It sounds like too much food but two earth worms for a 17 inch eel is not that much.Eels do breath faster then most fish.I stopped giving my fire eel worms all together as i would notice more rapid breathing and the laying on there side.Perhaps worms are hard for them to digest?I had rays in with my eel and he would try to get every worm when i fed them all,sometimes eating 30 night crawlers..He now eats 5 jumbo shrimp every night but my eel is over 3 feet and massive around.I never see him breath harder after eating any more.
fire eel problems
- Thread starter pauly187
- Start date
oh i also have 35 plecos in with him,three of them are 15-16 inch size and i have never seen them go near my eel.Just keep your plecos well fed and properly fed and you won't have a problem.
Madding;4084942; said:
I have around 30+ myself in with my eel. The only one that ever sucked on him was a large L91 pleco. Please post some pics in the pleco forum!!!!!!
On a post-related note: my fire eel ONLY eats market shrimp from my hand. He refuses anything else--will even gulp a bloodworm cube and spit it out once he realizes it's not shrimp!
ok guys its now been two days of this heavy breathing and sometimes laying on the side...... i poked him a little and he peped up but still breathing kind of fast with mouth open
should i wait it out or re turn him to the store?
and how do i no if he has a bacteria infection?
some signs?
should i wait it out or re turn him to the store?
and how do i no if he has a bacteria infection?
some signs?
pauly187;4085217; said:
Don't poke the fish you are just going to stress it out more.
When was your last water change and how much are you changing at a time?
Did you turn the lights off and raise temp?
At this point, less is more. The more variables that you change, the further you are from a diagnosis. Let him ride it out. If he isn't better 48hours after a water change, then it's time to talk to your LFS.
The only other thing I can think of is that I was told (I can't verify this...) that fire eels are wild caught with hooks. Sometimes they swallow the hook and are doomed. If this is true...can anyone verify???...then you definitely get need to get your money refunded by the store.
Let's not jump to conclusions, do a partial water change, wait and see.
Fire Eels Mouth Breathing - Soak your earthworms! - I know these were some old posts but I've had a fire eel a while a discovered a few things I think would be helpful if anyone is interested. Soak your earthworms in some cold water for about 3-5 minutes to get the poop and dirt out of them. There will be some pleghm-like stuff come out along with the poop and dirt. It is real nasty. Rinse it all off real good in a cup BEFORE YOU FEED your eel. I think that my fire eel was choking on that stuff and that is what was happening to him. Since I get all that out of the worms he doesn't gag anymore and he eats more worms than ever before. He is HUGE now and doesn't do the mouth breathing thing unless the chemicals are not right in the water.
Albino Pleco Wouldn't Stop Sucking on my Fire Eel! - He would get in the pipe with him and wouldn't get off! I finally had to give the pleco to my friend and he put him in his tank. My tank is not as clean but he just wouldn't stay off of him. He was much bigger than my fire eel though so that may have been part of the problem. Once the eel got larger it may not have been such an issue. I couldn't prevent this from happening in my tank no matter what diet I fed that darn pleco he just wasn't satisfied without sucking on the eel.
Hope this helps somebody!
Albino Pleco Wouldn't Stop Sucking on my Fire Eel! - He would get in the pipe with him and wouldn't get off! I finally had to give the pleco to my friend and he put him in his tank. My tank is not as clean but he just wouldn't stay off of him. He was much bigger than my fire eel though so that may have been part of the problem. Once the eel got larger it may not have been such an issue. I couldn't prevent this from happening in my tank no matter what diet I fed that darn pleco he just wasn't satisfied without sucking on the eel.
Hope this helps somebody!
My fire eel died! He was doing okay and then BAM! Dead! Don't know what happened. He had grown from about 7 inches long to about 15 inches long and had gotten really big around but I'm not sure what happened. I'm reading similar posts about mouth breathing and laying on side. I experienced the same thing with my eel and it was the saddest thing to watch. My only regret was not euthanizing him so he did not suffer. I just don't know what was wrong with him. It came on suddenly and there were no marks on his body. Does anyone know what the issue is with fire eels? I am very careful with my water changes and chemicals so this should not have happened and there was no evidence of any disease. I am completely blindsided.
