White spots on fire eel

[Irecruitfish]

Doesn't look like damage from rubbing on something in the tank but not sure what's going on?

Only thing recently added was jungle val and other live plants which I rinsed off with water before adding and let it sit in a bucket for a day.

 

[kno4te]

Looks like a few missing scales. Not too sure. Clean water and make sure it’s eating. Would update as it goes. Doesn’t look like ich or parasite.

 

[Irecruitfish]

Looks like a few missing scales. Not too sure. Clean water and make sure it’s eating. Would update as it goes. Doesn’t look like ich or parasite.

Will do... it's only eating backyard earthworms ...or red wigglers. It's still highly active when begging for food. Thanks.

 

[Irecruitfish]

Looks like a few missing scales. Not too sure. Clean water and make sure it’s eating. Would update as it goes. Doesn’t look like ich or parasite.

Seeing new white spots here and there while others have faded.

Behavior seems the same.

Could this be bite marks from a 7" ornate bichir? The bichir has been bullying another bichir I have and so but a BGK in the past.

 

[tlindsey]

Could this be bite marks from a 7" ornate bichir?

Yes very possible. Ornate bichir are territorial from my experience with them.

 

[Irecruitfish]

The fire eel, BGK, and the ornate are the only fish who use the caves.

Bummer but I think I'll have to sell the ornate then.

 

[Irecruitfish]

I'm seeing some new white spots/marks on the eel. I've been thinking about this and believe it's a smaller piece of rain gutter that I added. Called stealth gutter from home Depot. Pic(older) attached.

Eel is in there here and there but really it was meant for the bichirs because it's so thin.
Could these spots be rub marks? I'm going to take the piece out tomorrow night and try to feel inside although it's too thin for me to get my hand in.

Trial and error.


It's still eating like a champ.

 

[kno4te]

Take out the gutter pieces. If the spots disappear or are getting better you've got your answer.

 

[Irecruitfish]

I removed the thin gutter piece out of the aquarium last week and it's odd sometimes I don't see the white dots to highly visible on the fire drill but last night I did see quite a bit.

I'm not sure if the ornate is biting him or what's going on. All it eats is earthworms I find in the backyard and I don't know maybe I'm not feeding them properly I just dump the worms and water and take my tweezers and kind of swirl them around.

 

[jjohnwm]

Those do look more and more like some sort of abrasions, that have resulted in missing scales. I don't think they are bites from anything, nor parasites. Is your substrate very sharp-edged and abrasive? Sharp-edged rocks or driftwood in the tank? Do those drainpipe sections perhaps have some sharp edges either inside or at the openings?

Fire Eels are often referred to as "scaleless" but they are fully scaled with numerous small scales, as can easily be seen in your pics. A big fish squeezing into and around anything abrasive can easily sustain this kind of damage.