Snowflake Eel Dying? Help Please

[jrittz]

I purchased the eel last week saturday (Aug. 23) and all was well. The following day I fed him 3 pieces of Krill, monday he ate 2 pieces and tuesday he at 1. Since then he didnt eat a thing. He swam around actively then he'd go back to one of his many holes he had created under the LR. Today I woke up and immediately went and checked on him and he was laying on the bottom of the tank and appeared to be near death. His coloration appears to be normal with the exception of... The tip of his tail along with up the dorsel appeared to have a red tint instead of being white as usual. Also the opening on the eel's underside has some redish discoloration. He's curled up and struggling but still fighting to live. Also appears to not be breathing. At this point it doesnt appear that he will live but i'd still like to do anything and everything I possibly can to aid in his survivial. At the touch he would fight to move away and would try to go in his hole but he cannot, he doesnt have that much control anymore. My tank is a 72 gallon bow front. Trites are 0, Amonia is 0, pH is 8.2, temp is 79, salinity is 1.023, alkalinity is fairly high, and trates are in the neighborhood of 15. I did a 20% water change 2 days ago and that's when he started stressing and not looking good at all. I'm using tap water which is softened by a culligan system. Also I'm adding tap water treatment drops to clear any of the harmful heavy metals and chemicals that come in the tap water. If you have any ideas what he may be going through or something that I just have not thought about at this point I would greatly appreciate any and all input.
Thanks,
Jrittz

 

[beth]

Jrittz: I am not too familiar with the ailments of eels. It sounds, however, like you may have a bacterial infection. Do you have a QT?
I'm going to see if we can get Terry's attention.

 

[jrittz]

Unfortunately my eel has passed away But i'm definately interested in finding out more if possible so this can be prevented in the future. It has only effected the eel and not the fish. Makes me wonder if it was an eel specific disease much like the clown only disease i've seen in the past.
Thank you for the timely response and i'll keep checking back here to find out if anybody has more input on this subject.
Jrittz

 

[jrittz]

Terry:
I bought a large packet of brine shrimp which was cut into 4 sections and each section is stored seperately in their own ziplock bags. The krill was a small package and was stored in its own ziplock bag. Everything is stored in the freezer. Also these packages of food were bought no longer than 2 weeks ago and never sat outside the freezer more than 15 mins and are basically never taken outside their respective ziplock bags even when pieces are cut off. The food is prepared in a glass which is rinsed before each feeding with fresh clean water from the RO unit which was purchased from culligan. Then water from the tank is used to thaw the foods before serving it to the fish. After it's thawed, the brine shrimp is poured into the tank which the fish eat like maniacs. The krill was fed to the eel via a dowel which was sharpened to a dull point to attach the krill one at a time to spot feed the eel.
If there is a problem with any of this, please let me know so I can adjust the feeding methods to a more suitable and acceptable method.
After talking to a friend, he too came up with a similar conclusion. Disease, bacteria, protozoans, infection, etc.. Basically what he thought was since there was a discoloration of the tail, dorsel area, and underside that looked like blood...something got to the eel and caused his health to decline quickly like so many other fish and marine animals that die this quickly.
Jrittz
P.S. I'm curious if anybody has heard of problems using culligan's softwater units with marine tanks. Or in that matter, any softwater unit. It may not be the cause of this unfortunate death but it's something that may require my attention during water changes.

 

[jrittz]

Thanks Terry, I appreciate your promptness.
What's the best way to treat my tank so I can attempt to rid my tank of this possible harmful bacteria so any future animals can be put into the tank safely?
Jrittz