Injured eel, graphic

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meghanashley

meghanashley

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 15, 2008
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NJ
So my eel ran into an issue when my tank's ph dropped considerably down after using vineger to get some hard water stains off the new tank, this happened about a week ago or so. I thought I was going to loose him but he pulled through. Since then he has not eaten but I could see (via his tail) that he's color was back to normal and he would poke out his nose when I tried to peak at him. Today I noticed my ctenopoma kept going into his pvc pipe and just hanging out. So due to the fact that they are sworn mortal enemies I decided to get the flash light and have a closer look. The whole top of his head was discolored with dead flesh, and some cotton like fungus could be seen. Bad right, well it gets so much worse. In tranfering him to the qt tank to do a pima/ mela fix mix He jumped out of the 3" gap btwn the top (where the HOB filter left a gap). This tank is on a dresser pushed up to a wall getting him was freakin almost impossible. But I did it, my hand and feet are cut from glass because in the mix I smashed a vase, but I got him.

Anyway now he has a gash by the dead flesh on his head, I think he also may have a neck injury, but maybe thats because the flesh is separated from his spine there. When I pulled him out of the 160g the smell was overwhelming. I feel like crap right now.... again. He's breathing a little heavy, but he is moving around the tank, and swimming ok. If he pulls through this he is the baddest eel ever. Graphic pictures below.

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Yeah, I feel really bad. Trying to figure out as well if the ph swing could have caused to flesh to fester like that on his head, the gash behind it is from the drop but all that swollen white on the top of his head was there already, and festering the smell was awful. The parameters in the big tank have settled, after the ph swing I had a mini cycle but the amnonia never went past .25, and nitrite barely registered through it, the ph has been reading 7 since I put the baking soda in. I was doing tests at least once if not twice day for the past week or so. My other thought is that maybe when he jumped out of the tank two weeks ago he hit his head maybe it became swollen and infected over time?????? I don't know but I really hope he pulls through and can live the rest of his life without incident.
 
A broad-spectrum antibiotic can help the eel. A safe choice would be oxytetracycline. A vet can prescribe it and fill the prescription for alot less than buying them in a lfs (my vet sells me 100 count 500mg caps for $12). Dosing 500mg per 20gal will help fight/prevent both gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial infections. Good luck.
 
thanks oddball, i just tried every vet in within an 30 to 45 min. drive from me 95% were closed the other couple I could find that were open brought about some interesting conversations. One woman insisted that my pet would have to be seen by the vet first, I kept telling her it was a fish, her was reply was well thats the rules. Found a fish store that carries it though.

I already dosed the tank with melafix/ and pimafix is it ok to dose with the antibiotic on top of it. Do I have to cut the dose in half because he's scaleless?

Thanks.
 
I'd do waterchanges until all the mela/pima-fix is out. I've had nothing but bad luck with those meds on eels. Then treat with the tetracycline.

If the fish developes a secondary fungal infection, treat with Maroxy and boost the temp/aeration.
 
he's done, just checked on him heading out to the store he didn't make it. thanks for the help
 
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