Tons of brown stuff on my snowflake

[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

 

[bruner54]

it could be the half tap but it depends on how much dissolved minerals is in the tap water. But i am not positive and a pic would help.

 

[rcreations]

I never heard of diatoms sticking to fish though. I had a huge diatom problem in my old tank, but never once had it on the fish. Could it be worms on your eel? Do they look like they're moving? Try to stop all the powerheads and see if the brown stuff moves on its own.

 

[jcarroll]

They flow with current. It's too hard to tell if they move on their own because there's a huge thick cluster of them on her mouth so whenever she breaths they move with it. She looks awful. I tried to get a picture, but she's too hard to get right now, just stays under rocks. I did a 30 gallon water change yesterday. Is there anything I can do if they're worms? They're the same brown color as the brown algae on rocks.

 

[jcarroll]

Tried getting a picture for you guys, but the guy I bought this tank off of didn't keep his glass really clean, so I need to take a razorblade to it. Until then my camera just won't focus on it. It just looks like these little Brown hairs, maybe worms, and they're totally taking over his whole body. Pretty soon he's going to look like Cousin It. Can anyone give me some advice on this?????

 

[rcreations]

That's why I said to shut off all powerheads to see if they move on their own. Like I said, I never heard of diatoms sticking to fish. Do you have a quarantine tank? You can move the eel there for observation. Eels are pretty easy to catch in a trap made out of a soda bottle. Is it eating?

 

[jcarroll]

He's not eating. He's constantly twitching his head, so there is no way to know if they're moving themselves. He moves his head so much to try to get them off, that they're constantly swaying. I have no QT tank.

 

[ma]

If they are worms, you might want to try a fish that eats worms, like a six line wrasse or a few neone gobbies.

 

[ramjet33]

very peculiar. i would try to do a water change and check your levels. pay attention to nitrate and phosphate levels. also, make sure your not getting a ph shift during the day... ie..lighting, change in water flow etc..
eels are covered in a thick mucous that allows them to sluff off most parasites. but if there is a problem with the water, they tend to not generate slime. also, if you really have algae outbreak like you describe, it could be dinoflagellates or algae growing. they do not move alot and it adheres to them. if you think they are parasitic, you may have to move to QT and give a good FWD.
good luck.

 

[srfisher17]

I'd post this on the disease forum; there are folks that have seen everything hanging out there.

 

[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.