Brown stringy things are growing on my snowflake! Getting worse!!

[jcarroll]

Hi! I'm hoping someone can give me some idea of what's going on with my eel. I got a 175 that had a tessellata eel about 3 1/2 feet long in it. I added a snowflake eel to it and slowly the eel has been covered with brown strings hanging from all over him. His entire mouth is almost completely covered by them. They look like diatoms that are on live rock, and have covered his entire body now. I noticed my tesselatta is now starting to have them grow around his mouth now too. Could this be because when we set it up the guy used 1/2 RO water and 1/2 tap? Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated!! Each brown string is about 1/4-1/2 inch long

 

[swfishy]

This sounds like a parasitic infection of anchor worm or hook worm.
Remove the eel and give him temperature and pH balanced freshwater dips and keep him in a quarantine tank.
You may use Chem Stop for Parasites also.

 

[jcarroll]

I can't remove him. Can I treat the tank? I have a 3 1/2 foot tesselatta in there also, and in order to get the snowflake eel out, I'd be risking a couple of fingers.....what should I use in the case of treating the tank? Thanks for your help!

 

[sepulatian]

Stop parasites can be added to the display, but I don't think it will help. Eels cannot be treated with copper, which would kill the worms. You can try Kick ich. I don't know that it will be of any help, but it seems to at least help with ich. These type of worms can be plucked off with tweezers. You have to get them out of the tank though. Any med that you add to the display will not kill the worms. The good part is that if you can get them to detach from the eel then they won't be able to feed and will hopefully die off. Dose the food that the eel gets with FRESH garlic. It has to be fresh to help. Beth has directions for that in her Common Treatments FAQ.

 

[jcarroll]

Well, sounds like I may be screwed then.......I can't pick the worms off because there are TONS, literally, TONS of them. They pretty much cover the snowflakes entire mouth and most of her body now. My tesselatta is now starting to get some around his mouth. I bought some stuff on the internet to put in the tank that is supposed to kill leeches and other types of worms. After I did a bunch of research on the internet, I found a place where a thread described the same type of worm, and they found out it was leeches. They're brown stringy worms that are attached to the eel's skin, and at the end they come up to a point and the point is lighter, almost white. I also can't dose food with garlic because neither of them are eating. I am screwed to take them out, because my other tank is beautiful, healthy, and has 6 fish in it, so there's no way I'm going to put the eels in there.
If anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear them, otherwise, unfortunately is sounds like I'll be forced to watch these things eat at my eels until the end......this freaking sucks!
If they end up dying, what process do I need to do to get rid of these nasty things????

 

[kjr_trig]

Sepulatian or Beth, would a Cleaner Wrasse go after these? I hate to ever recommend this fish.

 

[usirchchris]

Why can't you do the freshwater dip? Just get a big rubbermaid container get the temp and PH right and drop them in. Call a fish store and ask them how they move large eels. They would not be in the trade if there was no way to move them, because of people loosing fingers. Get out of your comfort zone and wrangle an eel. Big fishing net...something...can't just watch them starve to death.

 

[salt210]

try one of those gopher things that are used to pick up trash to grab the head end. im starting to feel bad for these as well. like stated before don't be afraid. can even try one of those real thick leather gloves if your still worried about getting bit

 

[spanko]

Originally Posted by salt210
http:///forum/post/2714066
try one of those gopher things that are used to pick up trash to grab the head end. im starting to feel bad for these as well. like stated before don't be afraid. can even try one of those real thick leather gloves if your still worried about getting bit
+1 get them out so you can treat them.

 

[jcarroll]

Here's my update. I did a TON of research on the internet, and found that they may be leeches. So, I ordered some medicine for the tank and treated it last night.....I am so happy and excited to say that THE LEECHES ARE GONE!!!!!!! I'm not joking guys, I am totally surprised! I NEVER thought it would work so quickly!! My snowflake eel, who was starting to look like an identical twin to "cousin it" is now worm free!!!!!! That stuff is AWESOME!! It's called Trifon. I'll keep updating everyone to verify that their condition is still good. It says to treat tank once a week. I also put in a shrimp and hopefully they'll start eating again either today or really soon!
YAY TRIFON!!!!!

 

[jcarroll]

My tesselatta just ate a big fillet of tillapia for the first time!!!! Now I just have to figure out how to get my snowflake to eat......

 

[mrjedi21]

I have seen many of your post concerning this new used tank you received. You are having some serious problems with the tank and the eels. We have no idea what the system looked like when you picked it up or the quality of the water. You stated in your previous post that you just transfered the water from pick up to setup.
Personally I would just take your eels to a LFS and have them hold them for awhile in order to completely redo your tank and get all of the stuff that is wrong with it fixed.
It is really disheartening to read about the long stringy things covering your eels and you are too scared to get them out. Please buy or borrow a large net from a LFS to get them out and save them.
After that them clean your tank completely and that includes using vinegar on the glass to get the salt (white deposits) off the glass and any algea that has possibly or probably built up on the sand, rock, glass.
You really need to post pictures of the eels and the tank to truly get some help from people and water parameters would help as well.
Also eels can go on month long hunger strikes, especially when they are moved and stressed.