Snowflake eel acting strange.

[daftbeni]

Hello everyone. My snowflake eel has been acting strange ever since he ate a cleaner shrimp a couple of days ago. He puked out the shell of the shrimp shortly after eating it and has been acting reclusive ever since. Normally his head is out all day/night but now he just lays in his cave with his head down on his side. I am concerned that he might have a blockage as he is really small(10-11inches) and that cleaner was rather big. He did respond to food 2 days ago but didn't eat a lot. Took 3 pieces and called it.. normally he eats way more. Anyone else dealt with something like this? Anything I can do? Sorry I cant get any pictures in his current location. Visibly his head looks fine and his colour looks good.

In case people are wondering I feed my eels a fresh diet of shrimp, squid, clams and crab. Every piece of food will soak in vitamins and I also dose vitamins directly into the tank. I always cut the pieces smaller then their mouths so they don't eat big pieces to avoid blockages. They also get fed once every 4-6 days.

Other tankmates:

Zebra eel (24-26 inches)
Tomini Tang
Black leopard wrasse
Ornate leopard wrasse
Yellow corris wrasse
Maroon Clown
Royal Gramma
Bi colour blenny
Mandarin
Yellow tail damsel

 

[blaxsun]

#fishmedic (#eelmedic)

 

[Echo2656]

Hello everyone. My snowflake eel has been acting strange ever since he ate a cleaner shrimp a couple of days ago. He puked out the shell of the shrimp shortly after eating it and has been acting reclusive ever since. Normally his head is out all day/night but now he just lays in his cave with his head down on his side. I am concerned that he might have a blockage as he is really small(10-11inches) and that cleaner was rather big. He did respond to food 2 days ago but didn't eat a lot. Took 3 pieces and called it.. normally he eats way more. Anyone else dealt with something like this? Anything I can do? Sorry I cant get any pictures in his current location. Visibly his head looks fine and his colour looks good.

In case people are wondering I feed my eels a fresh diet of shrimp, squid, clams and crab. Every piece of food will soak in vitamins and I also dose vitamins directly into the tank. I always cut the pieces smaller then their mouths so they don't eat big pieces to avoid blockages. They also get fed once every 4-6 days.

Other tankmates:

Zebra eel (24-26 inches)
Tomini Tang
Black leopard wrasse
Ornate leopard wrasse
Yellow corris wrasse
Maroon Clown
Royal Gramma
Bi colour blenny
Mandarin
Yellow tail damsel

I'm not a fish medic or eel expert of any sorts but i think a picture would help for me and other people. #fishmedic

 

[vetteguy53081]

Can be internal issue such as constipation or parasite or just Full
As you know, they are messy housekeepers and assure nitrates are not elevated

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello everyone. My snowflake eel has been acting strange ever since he ate a cleaner shrimp a couple of days ago. He puked out the shell of the shrimp shortly after eating it and has been acting reclusive ever since. Normally his head is out all day/night but now he just lays in his cave with his head down on his side. I am concerned that he might have a blockage as he is really small(10-11inches) and that cleaner was rather big. He did respond to food 2 days ago but didn't eat a lot. Took 3 pieces and called it.. normally he eats way more. Anyone else dealt with something like this? Anything I can do? Sorry I cant get any pictures in his current location. Visibly his head looks fine and his colour looks good.

In case people are wondering I feed my eels a fresh diet of shrimp, squid, clams and crab. Every piece of food will soak in vitamins and I also dose vitamins directly into the tank. I always cut the pieces smaller then their mouths so they don't eat big pieces to avoid blockages. They also get fed once every 4-6 days.

Other tankmates:

Zebra eel (24-26 inches)
Tomini Tang
Black leopard wrasse
Ornate leopard wrasse
Yellow corris wrasse
Maroon Clown
Royal Gramma
Bi colour blenny
Mandarin
Yellow tail damsel

Snowflakes are well known to go on hunger strikes for no apparent reason. I can’t think of a reason a cleaner shrimp would cause a reaction.

One general observation - don’t add vitamins to the water, that just adds extra nutrients to the water.

Jay

 

[nereefpat]

I don't think there will be much you can do but wait it out. Hopefully it recovers for you. It's good that the eel ate a little couple days ago.

@lion king might have an opinion.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Hello everyone. My snowflake eel has been acting strange ever since he ate a cleaner shrimp a couple of days ago. He puked out the shell of the shrimp shortly after eating it and has been acting reclusive ever since. Normally his head is out all day/night but now he just lays in his cave with his head down on his side. I am concerned that he might have a blockage as he is really small(10-11inches) and that cleaner was rather big. He did respond to food 2 days ago but didn't eat a lot. Took 3 pieces and called it.. normally he eats way more. Anyone else dealt with something like this? Anything I can do? Sorry I cant get any pictures in his current location. Visibly his head looks fine and his colour looks good.

In case people are wondering I feed my eels a fresh diet of shrimp, squid, clams and crab. Every piece of food will soak in vitamins and I also dose vitamins directly into the tank. I always cut the pieces smaller then their mouths so they don't eat big pieces to avoid blockages. They also get fed once every 4-6 days.

Other tankmates:

Zebra eel (24-26 inches)
Tomini Tang
Black leopard wrasse
Ornate leopard wrasse
Yellow corris wrasse
Maroon Clown
Royal Gramma
Bi colour blenny
Mandarin
Yellow tail damsel

what do you feed? params?

 

[lion king]

It's a little too early to get overly concerned. By what you've said and tge fact that other fish are not affected in any way, it should work out. Even a very small snowflake yrying to eat a cleaner shrimp should not be an issue. If issures prolong or change, repost additional info. To aid in healthy digestion keeping at least reef level mg is highly recommended. If you are running a reef then that should be a given. Predators in fowlr will benefit even from a slightly elevated level of mg. I keep mine at 1400ppm. Running reef level ca is also a good idea for a predator foelr.

 

[daftbeni]

Thank you all for the responses! I must admit I got a tad overly concerned over this. Pepper my snowflake eel is doing fine and is behaving normally. I think he was just full from the super fresh dinner he had.