Sick Peacock Eel

[goosefork]

I have two juvenile peacock eels which I rarely see. (Actually, I
assume I have two, but I only see one at a time) The eels hide in the
substrate and are occasionally rousted when I vacuum the gravel. On
the weekend, one of the eels was seen swimming around the back of the
tank. I counted myself lucky at the sighting. However, now I am
concerned. The eel was out the next day and then he was seen hiding
in some plants that I have floating on the water. All very unusual.
Yesterday, he spent most of the day looking very dead, draped like a
rope over the thermometer and under the plants. When touched he moved
away but very slowly. I did not see him at all before work today. As
he had been up against the glass, I had a good look at his body and he
does not show any obvious signs of illness.

I have a 50 gallon tank with a rusty brown algae problem (described in
another post). The plants are dying. Ammonia is zero or near zero.
Nitrates are near zero. I do a 25% plus water change every week. All
of my other fish appear healthy. Any ideas? I think that I am losing
this little fellow.

[NetMax]

"goosefork" > wrote in message
om...
> I have two juvenile peacock eels which I rarely see. (Actually, I
> assume I have two, but I only see one at a time) The eels hide in the
> substrate and are occasionally rousted when I vacuum the gravel. On
> the weekend, one of the eels was seen swimming around the back of the
> tank. I counted myself lucky at the sighting. However, now I am
> concerned. The eel was out the next day and then he was seen hiding
> in some plants that I have floating on the water. All very unusual.
> Yesterday, he spent most of the day looking very dead, draped like a
> rope over the thermometer and under the plants. When touched he moved
> away but very slowly. I did not see him at all before work today. As
> he had been up against the glass, I had a good look at his body and he
> does not show any obvious signs of illness.
>
> I have a 50 gallon tank with a rusty brown algae problem (described in
> another post). The plants are dying. Ammonia is zero or near zero.
> Nitrates are near zero. I do a 25% plus water change every week. All
> of my other fish appear healthy. Any ideas? I think that I am losing
> this little fellow.


I'm not familiar with a Peacock eel, but when I'm convinced I'm going to
lose a fish, I pull them out and into a hospital tank, low lights and try
to provide lots of shelter. Sometimes they perk up, especially if
whatever was stressing them was in the water, which you eliminate by
moving them. If they don't perk up, then at least they did not die in
the main tank. Some diseases are spread by ingestion. I understand that
they will be hard to catch, so ymmv.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[obladi]

About 20 years ago I had peacock, fire and tiretrack eels.
My eels had great difficulty until I tried live worms. They ate 1-2
per week and thrived.

Another problem was feeding them worms in an oscar tank-tough to get
them to the bottom. A bit of caution, the worms should be from a
protected area-free of insecticide or fertilizer. I had some nearby
woods that suited my purpose...looking under flat stones and fallen
tree limbs. The size of the worm should be proportionate to the
eel...little eels eat littler worms.
I hope this helps...



On 2 Jun 2004 11:06:31 -0700, (goosefork) wrote:

>I have two juvenile peacock eels which I rarely see. (Actually, I
>assume I have two, but I only see one at a time) The eels hide in the
>substrate and are occasionally rousted when I vacuum the gravel. On
>the weekend, one of the eels was seen swimming around the back of the
>tank. I counted myself lucky at the sighting. However, now I am
>concerned. The eel was out the next day and then he was seen hiding
>in some plants that I have floating on the water. All very unusual.
>Yesterday, he spent most of the day looking very dead, draped like a
>rope over the thermometer and under the plants. When touched he moved
>away but very slowly. I did not see him at all before work today. As
>he had been up against the glass, I had a good look at his body and he
>does not show any obvious signs of illness.
>
>I have a 50 gallon tank with a rusty brown algae problem (described in
>another post). The plants are dying. Ammonia is zero or near zero.
>Nitrates are near zero. I do a 25% plus water change every week. All
>of my other fish appear healthy. Any ideas? I think that I am losing
>this little fellow.