esky

Thanks for your response and advice I had to euthanase the eel. It was too much to see it struggling when the fins weren't working and it was lying on it's back. I was going to open it up once it had died in the freezer but when i went back to check on the other tankmates there was a strange looking addition to the tank in the form of a furry mass with a mangled orange and black nucleus to it. Easy to recognise that it was once a clown loach and that Eelie had regurgitated it before he rolled over on his back. So, happily, the fault wasn't mine. I have now replaced the eel with a polypterus ornattipinnis (Polly for short) which is rather cruelly putting the remaining clown loaches on borrowed time. I know now that the eel only swallowed two loaches as the others came out of hiding once things settled in the tank. I could write a story about the changed behaviours of the tank inhabitants when faced with a dying eel - it really unsettled them all.

Hi - I need advice about fire eels - mine looks as if the end is coming. He/she hasn't been interested in food for 2 days. Did a clean of the filter material at the weekend. All 6 of my clown loaches were present and correct at that time. My 2 spanner barbs were faded and dead on Monday. The leopard Ctenapoma (?) is fine, so's the ghost knife and the butterfly pantodon and the 2 angels. Only one small scared looking clown loach can be found! It looks pretty scared and sick (not surprisingly if what I think has happened, has actually happened) Can I conclude that the eel has made him/herself ill on a feast of 5 clown loaches? Most of it's body is lying prone on the bottom of the tank and it's head is up and all it can do is frantically work it's gills. I have done 2 water changes since the weekend and the nitrate,nitrite, ammonia, ph levels are all normal. Hoping someone can come up with an idea to help Eelie survive. Thanks