american Eel : update : Lesson Learned.

K

knowy

AC Members
Mar 2, 2005
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So i bought a few american eels that were sold as bait here locally.
this big one i bought had a bad round circle on it's head, i thought i cld treat him and everything wld be fine. i started with marycyn II and it cleared up very quickly. when i turned down the heat ,the problem persisted, the hole started to come back and i decided to get some HITH meds. well i spent 11times the price on the medican than i did on the Eel. with no avail, the medican didnt have ANY effect on the wound, even w/the treatment the hole became larger..
MY POINT FOR THE POST IS NEVER THINK THAT YOU CAN FIX OR SAVE A FISH THAT YOU FEEL SORRY FOR, dont EVER buy a fish thinking that if that fish is with me that it will be better off than in the store it is in,. by keeping fish for so many years i have learned this lesson many times..
just an update and i wanted to express my opinion to people feeling sorry for a fish they see in a stores, PICK carefully, look long and hard at potiential fish that you want and NEVER think there is an easy answer to medicating a fish.. ALWAYS pick the best of the best,medicate them w/salt and heat for a few weeks b4 adding them to your main tank..
knowy
 
There are some people that feel aquarists shouldn't medicate at all. Obviously most of us here are not trained professionals and the sources point to the building up of resistant strains of bacteria as the reson not to try it. It certainly makes sense. Just food for thought, not trying to convince anyone of anything, and anyone that knows me will know I have advised treatments of fish for certain things with antibiotics.

Also, I want ti reiterate the excellent point about buying fish t save them. DON'T. It only reinforces to LFS they can sucker someone into buying a sick fish and then sell them tons of high mark up additives and medicines to "save" the fish. LFS love this sort of thing. It makes them a nicer profit than the fish itself. Some LFS might even offer the fish for free if you take it home and treat it... but they know they'll get you on the trreatment later. Also, and I bet Knowy would agree, letting the fish die naturally and swiftly (or in his case, letting it be bait) would have been preferable in the end to the prolonged discomfort of the fish only to have it die in the end anyway.
 
Thank you for the post. I commend you for your loving efforts, but I'm glad you learned the lesson.
 
So did your eel(s) live?

I'm with you guys on this one, don't buy sick fish, it's worse for everybody involved except the LFS, because you've got to come back to buy more fish when your sick ones die.
 
Same thing with buying bettas to save them from the little cups. All the stores will do is fill the cups up again with more bettas.

Always buy your fish having researched what you will need to take care of them and choose healthy specimans.
 
well yes he is alive and eating well, i haven't given up yet..lol
but i know what i was getting into and i accepted the risks and im ok with it.
but i just wanted to add a post that i feel may make Some People think about what they are getting themselves into and trying to share my experences to others that haven't or wont thought things through,.
i posted another post, today ,. the 2 post sorta go hand and hand..
just trying to help ..
as for my Eel ,. lol im very stuburn <sp> and worse case sanario i will have expensive bait,. hehehe but i in know way suggest anyone do the same inless you way the options and decide on the results before hand .. i have 4 more Eels living fine and very healthy..
knowy
 
Glad to hear the rest of your crew are alive and well at least.

What do you keep them in? Mine escaped and died...I recenly made the mistake of saying, "he won't escape or try to get out..." Guess what happened :(

Are they very social?
 
my wife and i recently "rescued" 2 angelicus pictus cats from a nasty nasty walmart :(
one was missing an eye and after the ich outbreak in their quarantine tank one was successfully treated... unfortunatly the one missing the eye passed, but the other is healthy, filled out and doing great.

i knew it wasnt something i SHOULD do (buy sick fish), but i took the risk anyways.
i dunno, i guess this didnt have that much to do with the topic, but at least i have one more happy pictus cat in the comunity with my other 3.
 
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