Snowflake Eel Not looking too good

[sawrip]

My 2 year old Snowflake eel has taken a little turn for the worse the past few days. At one point he was suspended in the water column but that now seems to have gone back to this usual cave. He's stopped eating and I've seen him upside down a few times in his cave which is unusual. He's breathing rather heavily - I've attached a video of this.

Parameters
Ammonia, Nitrite 0
Dkh 8
PO4 0.1
Nitrate 50
Ph 8.5

I've read other posts on similar things to this and have done some water changes this morning to reduce nitrates to 28. I've also put an airstone under the wavemaker to ensure maximum oxygen saturation. I feed three times a week with human grade fresh food which it's frozen. I use salmon, squid and large prawns soaked in vitamins, the salmon is in fairly large chunks so I do wonder if this has created a problem.

Two other things have happend recently which I believe probably hasn't helped with things:

Tank move about two weeks ago and starting carbon dosing using vinegar.

I have never used any algaecides or copper in this tank, tank has been hypoed twice sometime back.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My 2 year old Snowflake eel has taken a little turn for the worse the past few days. At one point he was suspended in the water column but that now seems to have gone back to this usual cave. He's stopped eating and I've seen him upside down a few times in his cave which is unusual. He's breathing rather heavily - I've attached a video of this.

Parameters
Ammonia, Nitrite 0
Dkh 8
PO4 0.1
Nitrate 50
Ph 8.5

I've read other posts on similar things to this and have done some water changes this morning to reduce nitrates to 28. I've also put an airstone under the wavemaker to ensure maximum oxygen saturation. I feed three times a week with human grade fresh food which it's frozen. I use salmon, squid and large prawns soaked in vitamins, the salmon is in fairly large chunks so I do wonder if this has created a problem.

Two other things have happend recently which I believe probably hasn't helped with things:

Tank move about two weeks ago and starting carbon dosing using vinegar.

I have never used any algaecides or copper in this tank, tank has been hypoed twice sometime back.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

The eel looks good aside from the gasping. Carbon dosing can cause dramatically low dissolved oxygen levels, but other fish in the tank would show similar symptoms and I'm presuming they are fine?

It isn't your nitrates, not nearly high enough to cause issues with an eel.

 

[sawrip]

The eel looks good aside from the gasping. Carbon dosing can cause dramatically low dissolved oxygen levels, but other fish in the tank would show similar symptoms and I'm presuming they are fine?

It isn't your nitrates, not nearly high enough to cause issues with an eel.

Thanks Jay, my tank has always sat at 30-50 nitrates but decided to try and lower it with carbon dosing. Reassuring that you don't think this is the cause.

Other fish seem fine, all my Lion's, Goblins and Weedy Rhinopias are all good. First few days of carbon dosing the Weedy Rhinopias went around the back of the tank which is very odd behaviour for him. Going to keep the bubble scrubbing going for a little to increase O2.

I've also started using a pippete and spraying vitamins into his mouth in the hope it's not a b1 vitamin issue.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks Jay, my tank has always sat at 30-50 nitrates but decided to try and lower it with carbon dosing. Reassuring that you don't think this is the cause.

Other fish seem fine, all my Lion's, Goblins and Weedy Rhinopias are all good. First few days of carbon dosing the Weedy Rhinopias went around the back of the tank which is very odd behaviour for him. Going to keep the bubble scrubbing going for a little to increase O2.

I've also started using a pippete and spraying vitamins into his mouth in the hope it's not a b1 vitamin issue.

Agree on use of carbon doing and they are miserable in high nitrates as they are messy housekeepers. In lieu of carbon dosing, do 3 gallon water changes daily for next 10-14 days and retest your no3 level

 

[sawrip]

Agree on use of carbon doing and they are miserable in high nitrates as they are messy housekeepers. In lieu of carbon dosing, do 3 gallon water changes daily for next 10-14 days and retest your no3 level

Thanks, I've dropped them down to 31 today and will further lower them over the next week. Going to keep heavily oxygenating the tank and hopefully he pulls through. This definitely seemed to start happening when I first started carbon dosing. Odd how all my other preds seem fine.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks Jay, my tank has always sat at 30-50 nitrates but decided to try and lower it with carbon dosing. Reassuring that you don't think this is the cause.

Other fish seem fine, all my Lion's, Goblins and Weedy Rhinopias are all good. First few days of carbon dosing the Weedy Rhinopias went around the back of the tank which is very odd behaviour for him. Going to keep the bubble scrubbing going for a little to increase O2.

I've also started using a pippete and spraying vitamins into his mouth in the hope it's not a b1 vitamin issue.

Oh - don’t spray vitamins in its mouth! The eel will get none of that, and it will just feed the bacteria in the water.

If there was a B1/thiaminase issue, it would show up in the lionfish first, and it wouldn’t cause rapid breathing in the eel.

Rapid breathing is caused by water quality issues (but other fish would be affected) or gill disease, or a disease that causes anemia. Eels are resistant to many common gill diseases. The common check for anemia in fish are pale or white gills, trouble is, the gill chambers of eels are pretty much hidden.

Jay

 

[sawrip]

Oh - don’t spray vitamins in its mouth! The eel will get none of that, and it will just feed the bacteria in the water.

If there was a B1/thiaminase issue, it would show up in the lionfish first, and it wouldn’t cause rapid breathing in the eel.

Rapid breathing is caused by water quality issues (but other fish would be affected) or gill disease, or a disease that causes anemia. Eels are resistant to many common gill diseases. The common check for anemia in fish are pale or white gills, trouble is, the gill chambers of eels are pretty much hidden.

Jay

Thanks Jay, not looking too good as this latest video shows. Will see how things unfold, doesn't seem to be much I can do at present other than keep up with the water changes.

All my lions and other preds seem to be doing well.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks Jay, not looking too good as this latest video shows. Will see how things unfold, doesn't seem to be much I can do at present other than keep up with the water changes.

All my lions and other preds seem to be doing well.

Sorry I don’t have a treatment for you, that looks grim.

 

[sawrip]

Sorry I don’t have a treatment for you, that looks grim.

That's no problem Jay, thanks for taking the time to reply today, it's been informative.