Fire eel large white spot

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J

JonPhillips114

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 15, 2011
34
0
0
Alabama
Hi, I need advise ASAP!!! My fire eel is around 11-12 in I have had it for around 4 or 5 months with no problems, eating nightcrawler worms daily but for the past 3 or 4 days he will not eat and today noticed he has a large quarter sized white patch about one inch behind his front fins it looks like the skin is missing only on his side nowhere else? I checked the water the ph is 7.2, Water temp is 80, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 10ppm nitrate. He is in a 280 G tank with 10 smaller clown loaches, a couple dojo and yoyo loaches, one bgk, he has never refused worms before. today I added some aquarium salt to hopefully keep bacteria and infection down. his breathing seems normal. I also have sand substate. any other information you might need please let me know!
any ideas what may be wrong or what I can do to make him better? All of the other fish in the tank are healthy no signs or any problems maybe he just scraped himself on the driftwood? the only thing I have besides driftwood is the "fancy plants" fake bamboo type plant.
Thanks!
Jon
 
Jon any chance of you being able to quarantine him "just in case"? Also any chance of a pic? Could be he hurt himself burrowing or got a fungus or anything in between.
 
the only problem with quarantine is my med tank is 10G and im afraid he will freak out when I put him in there. I will try to get a pic asap but I dont want to run him around right now from spot to spot to get him to show that side. All i have read about them usually getting scratched up it is on their face and belly usually but this one is on his side it looks like something just removed the skin from that one area nothing else is wrong. the spot isnt fuzzy it just looks like the tissue under the skin. I am hoping he just scratched himself. it seems like if it was fungus it would also be on my loaches too since the clowns are prone to everything lol i will try to get a pic though. I appreciate the fast response, has anyone else had a problem like this?
 
Do you have your heater on in the tank? coz maybe he could have just burned himself?
 
Fat Homer;5103484; said:
Do you have your heater on in the tank? coz maybe he could have just burned himself?
Click to expand...

That was my first thought too for the type of wound described.

If the patch is not obviously getting fungal or getting a secondary bacterial infection at the moment, I would personally just keep a close eye on things. Moving a fish to a hospital tank can be really, really stressful for the fish. I would only do it as a bit of a last resort.
Consider a half dose of a general anti-bacterial/antifungal med for the whole tank, maybe.
 
my fire eels use to beat the snot outta eachother semi-annually... and large whiet patches where usual after the effects.... my money is on an aggressor. a pic would deffinately help. and by chance is their a pleco in the tank? the size and shape suggest a possible pleco attack. though clown loaches also seem to attack fire eels fairly commonly as well.

I would still keep my eyes well open for any signs that it's fungal or bacterial in nature though.
 
sorry i have not been on in a while! but the spot seems to be fading now? it was solid white now it looks still white but slowly getting darker. im thinking maybe the heater got him? he is eating fine again still very nervous around me??? wont hand feed but eats if i drop the night crawlers. the spot is almost the size of a quarter and my plecos are maybe 6 in at best so i dont think it was them All i can guess is that the heater got him or he had a encounter with the driftwood some where? he seems to be acting a lot more alert so maybe he is getting better
Thanks for all the help!
 
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