surface are spread over a larger area, causing more surface agitation. I do this occasionally on my 26G, as the fish like running through the bubbles and get exercise in the current. :)
 
ill lower the temp and add another airstone. i bought another eel - a peacock - from another place as well as another fish - a dragonfish of some sort. they seem to be doing fine but ill watch them closely for the next few days to see if i notice any strange behavior.

thanks a lot for all the help/advice! i really appreciate it.
 
You added more fish when there might be a problem, even if it's minimal? Should never buy new fish until all problems have been resolved, as it could possibly complicate things.
 
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