Need help w/FreshWater Moray Eel

[mejdub]

Hey guys my Moray looks like his head is about to pop. this morning he was fine and when i got home he looked very sick, looks like he has two white spots on the back of his head, fleshy looking spots. any help would be good thanks.

[BeelzeBob]

sounds fungal or bacterial.
do you feef him a lot of fleshy foods like squid crab and cocktail shrimp?
in this arrises 2 possible problems.

1) if you are NOT, AND ONLY feeding it ghost shrimp and guppies, you little homie is dying of MALNUTRITION. if he is and its that far along, i am very sorry.

2) you are diversifying its diet and feeding it a wide variety of foods, you might have a problem with two much decaying material in the tank, which leaves your critter very succeptable to fungus, viral and bacterial infections. clean and water change (10% - 15%) twice a week, and fluctuate your salinity up a little every day for a week and look for improvements or new problems

3) it could also be something beyond my knowledge

i feed my eel earl a few different types of crab, shrimp, and invertibrates that i buy from my local grocery. stick a piece in a sharpened stick and let him nab it. its good for the eel in that they need a VARIETY of live and fresh foods in order to maintain proper nutrition, and its real fun for my nerdy ***.

[MonoSebaelover]

Welcome to Aquaria Central! Can you give more details such as, how long have you had the eel, is the eel in brackish/fw, what is water quality/how long has tank been running, tankmates, what are you feeding? There is too little info to figure out what is wrong. When you say his head is about to pop, how so? Is the eel breathing normally? Anyway sorry couldn't be more help but a little more info is needed before I can say anything, don't want to mis-diagnose.

[BeelzeBob]

on a similar topic, how many eels can you have in one tank?

i always see pictures of multiple eels in the same tank, is this okay, or will it spur territorial difficulties, especially if one's ben there for a while?

[MonoSebaelover]

That is a good question! I would presume that as long as you have enough seperate hiding places and enough food resources they would do fine. I know that is the case in saltwater eels and freshwater eels so the same should apply for brackish! I sure see them all the time in the same tanks without battle scars so they are probably good together! Hope this helps!

[BeelzeBob]

sabe lover you rule!
thanx for all the tips and such, hows the weather up in fort?
my girl lives in laporte and it was quite the drive back to boulder last night.
hey can you suggest any quality LFS on the frontrange? brackish selection is pretty week in my area.
way to be.
good work my electronic aquaintance. :bowing:

[MonoSebaelover]

The weather has been good up in the Fort! I live like less than 5 minutes from Laporte, am in northwestern FC. Brackish selection is very weak here in CO. I have been down to Denver the Springs and back and not a whole lot. My favorite places are Denizens of the Deep (they prob have largest selection with Monos, Scats, Gobies, Archers, Puffers, Mudskippers, and sometimes -rarely- Anableps), D & G pet shop, both in FC, then Exotic Aquatics and Aqua Imports in Boulder. Anyway hope all is well!