Eel won't eat on CP for 3 weeks

[jasonrusso]

I recently had to QT my Kole Tang, Harelquin Tusk, and dwarf golden Moray eel. I've been treating the tank with 45mg/gal of CP. Everyone looks good. No more flashing and both fish are eating.

Now to the problem, my eel hasn't eaten (that I've seen) for 3 weeks. He ate a big chunk the day before the transfer. He is VERY active. He swims all around the tank at night. If I try to feed him, he sometimes takes a sniff and then seems like he's scared of it. I was wondering if it's the CP messing with his sense of smell because of the metal taste.

At what point do I worry? I was thinking about putting the carbon in the filter and starting water changes. Is 21 days enough to kill velvet (or ich, but I think it was velvet)?

I've tried fresh oysters, mussels, squid, clam, etc. He seemed most interested in a silverside before the tusk stole it. In the DT he ate every 3-4 days. When he was swimming around the other night I tried to feed him thinking he was hunting, but he just hid when I opened the lid.

 

[Humblefish]

21 days of CP treatment should be long enough to kill velvet, but 30 days would be better just in case this was ich. However, your dilemma is the DT itself should be left fallow for 6 weeks (for velvet) or 76 days (for ich).

Can you transfer the eel into a non-medicated holding tank, at least 10 feet away from the QT?

 

[jasonrusso]

The DT will be fallow for the duration. I have 2 QT tanks right now. The other is a 20gal that will be 4 weeks tomorrow. I start removing the medication tomorrow. That one is too small. I already have a porcupine puffer and fuzzy lion in there.

The eel is in the 55. I truly believe that it was velvet. I think I am safe to start removing the meds in both tanks this weekend.

Do you think the eel can last that long?

Also, doesn't ich have a shorter swimming life cycle than velvet?

 

[Humblefish]

Do you think the eel can last that long?

Let's get @tyler1503's opinion on how long an eel can go without eating.

Also, doesn't ich have a shorter swimming life cycle than velvet?

Other way around.

 

[melypr1985]

Yes, let's see what Tyler says about the eel eating, but if you can I'd say try your best to keep him in there for 30 days or put him in a different tank without meds.

 

[jasonrusso]

Let's get @tyler1503's opinion on how long an eel can go without eating.

Tyler?? Is he around? @tyler1503

 

[jasonrusso]

Well, it's been 4 1/2 weeks now. I still haven't seen Bobby eat.

He still comes out and swims around a lot, so I guess that's good. I have the white lights turn on for a half hour every day just to give the fish some change, other than that it's just the blue lights. The other day Bobby was swimming around while the whites were on. He was actually slightly transparent. It looks like he has 3 dark areas in his body. One in front (which I imagine is his organs) one about a 1/4 back and 1 half way back. I can't find any pics of an eels internal anatomy, but do you think this is food in his gi tract?

I usually put some food in in the morning (sometimes a couple clams) and twice I found the empty shells near where he hangs out during the day. The Harlequin Tusk eats the clams too but I don't think he would put the shell in the back corner of the tank. It's also picked pretty clean.

I also have 5 empty hermit crab shells, maybe he hunted those down too?

I don't know what to do. He still has another 5 weeks in there. I have an emergency 10 gallon with rock rubble in it, but with all the swimming he does I don't think he would like that.

 

[tyler1503]

Wow sorry guys. I haven't been receiving notifications on the R2R app. I've been around, but missed this post somehow.
At 4 1/2 weeks without food I think it's time to take steps to see what's wrong.
Have you noticed him pooping at all? Even a little bit?
That discolouration is a little concerning. Have you noticed any swelling along with it?

It's quite possible he's hunting the hermits and eating the clams, but until you see him do it, I wouldn't make the assumption that it definitely is him.

Swimming around a lot suggests he may be actively looking for food which is a good sign. An active eel is a hungry eel.

Keep in mind a healthy eel may go for quite a while without food. Some larger eels can go months.

 

[leahfiish]

Eels can definitely go a long time without food, and he could be eating scraps and stuff that falls into the back or something.

 

[tyler1503]

Can you try live shrimp to see if you get a feeding response? Gut load them with a high quality pellet or flake first if you can.

The majority of the internal organs will be in the front half of the fishes body, so any major discolouration here is most concerning. Do the other discoloured patches look identical to the frontmost one? Is the frontmost one on his head, near his gills or behind his gills?
Also do any of them appear centred on his body or slightly underneath?
I have an idea as to what may be going on, but need some extra information before I make any suggestions.
A clear photo of him would be useful too

 

[jasonrusso]

Wow sorry guys. I haven't been receiving notifications on the R2R app. I've been around, but missed this post somehow.
At 4 1/2 weeks without food I think it's time to take steps to see what's wrong.
Have you noticed him pooping at all? Even a little bit?
That discolouration is a little concerning. Have you noticed any swelling along with it?

