Ribbon eel qt question+

[lion king]

Ok I’ll try just observing him to start, and try to get him eating a mollie or so every other day to third day. The fact he ate already is a very good sign I think. I’m gonna get general cure just in case. I do also have a ghost ribbon eel and another 2 normal ribbons coming soon, so one of them is guaranteed to have parasites. Should I treat the wartskin angler for internal parasites too? Or only if he isn’t eating well or seems like he is struggling?

If my fish eat right away I go into observation mode. I feed them well to strengthen them up just in case an issue arises and I have to treat.

As far as the angler goes, I'll just share my experience. I have never seen an angler survive treatment of any kind, that includes gc and pp. I have seen them survive treatment but perish soon afterwards. That doesn't necessarily mean that the meds caused it, because they do have a high mortality rate otherwise. Personally I would never treat an angler and everyone I know that has, they either died during treatment or shortly afterwards, a few months at best.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

If my fish eat right away I go into observation mode. I feed them well to strengthen them up just in case an issue arises and I have to treat.

As far as the angler goes, I'll just share my experience. I have never seen an angler survive treatment of any kind, that includes gc and pp. I have seen them survive treatment but perish soon afterwards. That doesn't necessarily mean that the meds caused it, because they do have a high mortality rate otherwise. Personally I would never treat an angler and everyone I know that has, they either died during treatment or shortly afterwards, a few months at best.

Definitely won’t treat him then! Should I just follow the same procedure with the ghost ribbons when it comes to observation then treating them or not?

 

[lion king]

Definitely won’t treat him then! Should I just follow the same procedure with the ghost ribbons when it comes to observation then treating them or not?

If everyone eats, and keeps eating consistently then there is no reason to treat. The point of treating would be primarily to address internal parasites, if they are eating then they would be healthy in that regard. Sometimes but not so often another thing to look for is flukes. Again the appetite would be affected. They would exhibit as a head shake and maybe even cloudy eyes. This would be addressed with prazi pro. So if everyone is eating, there would be no reason to be concerned. Anyone that doesn't eat, or stops eating, that's a red flag that needs to be addressed. Any signs of injury or cloudy eyes.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

If everyone eats, and keeps eating consistently then there is no reason to treat. The point of treating would be primarily to address internal parasites, if they are eating then they would be healthy in that regard. Sometimes but not so often another thing to look for is flukes. Again the appetite would be affected. They would exhibit as a head shake and maybe even cloudy eyes. This would be addressed with prazi pro. So if everyone is eating, there would be no reason to be concerned. Anyone that doesn't eat, or stops eating, that's a red flag that needs to be addressed. Any signs of injury or cloudy eyes.

Today I tried feeding the ribbon eel a half a silverside, cut from head to tail, threaded loosely on a piece of fishing line attached to a clear rod. He came up to it and seemed very interested, putting his whole mouth over it but just not fully biting down. Should I keep trying with this method again tomorrow, or should I try to get some very unthreatening tongs and try that? I was thinking of getting him to eat it off the fishing line and then going to tongs. I also ordered LFS fish frenzy chunky, which I plan on feeding my eels in addition to silversides and live mollies.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

If everyone eats, and keeps eating consistently then there is no reason to treat. The point of treating would be primarily to address internal parasites, if they are eating then they would be healthy in that regard. Sometimes but not so often another thing to look for is flukes. Again the appetite would be affected. They would exhibit as a head shake and maybe even cloudy eyes. This would be addressed with prazi pro. So if everyone is eating, there would be no reason to be concerned. Anyone that doesn't eat, or stops eating, that's a red flag that needs to be addressed. Any signs of injury or cloudy eyes.

He is also very active, but not frantic. About 75% of the time he is in his pvc pipe with just about 2-8 inches of his head and body sticking out, the other 15% he roams around the rest of his little 30 gallon qt tank. I’ve had him about 3 days and I think he has eaten 2 mollies so far, as I can’t find them in his tank and there is barely anything in there with him. The other mollies I put in I either removed because they seemed too big, or they died and I removed them.

