PLEASE HELP! i dont know what is wrong with my eel

sixshootergirl

sixshootergirl

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Dec 28, 2006
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okay for about 9 months now i have had a BW snowflake eel. they are sold as fresh water but i learned they are supposed to be in brackish. for the time so far i have had him he has been doing great. Ive been keeping the water clean and he has been eating really well. 3 jumbo krill a day. he was active as well, always coming out of his cave to say hello. for the past 3 weeks now though he has become not as active though. he also does not always eat evory day. and when he does eat he will only eat 1 krill at a time. Im worried about him. and all the reaserch ive done tells me different things. many places have said they can live there whole lives hapily in BW, but other sites say they need to be moved to salt water when they get older, and some sites say they need to be kept in freshwater. the salinity i have him at now is between .008 and .010 and for a while he was doinbg so great. his colors are still really good so i need to figure something out befor he gets weak. i would be so upset if he died:( has anyone ever kept these guys befor for a long time? please i hope someone can help. also how long can they go without food becuase i'm going away for 5 days and i know my parents arent goign to feed him by hand like i have to do right now. he should be okay for 5 days right?
 
it is different from the marine snowflake eels. and i dont have nitrate, nitrite or ammonia. i have great water conditions that i maintain very well. he is in a 20 gallon
 
I don't know if he is familiar with the FW/BW eels but the user OldManOfTheSea here is very knowledgable about marine eels. He might be worth PM'ing to see if he can help. vbmenu_register("postmenu_983634", true);
 
How do you know how "great" your water conditions are, if you don't know what the parameterts are. Obviously something is off. It would be very difficult to make any kind of diagnosis without that info. One thing I can tell you is that fish need a balanced diet. No single food has all the nutrition a fish needs. Maybe the eel is tired of krill. Try offering him a piece of silverside or other fish.
 
snowflake eels dont eat fish, they are crustacean(sp) eaters. I would be more than willing to give him fish if he would eat it.
 
I readied your post and if it is a true blackish moray, your good where you have it, but what size is this eel for which it be in too small a tank even if by itself? Also to how long they go without food will depend on their size for an adult would hang in there far longer. You also need not smaller then a 55 gal tank with as many hiding places you can provide it. Also, not waste your time with silversides if you can help it.And do try to see besides the other items I mentioned to you in the PM, do try best to get it FW shrimp. I was to PM you this, and im in a bit of a hurry and have to get out to the little monsters my daughter had giving me :eek: :)

Not feed by hand, you need a feeding stick of some type :wall: ouch, that hurts :grinyes:

snowflake eels dont eat fish
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If you fw sfe is large already, you can try pieces of fish :(
 
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I was about to go out the door and I figure that I would ask you if your a skimmer? For yes, its optional but sometimes it can be necessary :idea:
 
sixshootergirl said:
snowflake eels dont eat fish, they are crustacean(sp) eaters. I would be more than willing to give him fish if he would eat it.
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I had one of these eels a few years ago, and in addition to eating krill and shrimp, it definitely ate silversides as well.
Even though Echidna morays are crustacean-eaters it doesn't mean that they won't eat fish. I've seen typical saltwater snowflake eels chase and eat small feeder fish with gusto.
 
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