It's quite possible he's hunting the hermits and eating the clams, but until you see him do it, I wouldn't make the assumption that it definitely is him.

Swimming around a lot suggests he may be actively looking for food which is a good sign. An active eel is a hungry eel.

Keep in mind a healthy eel may go for quite a while without food. Some larger eels can go months.

Thanks for the response.

Ok, I may not have been clear. On the outside of his body, he looks perfectly fine. No labored breathing, no bulges or patchy coloring.

When the bright light was on, I could see there was "something" in his body, because he was a bit translucent. I was thinking it was food passing through. I did not mean to say he had a spot on the outside.

My last one who I lost during a tank upgrade once went on a 2 month hunger strike, and I was finding crab shells all around his cave.

Do you think a separate tank (but smaller) may be better?

Live food at this point would defeat the whole purpose of CP treatment in quarantine. (This question in a future post) I will try to get a good photo, but it is pretty hard to determine when he is going for a swim. I usually watch him on camera.

 

[tyler1503]

Thanks for the response.

Ok, I may not have been clear. On the outside of his body, he looks perfectly fine. No labored breathing, no bulges or patchy coloring.

When the bright light was on, I could see there was "something" in his body, because he was a bit translucent. I was thinking it was food passing through. I did not mean to say he had a spot on the outside.

My last one who I lost during a tank upgrade once went on a 2 month hunger strike, and I was finding crab shells all around his cave.

Do you think a separate tank (but smaller) may be better?

Live food at this point would defeat the whole purpose of CP treatment in quarantine. (This question in a future post) I will try to get a good photo, but it is pretty hard to determine when he is going for a swim. I usually watch him on camera.

Ohhh, I was under the impression he had discolouration on the outside of his body. Have these bits passed? If not, he may be a little constipated. I won't say that's common, but I've seen it happen to the smaller morays occasionally. They can go sometime without eating, then eat a lot and it takes a while to digest and can cause a blockage. This would also explain why you haven't seen him eating.

How long until the CP treatment is over? I'd leave him where he is for the time being, just keep a close eye on him.

 

[jasonrusso]

CP is already done. The water is pretty good (nitrates are high) but everything else is in line.

I don't know if he has passed the "bits" yet. I just got lucky to see him swimming when the brights were on. He did go a little while before he ate the last time and it was a big chunk.

When I fed the tank last night, he came out and was swimming around. He may not be eating when I am there because he seems a bit skiddish when I open the lid.

It's crazy how different the fish act in a BB QT than in the main tank with all the rock.

 

[tyler1503]

CP is already done. The water is pretty good (nitrates are high) but everything else is in line.

I don't know if he has passed the "bits" yet. I just got lucky to see him swimming when the brights were on. He did go a little while before he ate the last time and it was a big chunk.

When I fed the tank last night, he came out and was swimming around. He may not be eating when I am there because he seems a bit skiddish when I open the lid.

It's crazy how different the fish act in a BB QT than in the main tank with all the rock.

High nitrate could be the cause of his translucent skin. How was the nitrate in the QT?
I found with echidna and gymnomuraena species, higher levels of nitrate can dull their colour, so I suspect gymnothorax species would react similarly. I've only kept gymnothorax short term and haven't done so in quite a while so I can't quite remember.

I've never seen an eel pass up fresh squid unless they're in a dormant stage. Perhaps try that again to see if he reacts to it. If that fails, live food should do the job now that he's not being treated with CP

 

[jasonrusso]

It was squid I was feeding when he came out yesterday. That being said, I also left a clam by his pipe last night. The shell was picked clean this morning. The tusk could have done it as well, but he usually doesn't clean them all the way.

He is still in the QT tank with the tusk and Tang. The nitrates are high but I thought that it doesn't really matter to fish.

 

[jasonrusso]

So I might have proof that Bobby is eating. I left a clam by his pipe. I went back down about a half hour later. Some of the clam was missing. He was breathing a bit heavy (which he does after he eats), and he was sniffing the remaining clam. Whatever was left in the shell was pulled in his direction. He stopped when he saw me because the other fish got spooked and swam by quickly which spooked him.

If the tusk of tang had tried to eat the clam they would have picked it up and carried it away. In my opinion, he is either eating or picking at it which is a good sign because that is usually a precursor to eating.

What do you think.

 

[melypr1985]

I think that's awesome if he's really picking at it!

 

[tyler1503]

I think you may have a winner! Sounds to me as though he's eating just fine

 

[jasonrusso]

I personally saw him eat this morning!! I put some food in for the tusk and he came out and ate it. [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

 

[jasonrusso]

I put Bobby back into the DT last Tuesday and he ate on Wednesday. I guess that when a fish is in an unnatural environment they act very different. PVC pipes aren't the same as rocks and sand.