 

[lion king]

Today I tried feeding the ribbon eel a half a silverside, cut from head to tail, threaded loosely on a piece of fishing line attached to a clear rod. He came up to it and seemed very interested, putting his whole mouth over it but just not fully biting down. Should I keep trying with this method again tomorrow, or should I try to get some very unthreatening tongs and try that? I was thinking of getting him to eat it off the fishing line and then going to tongs. I also ordered LFS fish frenzy chunky, which I plan on feeding my eels in addition to silversides and live mollies.

That's what they will do, just wiggle the food around, make him chase it a bit. Did you read how I cut the food into strips, about the width of his noses and like 3/4" long. These guys are sort of delicate to feed, they don't seem to aggressively attack the food, you kind of have to play wuth them to get them to take it. Keep trying. They do get more aggressive with maturity, but as a juvi will likely be timid for a while.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

That's what they will do, just wiggle the food around, make him chase it a bit. Did you read how I cut the food into strips, about the width of his noses and like 3/4" long. These guys are sort of delicate to feed, they don't seem to aggressively attack the food, you kind of have to play wuth them to get them to take it. Keep trying. They do get more aggressive with maturity, but as a juvi will likely be timid for a while.

Ok, I will try again tomorrow with a smaller piece. Thank you so much for all of your help I really appreciate it! I’m gonna post videos to this thread of my display set up with everyone in it when it’s done!

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

That's what they will do, just wiggle the food around, make him chase it a bit. Did you read how I cut the food into strips, about the width of his noses and like 3/4" long. These guys are sort of delicate to feed, they don't seem to aggressively attack the food, you kind of have to play wuth them to get them to take it. Keep trying. They do get more aggressive with maturity, but as a juvi will likely be timid for a while.

He did not eat for a while, but today i tried with tongs and a small piece of squid (another ribbon was eating at the same time so he was excited) and he almost ate from the tongs. So I tried putting in a feeder molly and I finally actually saw him eat! I think he is gonna make it. One of my ghost ribbons still won’t eat and shakes his head at the food, he also won’t eat feeder mollies or ghost shrimp. I’m gonna try soaking his food in selcon cause apparently that’s what he was eating while in qt at the distributer. Other than that, the other ghost ribbon eats a lot of food, and my frog fish is still doing well. I also got a little fuzzy dwarf lionfish that’s doing fantastic and has more personality than any fish I’ve ever had before!

correction, he ate 2 mollies!!!!

 

[lion king]

He did not eat for a while, but today i tried with tongs and a small piece of squid (another ribbon was eating at the same time so he was excited) and he almost ate from the tongs. So I tried putting in a feeder molly and I finally actually saw him eat! I think he is gonna make it. One of my ghost ribbons still won’t eat and shakes his head at the food, he also won’t eat feeder mollies or ghost shrimp. I’m gonna try soaking his food in selcon cause apparently that’s what he was eating while in qt at the distributer. Other than that, the other ghost ribbon eats a lot of food, and my frog fish is still doing well. I also got a little fuzzy dwarf lionfish that’s doing fantastic and has more personality than any fish I’ve ever had before!

correction, he ate 2 mollies!!!!

The one that shakes his head and won't eat, how does his eyes look. Tgehead shake csn sometimes be indicative of flukes. Have you done any treatment at all? Prazi pro may help with the one shaking his head and not eating. The problem with flukes is they will infect others in the tank.

I found with the ribbons when they go off of eating, if you feed them a live feeding they get reinvigorated and go back to eating again as usual.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

The one that shakes his head and won't eat, how does his eyes look. Tgehead shake csn sometimes be indicative of flukes. Have you done any treatment at all? Prazi pro may help with the one shaking his head and not eating. The problem with flukes is they will infect others in the tank.

I found with the ribbons when they go off of eating, if you feed them a live feeding they get reinvigorated and go back to eating again as usual.

How will his eyes look if he has flukes? I haven’t noticed anything different from his eyes to the other ghost ribbon. I’m a little worried the other ghost ribbon has parasites as well cause he eats so much food. It could just be that he took a while to start eating so he is hungry. The black ribbon ate a total of 4 mollies today, I’m very happy. I haven’t done any treatment yet, I have all the medicines to do so if I want to though. I have prazi pro, general cure, Maracyn and cupramine.

