# Question on Eel behavior and water change



## WaL802000 (May 19, 2007)

I have a 70 gallon, fish with live rock and sand, running for about 2 years, 1 protein skimmer and pump.

This is my brothers tank and he had to leave offshore to work and his eel has been acting sluggish. It is a snowflake moray eel and it does'nt eat when I try to stick feed it. Also, it keeps opening its mouth and it appears as if it has trouble breathing. Prior to leaving he treated it with pimafix and melafix. Prior to leaving he asked me to do a water change, add carbon back to the filter amd turn on the skimmer.

My questions are

Do I have to mix salt with the water that I add to the tank? how much salt per gallon?

Can the eel be fed live grass shrimp?

What would possibly cause the eel to be sluggish and breathe heavy?
I have a test kit but the colors are in good range except for the nitrate level, how do I lower it?

Thanks for any help


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

Water are the water parameters and the salinity?


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## WaL802000 (May 19, 2007)

ph 8.0
nitrate(NO3) 200
nitrate(NO2) 0.5
alkalinity 240

What is the best type of test, the dip stick method (what I currently have) 

or the kind where you put drops in the tes water?

Thanks for any help


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

The strips should be in the garbage. Well looking at the parameters you provided you need to bring that nitrate way down. THat is to high for even fish to live. Then you need to bring down the nitrite. What is the salinity of the tank. YOu need to be doing water changes for the next couple days with RO/DI water.


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## WaL802000 (May 19, 2007)

Would a water change drop the nitrate level or do I need to purchase a product?

Should I get the kind of test where you put drops in a tube to the test water?

How many gallons should I change out? the tank is 70 gallons and I was planning on ten percent.

Also, does salt have to be mixed with the new water? and if so how much to a gallon?

How do I check salinity? would I need to purchase a product or use a tachometer?

Thanks for the help


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## WaL802000 (May 19, 2007)

salinity is 1.021


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## trreherd (Aug 7, 2006)

The amount of salt you need to add per gallon will be on the bag/bucket of salt. Follow the minufactures instructions. First mix the salt in a bin with a powerhead and a heater. check the salinity and match in with the tanks salinity.


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## WaL802000 (May 19, 2007)

I did a water change of 10 gallons and my nitrite and nitrate levels went down some.

would a daily change to get them (nitrates/nitrite) completely down or should I wait a couple days?

Also, I put carbon in the canister filter and it cleared the tank up, does the carbon also lower nitrate/nitrite? 

Should the carbon always stay in the filter or should I dump it?

Also, the eel sticks his head out sometime and moves occasionally but he mostly hides. 

What live foods can it eat? can he eat grass shrimp or freshwater little fish like guppies? or should I just keeping trying to stick feed it shrimp/fish?

Thanks for all the help


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## trreherd (Aug 7, 2006)

Ok you should not have any niTRITES. niTRATES are ok but any nitrite or amonia is very bad. I would say you are either overfeeding, or your filtration is week. How often are you feeding him? is he the only fish in the tank? What do you have for filtration? Do you have live rock? How much? You should do a water change every day intill you get your nitrates at least below 50 ppm. I would first focus on getting his water quality up to specs and then worry about what to feed him. Cause there got to be a reason hes not eating.


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## WaL802000 (May 19, 2007)

Thanks for the help

I have 0.5 for nitrite and 80 nitrate

it is normally fed 1-2 times per week

he is the only fish in the tank

I have a protein skimmer and a canister pump (with carbon in it)

there is some live rock and live sand ( about 3 inches deep)


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## WaL802000 (May 19, 2007)

I've been doing water changes of 5-10 gallons over the past 4 days and my parameters are

ph 8.0-8.2
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
ammonia 0.25
salinity 1.021

The eel is more active in moving around the tank, but it still is not eating

I have put shrimp on the feeding stick and also I have purchased grass shrimp. The eel goes to the grass shrimp as if he wants to eat them but he doesn't.

I have read about eels going into a hibernation mode but he still comes out.

Also, do eels shed skin like a snake normally does, i had someone suggest that but I don't know what to think of next.


Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Thanks for the help


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## jdecorse25 (Feb 13, 2007)

*Snowflake Moray Eel*

From time to time it is not uncommon for most eels to go into a "hybernation" period, often hiding and not eating for several weeks or so. 

I don't know if you should worry about it or not.


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