fire eel burn?

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noelleandant

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 24, 2009
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United States
My boyfriend and I came home a few nights ago to find our new fire eel with a burn-like mark on his side. We're assuming it's a burn because it's in the exact same spot and angle the heater is in. Anyway, two nights ago it had fungus (fuzzy white stuff) coming out of it and we put Melafix in. Tonight the fungus is completely gone and all you can see is the "meat" of the eel. He's still is aware of the other fish but isn't moving around much (although he never did in the first place). My question is: now what? Do we keep putting Melafix in? Obviously it'll take time to heal but we want to prevent any infections beforehand. Anyone else ever have an eel burn themself on the heater?

PS. In case anyone is wondering, he is about 15 inches long. I'm going to try to get pictures up of his burn ASAP.
 
If he burned himself on the heater, chances are he needs more hiding spots. If he's eating still, he has a good shot at pulling threw. Just like any other sick/hurt fish, maintain pristine water conditions, decrease stress the best you can, and let the fish heal. does the "meat" of the fish look red? or swollen? these are signs of infection yet generally. never had a eel burn itself on a heater yet, so it may be expected to see some "puffyness". I'de also invest in a heater guard to prevent any future burns. Most LFS sell them.

small meals regularly ( to avoid stretching the damaged area to much while it's trying to heal, Just like you would avoid eating a big meal if your stomachs upset)

Useing Melafix, do not raise your temp levels as you would for most treatments, this decreases the O2 levels in your tank, and will potentially suffocate the fish. leave your tank temp normal, leave your carbon in. do 20% WC's every 2-3 days to maintain pristine water conditions and let the medication do it's job. after 7 days stop treatment. If showing signs of infection yet Melafix and Pimafix at 1/2 doses used together for another 5-7 days. Thats what I have used now to treat both a TT w/ velvet and my own fire eels w/ "patches" in the past. Melafix/Pimafix is very Potent, It is better to slightly underdose.. then slightly overdos.

I'de also reccomend leaveing the tank light off for a few days to make your eel feel more at ease. As long as you won't have issues w/ live plants ect in the tank.

Pictures would help alot, but I surmise the white "fungus" was actually a bacterial infection resulting from the burn, or scrapeing itself on something. These types of infections can manifest almost overnight, and can be deadly quickly.
 
The "meat" looks exactly like if you were to go to the fish market and ask for a filet of salmon. Haha. It's not red at all. The swelling also went down around the burn.
 
Here's some pictures of our poor baby. (Excuse the quality of the pictures!)
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MonsterMinis;3743141; said:
Useing Melafix, do not raise your temp levels as you would for most treatments, this decreases the O2 levels in your tank, and will potentially suffocate the fish.
Click to expand...

Common sense suggests this would be true, but in fact Melafix doesn't decrease oxygen levels - this was tested using oxygen probes when it was being developed. Raising the temperature of the tank water will decrease oxygen levels on its own, naturally.

I'd agree it's always better to underdose than overdose medications, but of course the best dose is the recommended one. Melafix and Pimafix both have wide safety margins anyway (although I am not recommending that anyone overdoses). They can also be used together at full dose with no problems.
 
So he seems to be doing awesome but he's once again burned himself (lightly) a couple of more times. We've hopefully resolved this by getting some PVC pipes and having him hide in there.

Thanks for all of your help, guys :)
 
I made a heater guard out of pvc pipe by cutting slits in it and putting the heater inside. I also used the covers for Hagen quick filters to put the heater in. In three other tanks where I have rays I use Rena Smart heaters, they stay cool on the outside and are fish safe. In my two saltwater tanks where I have a zebra eel, a mexican dragon eel and a yellowhead eel, the heaters are in the sumps.

If your eel is still burning himself, he may still get injured at night if he is on the prowl (mine sometimes are active with the lights out). I would seriously consider making your heater more fish safe, then you wouldn't have to worry about him.
 
I just got my fire eel about 5 days ago and i saw him alot the first two days i put him in there... but now i havent seen him in a couple days and i am getting nervous. my tank is very well sealed. is this normal?? and he has not ate since i got him from what i can tell... is this also normal. this is my first eel
 
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