Brackish water travellers & could a gtile eat a scat?

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pussyfishhunter

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 19, 2008
46
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canada
i have had my brackish 75 gal for almost a year now. it was stocked with 3 scats 2 g tile morays 1 mono argentus and 2 sailfin mollies. anyways just recently one of my eels stopped coming out of his den, so i took it apart and found him struggling to breathe on the ground. he doesnt seem to be doing very well. not a water params issue,( all other fish are fine, i took out all decorations to see each fish)
in my search i noticed one of my scats is gone. he was 3- 4 inches in diameter. is it possible my eel ate the scat and isnt doing well as a result? he couldnt fit thatdown in one piece and would have a hell of a time ripping it into pieces. i didnt notice any pieces of scat floating around. so it would seem to make sense that the scat is gone and the eel is bloated on the bottem of the tank. anyone have a small moray (2ft) eat a 4 inch scat or fish of similar size?
my next question ..
thenext day i looked at the eel to see if he improved and noticed a tiny snail in the tank. further looking found several more of similar size and smaller. i have never had snails that look like this one in any tank. i havent added any fish in 6 months. could a snail grow in an animal and emerge much later? how else could i find so many baby snails at the same time.
sorry for the long confusing question.
i have a pic of the tiny snail if anyone thinks it would help.
thanks
pfh
 
i looked again tonight and i was wrong, found the scat hiding. so i dont know whats wrong with the eel. im pretty sure he wont make it the night.
 
Whats the water parameters? I would throw in an air stone and add some more oxygen. There may jsut not be enough oxygen/aeration in the tank. Check the water conditions too, if they are a little bad d a water change.
 
ive got a giant airstone with a pump big enough for 4 tanks. i also have a air powered undergravel filter running. all params normal. i test often especially if i notice any changes in conditions.
im not sure the age of the eel. i bought it already large (18") so it could have been natural causes. i have 2 other eels in the same tank who are healthy and hunting my mollies :(.
i am more concerned about where these tiny spiral shelled snails came from. could they have grown inside an eel? i havent added anything to my tank in a long time and these snails are tiny (1 cm and smaller). none ofmy other tanks have anything like em. do parasitic snails exist?
 
Snails come from plants. Did you add some plants to the tank? Its happened to me and other people. I dont know if its possible for snails to grow inside and animal. Did your Eel have a bloated belly at all, past or present? More than likely the snails came in from eggs that were attached on a plant or some other object. The Eel could have just been old like you say, and his time was up.
 
i did put java moss in a long time ago but decided to raise the salinity so i removed it. that was at least 9 months ago. could they take that long to hatch and grow. and yes the eel did look bloated when i found him. thought he ate a large scat
 
Well, the bloating could have been a cause of death. Possible it could of had worms or even swallowed gravel or sand or things like that on accident. I dont know, snails dont take long to hatch and with the salt I dont think they last. It depends though, I dont know about all the species of snails, so there could be some that live in brackish water. Alot of times with snails is that they are sometimes too small to see at first and only when the get big enough they are seen.
 
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