About a year ago I got my hands on 4 small swamp eels, Monopterus Albus. For a while they were doing great, sharing a 55G tank with 3 senegal bichirs and an african brown knife (all juvies). They were fed a steady diet of market prawns with occasional feedings of live black worms and Hikari carnivore pellets. I lost the eels after 6 months or so when they succombed to "the shakes" -- seizure-like episodes that would strike one fish at the time over a course of a few weeks.
Basically I would notice one of the eels, who were otherwise pretty docile and calm, swim around the tank in great aggitation and without much control, running into the walls and gravel. The fish would shake and spasm while this was happenning, almost as if it was "caughing" (suffocating). This behavior would last 30 to 60 minutes and then everything was fine. The eel would eat and sometimes act normal for a few days, then go into seizures again. Eventually a fish exhibiting "the shakes" would be found dead.
I did not actually witness the death itself but have no reason to doubt that it was connected to the seizures or injuries sustained from trashing violently around the tank. I checked the water paramteres each time and all was fine. Could it be some food-borne pathogen? None of their tankmates were affected in any way.
In all my years of keeping freshwater fish I have not encountered anything like that. What could it possibly be? Any and all advise will be greatly appreciated since I now have a chance of getting a few more swamp eels and would really hate to see them suffer the same fate
Basically I would notice one of the eels, who were otherwise pretty docile and calm, swim around the tank in great aggitation and without much control, running into the walls and gravel. The fish would shake and spasm while this was happenning, almost as if it was "caughing" (suffocating). This behavior would last 30 to 60 minutes and then everything was fine. The eel would eat and sometimes act normal for a few days, then go into seizures again. Eventually a fish exhibiting "the shakes" would be found dead.
I did not actually witness the death itself but have no reason to doubt that it was connected to the seizures or injuries sustained from trashing violently around the tank. I checked the water paramteres each time and all was fine. Could it be some food-borne pathogen? None of their tankmates were affected in any way.
In all my years of keeping freshwater fish I have not encountered anything like that. What could it possibly be? Any and all advise will be greatly appreciated since I now have a chance of getting a few more swamp eels and would really hate to see them suffer the same fate