 

[lion king]

How will his eyes look if he has flukes? I haven’t noticed anything different from his eyes to the other ghost ribbon. I’m a little worried the other ghost ribbon has parasites as well cause he eats so much food. It could just be that he took a while to start eating so he is hungry. The black ribbon ate a total of 4 mollies today, I’m very happy. I haven’t done any treatment yet, I have all the medicines to do so if I want to though. I have prazi pro, general cure, Maracyn and cupramine.

The eyes can look cloudy. Yes a voracious appetite can be indicative of parasites, the next stage would be he will stop eating, so keep an eye on that. Absolutely no cupramine, copper kills. Maracyn is an antibiotic that wouldn't be my 1st choice in an antibiotic if needed, unless you are highly skilled to diagnose, a broad spectrum antibiotic would be a better choice. Antibiotics on eels should be used as a last resort and once needed usually doesn't end well. Otherwise healthy eels usually recover from injuries and such all their own if fed properly and are in a clean tank without the need of antibiotics.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

The eyes can look cloudy. Yes a voracious appetite can be indicative of parasites, the next stage would be he will stop eating, so keep an eye on that. Absolutely no cupramine, copper kills. Maracyn is an antibiotic that wouldn't be my 1st choice in an antibiotic if needed, unless you are highly skilled to diagnose, a broad spectrum antibiotic would be a better choice. Antibiotics on eels should be used as a last resort and once needed usually doesn't end well. Otherwise healthy eels usually recover from injuries and such all their own if fed properly and are in a clean tank without the need of antibiotics.

Ok I will keep an eye on it. I think I will prolly only medicate them if I really see visible signs of parasites, or if one of them stops eating for a very long time. I’ve heard eels handle any kind of medication pretty terrible but are resilient otherwise like you said.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

The eyes can look cloudy. Yes a voracious appetite can be indicative of parasites, the next stage would be he will stop eating, so keep an eye on that. Absolutely no cupramine, copper kills. Maracyn is an antibiotic that wouldn't be my 1st choice in an antibiotic if needed, unless you are highly skilled to diagnose, a broad spectrum antibiotic would be a better choice. Antibiotics on eels should be used as a last resort and once needed usually doesn't end well. Otherwise healthy eels usually recover from injuries and such all their own if fed properly and are in a clean tank without the need of antibiotics.

My black ribbon eel ate his first pieces of dead food today, a couple pieces of silverside. I’m very relieved it’s been a long time I came out the other side though! Thanks for all the great advice.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

I’m updating this thread with my plan for conditioning my ribbon eel to go into my display tank. Since he is now accepting pieces of silverside, I’m going to start feeding him live mollies in addition to the pieces of silversides on the days he is hungry. I’m gonna slowly start feeding him less live food, eventually getting to about 1 live feeding per week or so. I don’t think I’m ever gonna go any less than that, as I think the act of catching live food is important especially because of what lion king has said.

my advice to anyone trying to keep these eels is to get them from a reputable source where you can have some confidence that they were caught humanly (without Cyanide). Have a huge amount of live food on hand, feeder mollies work good, but they have to be small-ish. These eels won’t eat shrimp at all in my experience. They will be afraid of the feeding tongs at first, mine took like 2 months to finally take food from them.
What I did was cut a silverside into 2 or 3 pieces sort of diagonally, so each piece kinda has the shape of a small fish. Then I would shake it a bit in front of him with the tongs to get his attention, these eels hunt mainly by smell and vibration, that’s what the little nose things are for, their vision does play some part though. He would come out and seem interested, but still afraid of the tongs. So I would drop the piece of silverside from like 8 inches above him and immediately draw my hand and the tongs back out of the tank. Then he would get excited by watching it fall and come up to it and grab it once it was on the bottom. This is sorta similar to how he catches live food. When he catches live mollies he pins it against the ground as he bites onto it, then he draws it back into his pvc burrow as quick as he can, and eats it in there. These eels are absolutely amazing, but so timid at first. I cannot explain the satisfaction I experienced the first time I saw him eat live food, and the first time he eat a silverside. The whole process was such a pain and there was so many times I thought he was just gonna starve and die, but it was worth it. He eats 2-4 times a week now, usually like 2-4 mollies each time.
i named him Smaug, I think he looks like a dragon.